Simple Things II

Today my four geoscience classes conducted one of my favorite activities of the year. It is so simple yet evokes such wonder and interest in the students. They simply investigate how two fluids of different densities (hot red water and cold blue water) interact. The preceeding day they had diagrammed warm and cold fronts. They come away from this activity fully understanding that fluids of different densities DO NOT mix easily. They have to diagram the set up before pulling out the divider and then draw an “after” diagram. They have to make predictions and support their ideas and then get to “test” their predictions right away. After the blue slide under the red, they reinsert the divider, mix the one side (to produce warm purple water) and go again. There is often a chorus of “that’s sick Mr. W,” which I know means they are finding the experience interesting.

Simple Things

Teaching has become a bit of a conundrum lately. Increasingly we are using more and more technology to engage the students and make learning more interesting. I support this effort fully and have agreed to be a CFF (Classrooms for the Future) teacher in my school. This means lots of training and the access to some great technology for the students. Having said that, I always marvel at the power of “low tech” demonstations and activities where there is no electronic/computer/internet component. In order to illustrate the umbra and penumbra of the Moon during a solar eclipse, it was marvelous to see students “get it” when a light source, styrofoam ball, and a globe were positioned in just the right way. Understanding the synchronous orbit of the Moon requires a student to circle the room, while always facing the earth in the center. Currently, my students are determining the percentage of oxygen in the air by observing the reaction of iron and oxygen (rusting) in a simple set up (see photo). Ah, the simple things!

Fabric of the Cosmos

On the flight home from Scotland (to see universities with son) Dan had me start Brian Greene’s “Fabric of the Cosmos.” It got me thinking that my whole science department should read it. It looks back at the thinking that went into space-time theory and then looks forward to the development of string theory. We needed to be more scholarly I thought. We need to have one shared experience. Six of the eight agreed to read the book and discuss it in “book club” format. Tomorrow we meet off campus (so we may have adult beverages) to discuss the first two chapters. I am intrigued by how much I keep coming across Scottish physicists like James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin. The connections are wonderful given Dan’s interest in physics and going to university in Scotland.