ExploreLearning News

Science Library Update

I know you've heard this several times over the past few weeks, but the science library has once again added a few new Gizmos! Four new Gizmos were put in place earlier this week: Diffusion, Osmosis, Energy of a Pendulum, and Period of a Pendulum. The Exploration Guide and Assessment Questions are under development. While the EG is developed there are occasionally some modifications to the Gizmo.

Mathletes Book

In recent Washington Post Book World, Joel Achenbach favorably reviews Count Down : Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition by Steve Olson:

… a remarkably engaging little book that demystifies math and probably ought to be read by anyone living in a technological society. Heck, anyone with a brain could get inspiration here. …

[Olson] shows that mathematical wizardry is not a supernatural gift but an extension of normal everyday cognition. There are no miracles here. The young math prodigies of the narrative are like every Olympic athlete, training themselves to achieve at a dazzling level. They might start with abundant natural talent, but taking that talent to the highest level requires hard work…

Sounds great. I'm adding it to my summer reading list.

More Correlations

We continue to add correlations between Gizmos and state curriculum standards at a dizzying pace.

Most recent additions include correlations to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Go Red Sox!), "The Magnolia State" Mississippi, and "First in Flight" North Carolina.

If your state has yet to be correlated, stay tuned. We're getting to it.

Science Library Expands

Our science Gizmo library continues to expand! Three new Gizmos were put in place today: Laser Reflection, Vectors, and Energy Conversion in a System. The Exploration Guide and Assessment Questions are under development. While the EG is developed there are occasionally some modifications to the Gizmo.

Newsday Mention

ExploreLearning was mentioned in a Newsday article entitled "For Research, Give Your Mouse a Click."

We asked you last year to share with us how your class is using the Internet in a creative way to open the world -- and even the universe -- to you.

For example, Dianicia V. Kirton, sixth grader at Drexel Avenue Elementary School, Westbury, says that in science her class used www.explorelearning.com and www.brainpop.com.

Also, we noticed recently, that the ExploreLearning website was added to the CSS Vault, a list of sites meant to inspire creativity with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Cool.

Double Helix, or Twisted Ladder?

Scientists are constantly trying to use alternative methods and simplification to explain science to students, politicians, and the public. With science becoming more complex every day, this is a constant struggle.

"Wieman said he had reduced the number of snoozers at his lectures by using cartoons and a toy machine gun that fires pingpong balls (mimicking light particles) at a basketball (an atom)."

Read the complete LA Times Story for a bit more on how scientists try to explain things like string theory, spectropolarimetry, and DNA.

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse

We are pleased to let you know that ExploreLearning has been chosen to be included in ENC Focus, an online publication of the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC).

ENC is funded by the United States Department of Education and administered by The Ohio State University. ENC collects both physical and virtual resources useful to math and science educators.

 

Pac Manhattan

I'm sure some of you remember the old Pac Man game from the early days of video games. NYU's Interactive Telecommunications graduate program offers a class on the future of gaming. A recent project resulted in the PacManhattan game, where people get to run through the streets of Manhattan as Inky, Blinky, and Clyde. I saw this on CNN the other night and it really looked like fun.

One of the really nifty things about this game is that the computer side of the game was created with Macromedia Director in just two days. We use Director to make our Gizmos, so always enjoy hearing about some other fun things you can do with it. If you can read German you can read more about the game in this article.

One Mile on Mars

Spirit and Opportunity continue to explore Mars. While travelling to Columbia Hills, Spirit passed the one mile mark. Simply amazing when you think about it.

Mars Exploration Home Page

Bug Observed

I just recently noticed that one of our oldest Gizmos (2D Collisions - Activity B) is not correctly functioning on Macintosh computers. We will look in to this Monday morning. In the meantime, you could use the more modern versin of this Gizmo, called 2D Collisions -Activity A.

Update: Friday morning. I'm working on this one for an hour or so this morning. Wish me luck! I'll continue to work on it in my spare hours this week. Using Activity A until we solve this problem is advised, since that newer version functions properly.

How Many Blocks to Fill a Cube?

We fixed a bug in the 3D and Orthographic Views Gizmo. Previously the Gizmo did not state the minimum number of blocks required to complete two of its "games" correctly. When the object of the game is to fill the top view, the left view, and the front view completely, the Gizmo stated that twenty-eight blocks were required, whereas the game can be completed with only sixteen. The Gizmo stated that another game required seventeen blocks, where in fact it too can be completed with sixteen. The Gizmo now states the correct minimum number of blocks. Thanks to a student in Virginia for showing that the "filled" game can be completed with less than twenty-eight, and thanks to P.H. for showing that it can be completed with sixteen!

Yet Another Three

For the second time this week three new science Gizmos were added to the ExploreLearning library. New versions of Color Addition and Color Subtraction were added, along with a Gizmo on Gravitational Force. The Exploration Guide and Assessment Questions are under development.

Dip Trip for Rover?

The NASA Mars Rovers have provided a wealth of information over the past months, but will this be the final destination for Opportunity?

BBC News Story

This Post Is Gluten and Bromate Free!

The May issue of Popular Science features and article entitled "Hogwashed: All the Science Baloney You Get Dished in a Day."

From the Washington Post:

William Speed Weed, a science writer with a sly wit, spent a day last fall recording every scientific claim he encountered in stores, in ads, in newspapers and on TV, radio and the Internet. Then he enlisted experts to help him evaluate their veracity.

… "Advertisers probably feed more science to Americans than anyone else," he writes. But learning science from ads is "like learning the fundamentals of automobile engineering from a used-car salesman."

Ouch.

There's probably an interesting science project here. For example, ask students to log all the scientific claims they are confronted with via ads and/or product packaging over the course of the week, then debunk (or corroborate) the claims as a group during class. (Or variations along those lines.)

Three New Science Gizmos

Three new science Gizmos were put on the server earlier this week, covering DNA Analysis, Seasons, and Chemical Equations. The Exploration Guide and Assessment Questions for the Seasons Gizmo is under development. Stay tuned for additional updates over the next few weeks. Same frog time, same frog channel.

ExploreLearning Party

Here at ExploreLearning we recently celebrated our fifth anniversary of being a company. We sent out an invitation (with an RSVP) for party that we were having. Here are a few of the responses we got:

Pythagoras declined - he was a bit of a square.
Descartes wondered if he had enough co-ordination.
Euclid primed himself for action.
Edision lit up at the thought.
Joule had too much work on.
Schrodinger couldn't come - his cat had locked him in a box.
Brunel said it would bridge a gap in his schedule.
Babbage never got round to replying.
Turing said he'd stop all other projects.
Euler said that x=((a+b)^n)/n, hence he would be there.
Nobel was asked to give prizes.
Hooke said he'd spring into action.
Pavlov simply drooled at the thought of going.
Konrad Lorenz thought the invitation insisting he should be there too aggressive.
Jean Piaget thought the whole thing too immature.
Otto Kernberg said he might show up provided the rest of the guests keep within their boundaries.
Demming thought the whole affair was inefficient.

Happy Birthday ExploreLearning!

For more science humor, feel free to visit the Science Jokes web site (which is where the jokes above were found). Can you think of how a historical scientist might respond? Feel free to post a comment with that response.