It has been a few weeks since this happened, but I was able to put together a field trip for some of the students.
I had the students come for an informal conference put on by two departments; Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences Department (AOSS) and the Geology Department. The conference is called the Michigan Geophysical Union (MGU). Graduate students and undergraduate students are provided this opportunity to present their research in poster form to a "friendly" audience. This was going to be the best way to show the students what all goes on in my department. The students would also be able to talk to other graduate students and interact with a bunch of people they normally don't see.
After the MGU I had arranged for one of the AOSS professors to give a presentation. Prof. Perry Samson came in to do this job. He was perfect. He talked about tornadoes and his experiences as a tornado chaser.
This field trip consisted of 25 students ranging from 10th to 12th graders selected from several of Mr. Ambrose's classes. For the majority of the students, they seemed engaged and enjoying everything they could. We had no issues with discipline, which I have to admit was nice and surprising. MGU was very interesting to them, because a lot of them did not know that they could do all this with science. There were presenters on pollution in specific areas, landing the Phoenix mission on Mars, environment around Io (moon of Jupiter), flying instruments in space, studying dinosaur's teeth, and lots more. I had each student visit at least 6 posters and fill out a questionnaire. The questions were: The title of the poster; What is the question you are trying to solve; What High School classes could I take to help myself understand and possible work with this stuff; How did you get into science, specifically the subject you are working on now. This was really good for both YHS students and the presenters. The presenters had to work really hard to explain their research in simple terms. Of course the students loved Prof. Perry Samson's talk. He was showing videos of when he and other students were out in the field tornado chasing. The last thing, I had some fellow students come in so the students to ask them questions. This went really well. Students asked them: Was there any subject you did not like in your education but you had to take?; What is the difference between undergraduate and graduate students?; When did you know this is what you wanted to pursue?... etc. There were a lot of great questions.
Overall the field trip was very successful. The majority of the students loved it and might have learned something new.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Week ?
This week I gave a quick lecture to the chemistry classes about pressure and temperature measurements on places we can't physically go.
In the last few weeks the students have been learning the relationships between pressure, volume, and temperature. The unit ended on learning the ideal gas law (PV=nRT). I was trying to show the connection between what they were learning in class to the outer world. I don't think I succeeded. In my field and any other fields dealing with atmospheres these equations are used all the time. The students were mainly quiet and took notes, but it wasn't anything exciting to them. Partly I had a hard time figuring out a way to show them besides just telling them I do use this all the time and showing some lengthy derivation. To try to capture a little more excitement I went into some details on how spacecrafts got the information (temperature, density, and pressure), they just were more interested in everything else in our solar system besides what I was trying to talk about. It was good to see excitement but it wasn't toward the main topic. Oh well. =)
Less then a few weeks I will be giving another talk describing their field trip and some concepts that might help them understand what these graduate students are doing.
In the last few weeks the students have been learning the relationships between pressure, volume, and temperature. The unit ended on learning the ideal gas law (PV=nRT). I was trying to show the connection between what they were learning in class to the outer world. I don't think I succeeded. In my field and any other fields dealing with atmospheres these equations are used all the time. The students were mainly quiet and took notes, but it wasn't anything exciting to them. Partly I had a hard time figuring out a way to show them besides just telling them I do use this all the time and showing some lengthy derivation. To try to capture a little more excitement I went into some details on how spacecrafts got the information (temperature, density, and pressure), they just were more interested in everything else in our solar system besides what I was trying to talk about. It was good to see excitement but it wasn't toward the main topic. Oh well. =)
Less then a few weeks I will be giving another talk describing their field trip and some concepts that might help them understand what these graduate students are doing.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Week 15
The first blog of the New Year. It got pretty hectic and crazy towards the holidays. This semester I will be going in on two different days. My schedule is a lot more hectic, so it might fluctuate. I will be at YHS Tuesday 1st-3rd and Wednesday 4th-6th.
These last couple of weeks the students have been finishing up units and reviewing for their end of the semester exams. In two weeks 1st period will be a new group of students while the other periods will remain the same.
Astronomy is mostly Seniors, so they don't care about much. They had a worksheet they were suppose to fill out during class. The questions related to the teachers lecture and their reading on the subject of black holes.
In the chemistry classes, there was a review worksheet they had to work on in teams. The worksheet was worth 20 pts. The first team to finish got 10 EC pts., 2nd got 5 EC pts., 3rd got 1 EC pts. In the end they all got the 20 pts. I was very surprised, but in most groups everyone participated. This kind of activity has a huge chance of one person doing all the work.
Currently 3rd period has shown the most improvement. They only have a couple of students failing while the other classes have a handful. Overall the students seem to have stopped fighting the system. The are trying to be quite and learn. In 5th period there are a couple of students that need extra attention and I sit on the side and help them. All the students seem to enjoy my presence in the classroom. They all want to say hi and don't hesitate to ask me questions.
I think this semester is already going to be better than last.
These last couple of weeks the students have been finishing up units and reviewing for their end of the semester exams. In two weeks 1st period will be a new group of students while the other periods will remain the same.
Astronomy is mostly Seniors, so they don't care about much. They had a worksheet they were suppose to fill out during class. The questions related to the teachers lecture and their reading on the subject of black holes.
In the chemistry classes, there was a review worksheet they had to work on in teams. The worksheet was worth 20 pts. The first team to finish got 10 EC pts., 2nd got 5 EC pts., 3rd got 1 EC pts. In the end they all got the 20 pts. I was very surprised, but in most groups everyone participated. This kind of activity has a huge chance of one person doing all the work.
Currently 3rd period has shown the most improvement. They only have a couple of students failing while the other classes have a handful. Overall the students seem to have stopped fighting the system. The are trying to be quite and learn. In 5th period there are a couple of students that need extra attention and I sit on the side and help them. All the students seem to enjoy my presence in the classroom. They all want to say hi and don't hesitate to ask me questions.
I think this semester is already going to be better than last.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Week 9
This Friday is a little crazy. The school is having the students take an exam. All grades, except for seniors, take this exam. Each day different periods are selected to take the exam. So each class is doing something different. First period is Astronomy; half of the class is seniors. They worked on their portfolios, while the other students took their exam. Two of the chemistry periods were taking the exam and the other two had taken it yesterday. For the classes that took it the other day, Mr. Ambrose talked about covalent bonds and molecular formula. I was not able to assist today as much as usual due to the exam and the teacher catching the students up.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Week 9 - Saturn and Valence electrons
These last few weeks I haven't been presenting anything. I have been focusing on helping the students, one on one. They seem to benefit from me walking around and checking up on them while they work on something. Whether they say it or not, it appears that they like someone caring about their work. Students are more willing to show me their work and want to know if they are doing it correctly.
For instance, the students had a homework assignment due today but were already given homework for the next day. A lot of the students were asking questions and working really hard to finish the assignment (the one due the next day)in class. I asked a certain student if they had turned in their homework. The student did not remember there was homework due and sure enough when he pulled it out there wasn't even a name on the paper. I told him there was 15 min left in class and he should work on it and I figured he could get most of it done to get partial credit. He told me he wanted to work on the other assignment because it was easier. I smiled at him and explained how easy the other assignment was if he took a moment to look at it. Sure enough he started working on it and finished most of it and turned it in when the bell rang. He just needed someone to give him a little nudge and some encouragement.
This week I cam in on Wednesday because I have a presentation on my research this Friday. In astronomy they filled out another profile, this one was on Saturn. In chemistry they learned about valence electrons. The students seem to be picking this stuff up pretty well.
For instance, the students had a homework assignment due today but were already given homework for the next day. A lot of the students were asking questions and working really hard to finish the assignment (the one due the next day)in class. I asked a certain student if they had turned in their homework. The student did not remember there was homework due and sure enough when he pulled it out there wasn't even a name on the paper. I told him there was 15 min left in class and he should work on it and I figured he could get most of it done to get partial credit. He told me he wanted to work on the other assignment because it was easier. I smiled at him and explained how easy the other assignment was if he took a moment to look at it. Sure enough he started working on it and finished most of it and turned it in when the bell rang. He just needed someone to give him a little nudge and some encouragement.
This week I cam in on Wednesday because I have a presentation on my research this Friday. In astronomy they filled out another profile, this one was on Saturn. In chemistry they learned about valence electrons. The students seem to be picking this stuff up pretty well.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Week 8 - Halloween
First period Mr. Ambrose gave a quiz on Jupiter and then discussed a moon of Jupiter, Ganymede. After he lectured on it, I went around and helped answer students questions on Ganymede or any other body to help finalize their profile sheets.
The chemistry classes had a quiz and an exciting lab. It was a Flame Test Lab. This was going to be the first really risky lab. The students would be working with fire and chemicals; of course the students were really excited. At each station there were 8 samples of different chemicals. They dipped a paper clip into the chemical and then held it in the flame. They would write down the color of the flame. One of the chemicals were labeled unknown, but was one they had already tested. They had to identify it by the color flame it produced. I walked around and assisted the students throughout the lab. Between the quiz and the lab, the students were very busy throughout the class and seemed to enjoy doing the lab.
The chemistry classes had a quiz and an exciting lab. It was a Flame Test Lab. This was going to be the first really risky lab. The students would be working with fire and chemicals; of course the students were really excited. At each station there were 8 samples of different chemicals. They dipped a paper clip into the chemical and then held it in the flame. They would write down the color of the flame. One of the chemicals were labeled unknown, but was one they had already tested. They had to identify it by the color flame it produced. I walked around and assisted the students throughout the lab. Between the quiz and the lab, the students were very busy throughout the class and seemed to enjoy doing the lab.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Week5/Week6/Week7
Week 5 -
I did not attend any classes because I was at a conference presenting my research.
Week 6 -
In the astronomy class Mr. Ambrose has started doing a long solar system unit. He goes over a body (moon, planet, comet, etc.) roughly once a day. The students write down important facts about the body being discussed on a worksheet. They keep these worksheets to help them on tests and eventually they will turn them in for credit. today they were specifically talking about the Moon. The conference I went to had people presenting on everything in and around our solar system. I was able to contribute a fact or two that I had just learned about the Moon. Most of the students seemed to be intrigued that we don't know everything about the closest object to the Earth. Mr. Ambrose and I discussed me doing a presentation on Venus next week, since Venus is my dissertation work.
For the chemistry labs Mr. Ambrose had a interesting lab that helped them understand mass. They weighed a piece of not chewed gum. then chewed a piece of gum until it lost its taste and weighted it to find out how much sugar is in a piece of gum. The risk part is trying not to have gum all over the classroom. The students were very cooperative and seemed to get the idea of the lab. They all enjoyed chewing gum (since they are not supposed too) and then comparing their answers to the actual package.
Week 7-
This week I got to lecture/present a power point on Venus for the Astronomy class. Mr. Ambrose and I thought this would be great for me and the students. Venus is the basis of my research, so it was very easy for me to tell them some basics stuff about it and then try to explain my research to them. My research entails understanding Venus' dynamics. I use a 3-D model to simulate what we think is going on and compare it to data. There isn't any direct wind measurements on Venus so we simulate airglow on the nightside. The chemistry is being blown from the dayside to the nightside therefore you get the winds right if you have the airglow right. Most of the students thought it was interesting but did not quite get why anyone would care. That was a vaild observation. I feel like I did not get my point across very well, due to lack of experience describing my research to younger students and the bell ringing with the students running out. The class overall was fine. They all got their planet profile filled out and seemed to learn a bit more about the planet than they expected.
In chemistry they are learning about Bohr Models. This was pretty basic for most of the students. Mr. Ambrose had a lot of examples for the students to work through before doing it for homework. There was a couple of classes the students were very eager to show their answers. They would go up and write their answers on the overhead for the rest of their classmates to see the answer. It was nice to see these students finally feel confident about something they just learned in class. Also it seemed like the disruptive behavior is settling down. I think I could make a connection between disruptive behavior and not learning in class. =)
I did not attend any classes because I was at a conference presenting my research.
Week 6 -
In the astronomy class Mr. Ambrose has started doing a long solar system unit. He goes over a body (moon, planet, comet, etc.) roughly once a day. The students write down important facts about the body being discussed on a worksheet. They keep these worksheets to help them on tests and eventually they will turn them in for credit. today they were specifically talking about the Moon. The conference I went to had people presenting on everything in and around our solar system. I was able to contribute a fact or two that I had just learned about the Moon. Most of the students seemed to be intrigued that we don't know everything about the closest object to the Earth. Mr. Ambrose and I discussed me doing a presentation on Venus next week, since Venus is my dissertation work.
For the chemistry labs Mr. Ambrose had a interesting lab that helped them understand mass. They weighed a piece of not chewed gum. then chewed a piece of gum until it lost its taste and weighted it to find out how much sugar is in a piece of gum. The risk part is trying not to have gum all over the classroom. The students were very cooperative and seemed to get the idea of the lab. They all enjoyed chewing gum (since they are not supposed too) and then comparing their answers to the actual package.
Week 7-
This week I got to lecture/present a power point on Venus for the Astronomy class. Mr. Ambrose and I thought this would be great for me and the students. Venus is the basis of my research, so it was very easy for me to tell them some basics stuff about it and then try to explain my research to them. My research entails understanding Venus' dynamics. I use a 3-D model to simulate what we think is going on and compare it to data. There isn't any direct wind measurements on Venus so we simulate airglow on the nightside. The chemistry is being blown from the dayside to the nightside therefore you get the winds right if you have the airglow right. Most of the students thought it was interesting but did not quite get why anyone would care. That was a vaild observation. I feel like I did not get my point across very well, due to lack of experience describing my research to younger students and the bell ringing with the students running out. The class overall was fine. They all got their planet profile filled out and seemed to learn a bit more about the planet than they expected.
In chemistry they are learning about Bohr Models. This was pretty basic for most of the students. Mr. Ambrose had a lot of examples for the students to work through before doing it for homework. There was a couple of classes the students were very eager to show their answers. They would go up and write their answers on the overhead for the rest of their classmates to see the answer. It was nice to see these students finally feel confident about something they just learned in class. Also it seemed like the disruptive behavior is settling down. I think I could make a connection between disruptive behavior and not learning in class. =)
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