Teachable Moments In Science: Kiera Wilmot

Science is fun! Part of the fun is failing, failing again, and pushing a hypothesis forward or rejecting it based off of evidence. This involves a ton of mistakes - some of which are more dangerous than others.  We need to learn how to turn reasonable mistakes into teachable moments.

16 year old Kiera Wilmot of Bartow High School mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil on school grounds without supervision, resulting in a small non-harmful explosion. She was expelled for violating the school code of conduct, and faces felony charges of "possession/discharge of a weapon on school grounds and discharging a destructive device." The gory details, including the full police report, are located on the Miami New Times website.

The real problem is with the school and the police. When a kid makes a mistake that's not severe, it can be easily turned into a teachable moment. How about suspension instead of expulsion, with the requirement of a lab assignment based on the very experiment that was tried by Kiera? How about requiring a presentation by her to the class and/or principal to show mastery of the subject? This solution combines a reasonable punishment with additional academic work to help Kiera learn the proper way to conduct experiments. It also gives the adults involved another way to gauge her understanding of the scientific method. The penalties should go up for repeated offenses, up to and including expulsion. 

For more about how scientific curiosity helps us all win, check out my post Curiosity Kills the Gap.

This post also appears on TWIB.

Speedrun Through Your Favorite Sci-Fi Movies

SciFi

If you love science, you probably also love science fiction (sci-fi) movies.  Sometimes you just don't have the time to watch the entire movie, but you need a quick fix. I found a great YouTube user account - 1A4Studio - who does beautiful hand drawn versions of sci-fi flicks that are only one minute long. They are very well done and hilarious - you'll definitely see your favorite scenes!  

40 seconds into Star Wars A New Hope is a marvelous reenactment of the Obi Wan - Darth Vader fight. 26 seconds into the Matrix you see Morpheus doing the STOP TRYING TO HIT ME AND HIT ME stance during the dojo fight. 40 seconds into Back to The Future shows George McFly knocking the stuffing out of Biff with a well-timed Mortal Kombat uppercut.

If you can't see the videos below, please click here.

This post also appears on TWIB.

Google Glass & Dynamic Textbooks

Google Glass, an upcoming glasses / camera / internet hybrid, is finally in the hands of developers.  There are a few videos of people walking around and doing ... normal things, but the one that really caught my attention was this go kart race by Google's Josh Armour. This video shows off the smooth, high definition video that can be captured at decent speeds.

My imagination runs wild in terms of STEM education.  Imagine bringing a group of kids to a carnival and having a fun day of go karting. How about using a video editor to mark two points and time the distance between them, to calculate velocity? How about measuring the change in velocity between points to calculate acceleration?  Now imagine this with trains ... or roller coasters ... or airplanes!

How about having kids throw the ball around, and thing bring it back to class and examine the parabolic motion of a ball? How about showing that you can reasonably calculate the horizontal and vertical position based on how hard it was thrown and the time? This could also be used to show how equations are for ideal situations and that variables such as wind, humidity, etc can affect measurement. You don't even have to mention the term "projectile motion" for the kids to get it. - because it would be their own physical actions!

Opportunities are everywhere to teach our children how physics is represented in the world around us. This can all be done with current technology, but having the ability to easily create videos from our vantage points puts the stamp of personality that resonates heavily with the "me" generation reared on YouTube. Essentially, it's a dynamic textbook where the examples are tuned specifically to the student - a far cry from the stale books that bore most students today.

If technologies such as Google Glass can get into educator's hands and avoid the $1500 developer price, we all win.

Check out other cool Google Glass videos on Gizmodo!

This post also appears on This Week In Blackness.

#NASASocial Overview - Join the Fun!

I've been lucky enough to attend a few NASA Social events, where I've been able to meet up with other space enthusiasts at NASA buildings such as NASA Headquarters in DC,  Goddard Flight Center in MD and Mission Control in Houston.  Check out Susan Bell's awesome presentation recap of her NASA Social experience using Prezi!

For more information, check out the main NASA Social website. Maybe I'll see you at a future event!

Smithsonian #TimeNav Event: Tweets & Photos

Below are my tweets and photos from the Smithsonian Air & Space  Museum's Time and Navigation exhibit which opens Friday, April 12th. The exhibit features navigation the evolution of navigation technology from the sea, to the air, to space, and now in our smartphones. Yesterday's preview has more detail.  Check out the photos below!

Smithsonian #TimeNav: Back Seat Drivers

The Smithsonian National Air and Space museum is unveiling a new exhibit entitled Time & Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting From Here to There. The exhibit will focus on navigators - the folks that served as the back seat drivers for many famous pilots, drivers, captains, and others. Exhibits from famous names such as sea Captain Charles Wilkes and pilot Charles Lindbergh will be featured, as well as Mariner 10, the first spacecraft to reach Mercury.

An excerpt from the Smithsonian blog reads as follows:

Today, the navigator as a crew member has largely disappeared from most commercial and military long-distance operations, replaced by microprocessors in the form of GPS and inertial navigation systems, but from the 1930s to the 1980s, the navigator was an essential crewmember on many long-distance commercial and military flights.

Be sure to follow my on Twitter (@ShareefJackson) as I will be live tweeting the media preview this morning from 9am - 11am EST. I'll be using the hashtag #TimeNav. 

The exhibit will open to the public on Friday, April 12th - make sure to check it out next time you're in DC!

STEM Equality: The Fiscal Argument

Chelsea Clinton (yes, daughter of Slick WIllie) wrote a fascinating piece on STEM in the Huffington Post. She not only recognizes that others have not been able to have the resources that she grew up with, but she makes a fiscal argument for diversity in the workplace.

If women matched men's employment rates in America, GDP would rise by 5 percent, according to Booz & Company. With the U.S. Department of Commerce expecting STEM jobs to grow 17 percent between 2008 to 2018 -- compared to just 9.8 percent for non-STEM jobs -- excluding women from the pipeline hurts American companies in search of the best high-tech talent. Economic expansion hinges on both halves of the workforce receiving the tools needed to drive innovation..

This is a point that is often missing from discussions of diversity, and not just limited to the sciences .  Diversity is not just a "feel good" thing,  It has realistic implications and serves as the only way for our country to keep up with the rest of the world.  Every year that the US finishes near the bottom of  the country lists for math and science, I think about stats such as this.

Check out the rest of the article here!

Three Planets Party Like a Rock Star

The shot above is the from the Solar and Helioshperic Observatory (SOHO), a joint collaboration by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the Sun. I know, you may be thinking that somehow there is a huge observatory in the SOHO neighborhood of New York, but no, this is actually in space! SOHO recently captured a fantastic video of Venus, Mars, and Uranus all crowding into to the same picture with the sun.

The coronal mass ejection on the picture are giant bubbles of gas and magnetic fields which are ejected from the sun.  Mars will be so close to these fields during April that it will limit the contact that we have with the Curiosity rover that is currently digging its way around the red planet.

If you can't see the short video below, please click here.

Reduce Your Work Commute With A Rocket

Check out the below infographic for information on how we've managed to reduce the time it takes to get to the International Space Station from two days to six hours! This has been used on automated missions but never for manned spaceflight until today.  Just imagine if you could reduce your work commute by the same 1/8 ratio - an hour commute would become 7.5 minutes!

The Soyuz capsule is a very tiny and cramped spacecraft, so the less time in it, the better for the astronauts. It can only fly autonomously in orbit for only about four days total, so the faster rendezvous frees up more fuel, oxygen and other supplies for possible use in an emergency.  More importantly, this saves a ton of money for the space program since there is less time needed at Mission Control in Houston to monitor the launch. 

Keep in mind, the Earth itself is moving, and the ISS is moving in orbit around the Earth at about 5 miles a second.  From the moment the Soyuz capsule launches, everything is in a different place, so we are aiming for a moving target.

Houston: Johnson Space Center & Expedition 36

This week, I visited Johnson Space Center in Houston to meet the astronauts that will be heading up to the International Space Station (ISS) in late May. They would have allowed me to join the crew of Expedition 36, but I didn't wear a blue shirt.  

From L to R: Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Karen Nyberg of NASA, me, and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.

From L to R: Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Karen Nyberg of NASA, me, and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. 

In addition, I got a behind the scenes look at the Johnson Space Center facilities.  Check out a few pics below!

Here I am in the Apollo era mission control room, next to the red phone that connected directly with the president. Next to me is my Nexus 7 and battery charger - probably has more computing power than the entire room.

Here I am in the Apollo era mission control room, next to the red phone that connected directly with the president. Next to me is my Nexus 7 and battery charger - probably has more computing power than the entire room.

The current Mission Control room which is used to monitor the space station. When manned spaceflight returns to the US, they'll have more to work on!

The current Mission Control room which is used to monitor the space station.  When manned spaceflight returns to the US, they'll have more to work on!

Inside the mockup of the ISS is a recreation of the computers that control the CanadaArm. This device grabs satellites and docks them with the ISS.

Inside the mockup of the ISS is a recreation of the computers that control the CanadaArm. This device grabs satellites and docks them with the ISS.

The Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD) shows us the difference between space suits in the past, present, and future.

The Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD) shows us the difference between space suits in the past, present, and future.

Astronauts have to exercise to prevent muscle atrophy. This machine provides resistance and allows squats and lifts.

Astronauts have to exercise to prevent muscle atrophy. This machine provides resistance and allows squats and lifts.

Formerly known as T-2, the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) is named after Stephen Colbert after he won a naming contest.

Formerly known as T-2, the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) is named after Stephen Colbert after he won a naming contest.

The catwalks above the ISS mockup allowed us to appreciate the large scale of the station. It's about the size of a football field.

The catwalks above the ISS mockup allowed us to appreciate the large scale of the station.  It's about the size of a football field.

Robonaut is designed to help the astronauts with testing tasks in the space station. This one's just ... hanging out.

Robonaut is designed to help the astronauts with testing tasks in the space station.  This one's just ... hanging out.