Summer Science Video
Here is the “highly anticipated” Summer Science video that was promised. I hope you enjoy it.
Celebrating the Summer Solstice
My daughter Emily and I welcomed the summer season together last Saturday. She asked me what kids usually do to celebrate the first day of summer but looked downtrodden when I told her they usually go swimming because she is currently fighting an ear infection and can’t swim right now.
I promised her that we would do something special to celebrate in another way. I have been wanting to make some science videos with her this summer, so we took the advantage of the summer solstice to do just that. Starting at 11:00 am on June 21st, we marked with sidewalk chalk where the shadow cast from our basketball goal onto the driveway every ten minutes for over three hours.
I helped her measure the distance between the pole and the chalk mark with a tape measure. I had her write down the numbers she read from the tape measure in a little notebook. She was surprised to see how much the shadow moved in ten minutes.
I recorded all of this with the camcorder, and I plan to edit it into a short video about doing science with little kids. For a six year old, she actually did a very nice job of collecting data. We only missed one measurement in a three hour experiment.
Even I learned something in the project. For some reason, probably from old westerns, I thought the sun would be directly overhead at noon. With the data we gathered, we learned that the sun was overhead not at noon, but sometime around 1:30 on the 21st. I didn’t try to explain the next part to Emily, but I also figured that the sun was at a very high 73.25 degree angle on the first day of summer using our data using ATAN(113/34). (The pole is 113″ and the shadow was 34″)
Math has never been one of my strengths, but I don’t want my little girl to be afraid of numbers. After working on this project, I can see that she thinks this kind of stuff is fun. The next day, she asked me what we could do with all of the numbers we wrote down. So I had her read the numbers to me while I typed them into an Excel spreadsheet. Then we made the following graph that shows how the shadows got shorter and shorter until they finally started growing longer again.
Solstice Data: Shadows cast from a 113″ pole.
| Time | Inches |
| 11:00 AM | 74.5 |
| 11:10 AM | 72.5 |
| 11:20 AM | 68 |
| 11:30 AM | 63 |
| 11:40 AM | 59 |
| 11:50 AM | 54 |
| 12:00 PM | 51 |
| 12:10 PM | 48 |
| 12:20 PM | 44 |
| 12:30 PM | 42 |
| 12:40 PM | 40 |
| 12:50 PM | 36 |
| 1:00 PM | 36 |
| 1:10 PM | 35 |
| 1:20 PM | 34.5 |
| 1:30 PM | 34 |
| 1:40 PM | 35 |
| 1:50 PM | |
| 2:00 PM | 37 |
| 2:10 PM | 40 |
| 2:20 PM | 42 |
For a little girl, I think she did a great job! All of the marks and measurements were hers, I just coached her. This experiment in data collection that Emily did is very similar to the very first science experiment I did in college taking measurements of objects in the Physical Science classroom. A 6 year old doing college level work! I just hope she will continue to be curious and wonder how things work. I’ll be glad when she’s feeling better and can go swimming, but I’m glad we spent the first day of summer doing something together that was fun and educational.
Well, I guess I had better get busy and finish editing her video now. I’ll let you know when it is finished and available.
***Edit*** The Summer Science video is now uploaded and available for viewing!
Staying relevant in the classroom
This summer, I am doing a faculty internship. Normally, we think of students doing internships to prepare for their future careers, but I thought that an internship for myself would be a good way of keeping in touch with what is going on in industry.
One of the classes I teach is an introduction to networking technologies. We discuss theoretical aspects of computer data networks, and we also spend a great deal of time doing hands-on work in the lab. Before I started teaching eight years ago I was the director of information systems at a small community college. I had many practical experiences from which to draw on as examples in the classroom. Since I started teaching, my learning about new IT technologies has slowed considerably. I am excited to be back in an actual IT department doing IT things at a small telecommunications company in my area.
This week, I wrote a Java program that does housekeeping on the e-mail accounts. There are a limited number of accounts available for use, so every so often the system administrator would go through and delete accounts that have not been accessed for a period of time. My program automates this action, by scanning through the accounts, examining the login dates, and deleting any accounts that have been unused for a long while.
It was really a great project for me, because I taught a Java 1 class last fall (not a regular course I teach.) It allowed me to see that what we teach is truly useful in industry. It allowed me to experience the same frustration students experience while I was trying to understand a new system. But it was rewarding when everything came together and started working.
So, how did I arrange this unique summer experience? I asked! Asking was not really a comfortable thing to do, but there was no program in place, no advertisements about it; it’s completely new for them too! It wasn’t going to happen without my asking.
If there’s a place of business that is related to what you teach, why not go there and ask if you can work for them over the summer? I’m glad I did. When I go back in the classroom this fall, I’ll be a better teacher and hopefully the phone company I worked for will benefit from my efforts over the summer as well.
More judges should do this
More judges should hand consequences like this one. A quick overview: It is known as “Fire in the Hole.” Teenage punks film a prank for YouTube at fast food drive through windows. They throw their drinks at the window attendant and speed off.
In this case, the kids were arrested and the judge ordered them to post a YouTube video including pictures of their arrest as well as an apology to their victim.
I think it’s appropriate that the long arm of Web 2.0 be involved in meting out the logical consequences when it is misused for evil purposes.
Journey finds singer on YouTube
I was amazed to see the story on CBS Sunday Morning this week about how Journey guitarist Neil Schon found a new lead singer from the Philippines on YouTube. Frustrated at Journey’s resurging popularity but lack of a lead singer, Schon scoured the internet for leads until he discovered Arnel Pineda singing in cover band videos on YouTube.
Some people I have talked to about this story are amazed, but I am not at all surprised. Some of the best musicians and bands I have ever heard were in the Philippines. Journey was one of my favorite groups in High School and I’m glad to see that they have found someone to keep the group going. Congratulations Mr. Pineda on your newfound success. I wish you a long and happy Journey.
Becoming a true leader
Former GE CEO Jack Welch in his book “Winning” talks about becoming a leader. He says (I’m paraphrasing) that we only truly become a leader when we change our focus from our own personal success to focusing on the success of those around us. Leaders inspire others to grow and succeed.
Kathy Sierra, a favorite author and speaker, talks about using the same attitude in corporations. (The following graphic comes from her website.)
The philosophy is simple. Empower and inspire others to greatness. This new age we live in is unforgiving of sneakiness and the spin factor. Sooner or later, being manipulative will catch up with you, because you will be discovered and the whistle will be blown.
It is much better for everyone if we can work to help others achieve greatness. Our students, our customers, our friends and family. Years ago, Denis Waitley wrote a book called “The Double Win” which talks about how we can arrange our relationships so we do what is best for everyone involved– the Win/Win. This is the essence of great teaching, great companies, and great leadership. I think the new digital age in which we live will reward people who decide to operate this way.
