The best part of this video is that I don’t need to come up with an assignment. I just play the video. It doesn’t take more than a minute for questions to start bubbling out of the students?

• How long did you do this?
• Where did you go?
• How far did you drive?

And there it is. A physics lesson. I send the students off with a challenge: “tell us everything you can about my trip.”

A few days later students share their findings, and more importantly, how they were found. Students share answers to all their initial questions along with some new answers to questions like:

• What was the average speed?
• What was the top acceleration?
• Should I get a speeding ticket?

At this point there is at least one student who asks, “so what’s the right answer?” You need to be careful here. I keep the emphasis on how we conducted our investigations and which method is more accurate. That being said, I do share more information with students by doing the following.

1. At the end, I keep the camera rolling and simply pan over to the odometer to show how far I traveled. I trim this part off the video before initially sharing it with students.
   

   Odometer

2. Use a second camera to synchronize video of the road with the speedometer.
   

   Picture-in-picture

3. Collect GPS waypoints to create a Google Map of your trip.
   

   Google Maps

I’ve made the speedometer video many different ways but the best, and safest, way for me to get a straight-on view of the speedometer was to tape a webcam to the dash and record the video to a laptop sitting on the passenger’s seat.

Webcam on dash

To get the video of the road, I taped my pocket camcorder to a lead block and set it on top of the dashboard. With both the webcam and camcorder recording, I made on loud clap with my hands so I could use that audio point to synchronize the video in Final Cut Express.

To capture video of road

The waypoints were collected using the GPS on my phone and the free My Tracks app from Google. Apple iPhone users should be able to find similar apps online. Vernier has software and hardware that also allows you to do a lot with GPS.

My Tracks

I’ve always enjoyed teaching with lessons like this and I think the students enjoy it too. Until recently, I’ve never known what to call lessons like this but I think former math teacher Dan Meyer has come up with a name. Dan uses the simple label “What can you do with this?” or “WCYDWT” at his blog. He explains the need for more lessons like this during a TED Talk and has many other examples.

]]> http://laboutloud.com/2010/06/a-dashboard-physics-lesson/feed/ 0 http://laboutloud.com/2010/04/plate-tectonics-is-a-hoax/ http://laboutloud.com/2010/04/plate-tectonics-is-a-hoax/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:01:21 +0000 Dale http://laboutloud.com/?p=1126 Lawmakers in Washington and in state governments across the United States have officially labeled earthquake damage as preventable. They have enacted laws that tax citizens for new building strategies. After watching the earthquake disasters unfold in Haiti and Chile, a majority of American citizens are now becoming skeptical of the claim that human actions can prevent the massive amount of damage that mother nature can throw at us. And governments are still not listening to the people.

How did we ever get to a point where bad science drives big government to punish the people for living the American dream that coastlines provide for us?

It all began with a geologist named Harry Hammond Hess. He served with the Navy in World War II. During the war, he became the captain of the USS Cape Johnson. Hess obtained major funding from the Navy to do measurements and research on the ocean around his travel routes to Pacific Ocean landings on the Marianas, Philippines, and Iwo Jima – continuously using his ship’s echo sounder. After the war, he remained in the Naval Reserve, and used his SONAR work to rise to the rank of rear admiral.

He greatly expanded the Office of Naval Research’s areas of interest and published a report titled ‘History of Ocean Basins.’ The thrust of the report lead to more funding for more studies. Funding was where Hess’s goal; he later used his connections to work with Project Mohole – an investigation about the feasibility and techniques of deep sea drilling! That’s where the real money was.

However, the damage was already done. Hess’s work, now called the ‘Theory of Plate Tectonics’ began to gain momentum. Hess was able to convince the government and his fellow scientists, despite the fact that many scientists debated over this theory and several demanded to know what forces drove these so-called ‘plates’

With the genie out of the bottle, Hess had to find alternative sources of funding. And he would find it in earthquakes. Hess’s work began to convince people that earthquakes will occur anywhere within the earth where there is sufficient stored strain along a fault plane. Where was one of the first places we looked? California. Of course, there are earthquakes in places such as Kansas and Oklahoma but California had the population that would scream loudly for reform that would protect them from mother nature’s wrath.

Government listened to the outcry and set new building standards. Scientists and engineers came to the rescue. They convinced the public that there are ways to protect and prepare possible sites of earthquakes from severe damage, through fancy processes like: earthquake engineering, earthquake preparedness, household seismic safety, seismic retrofit, seismic hazard, mitigation of seismic motion, and earthquake prediction. All this made lots of money for geologists, but people still die in earthquakes.

As the science now stands, the plate tectonics alarmist scientists say they can prove where earthquakes are likely to occur but they are still surprised when things snap in places like Haiti or Chile. The only thing they offer in those situations is more emphasis on earthquake engineering. Which really makes sense. See, they’ve sold all their sensors and so-called detectors to countries like the U.S. and now it’s time to branch out. They won’t be happy until we have seismic sensors all over the world. They’re getting closer to this goal each year. Yet I am totally convinced there is no scientific basis for any of this.

Plate Tectonics: It is a scam. It has taken control of public policy. It is terrible science. It is the greatest hoax of all time.

Check out the trailer. After tonight’s airing, you can watch the video at the show’s website.

Also at the site is:

• hate-mail from third graders,
• a name your favorite planet contest
• a place to share new ways to remember planet names.

Haven’t had enough, check out the book The Pluto Files.

By the way, I’ve heard Neil deGrasse Tyson speak several times. He is a frequent guest on shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. His enthusiasm is simply awe-inspiring. He is a true fighter for everything science. I recommend following everything he does.

We had a chance to meet and later interview Neil deGrasse Tyson for episode 32 last May. He talked about science literacy and other science education matters; his comments on grades really struck a cord with me.

Fortunately, the folks at The Sounds of Science hit the right notes for us.

Their reasoning? Armstrong wasn’t a scientist.

Now, I understand what this team is trying to do. They wish to keep the focus on learning instead of memorizing names and dates. But come on, he walked on the moon! He’s on one of the shortest short-lists of all time.

Nevertheless, this isn’t what bothers me the most. Saying Armstrong isn’t a scientist is preposterous. If being part of one of the most monumental investigations known to humanity doesn’t make you a scientist- what in the world (or out of the world) does?

I stress to my students that science is for all of us regardless of the careers we choose. As citizens, we all need to be scientists. So many of the issues that our country is struggling with (climate change, health care, energy) have roots in science. How do we explain to our students that they are qualified to join the scientific community and examine issues critically and rationally when others don’t even consider walking on the moon enough to be called ‘scientist’?

Even if Armstrong isn’t technically a scientist (which I disagree with- engineers count in my book) he should still be included as an important part of science since he represents the ultimate citizen scientist.

Before Lab Out Loud, we did a podcast for the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers called Periodicity.  Dr. Devlin, a graduate of University of Wisconsin, spoke to us in January 2007- shortly after his return from Antarctica.

You can listen to the interview as Dr. Devlin discussed the science involved with the BLAST experiment, the struggles they encountered and the importance of basic research. As you listen to Dr. Devlin describe his experiences with such passion, it quickly becomes apparent that this experiment’s story has everything a compelling movie requires to keep you at the edge of your seat.

Our show notes also provided links to blogs that several of the graduate students maintained while they were in Antarctica. They provided a personal glimpse into the lives of scientists as their Antarctic mission unfolded. They also posted some amazing photos.

Find links to all of our old Periodicity episodes at:
http://www.wsst.org/podcasts.asp

You might remember our discussion with Phil Plait (a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer) in episode 12 when we talked about the importance of skepticism in science education. Plait is now the president of the JREF and we were excited to finally meet him in person.

Phil Plait, President of JREF

The conference opened with a keynote by Bill Prady, Executive Producer of our favorite sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Prady’s show has some wonderful examples that can be used in the science class. (We hope to get a chance to talk to him more about this in our third season.)

Bill Prady, Executive Producer of 'The Big Bang Theory'

‘The Big Bang Theory’ is a show I started watching after our conversation with Jennifer Ouellette in episode 28. Ouellette also spoke at TAM7 this afternoon.

Jennifer Ouellette, Science and Entertainment Exchange

If you’re here at the conference, please stop us to say hello (we’re wearing our Lab Out Loud t-shirts today). Can’t attend the conference? See what’s happening by following our Twitter feeds (@basler and @bbartel); the entire conference is also available via live stream.

So maybe this is how Mike decided at the early age of five that he was going to pursue scientific research.

The nucleus is the control center,
the ribosomes make proteins
The endoplasmic reticulum,
is the cell’s transport system

The lysosomes are the clean-up crew,
they break down the cell’s waste,
The mitochondria are powerhouses,
they make the cell’s energy
they make the cell’s energy

Vacuoles are storage tanks,
the cell membrane lets things in and out
These parts float in the cytoplasm,
it’s a jelly-like material
—— a jelly-like material

These were the parts of an animal cell,
plants have a few things different,
There’s a cell wall—– for their support,
They have chloroplast—– to make food,
no lysosomes,
usually one vacuole and it’s real large,
In a plant cell

Not only did I write the song but I also recorded myself singing it. Here is the oldest audio recording of me ever posted online. (I think my voice even had more hair back then.)

Download the audio directly: gilliganscell.mp3

The new design uses magnetic levitation to reduce friction, noise, vibration and other forms of energy loss.

I wonder how this will affect the rivalry that Ed has with his neighbor Bill Nye?