TechIntersect

I awoke early this morning because today is the 2nd Annual Fun With Science Day in Clyde, KS. Last year, on the Saturday before the kids started back to school, we held the first  science fun day in the park and it was a big hit. In our town of 500 people, we had more than 40 kids show up for the event, and I suspect we will have as many or more today.

I think this is a great time of year for an event like this because the kids are getting bored and ready to get back to school. Our event is geared for K-6 grade children, but anyone who’s a kid at heart will have a good time.

This year I am particularly excited because I’ve managed to convince a real research scientist to join us for the event. Dr. Sundeep Rayat from K-State’s Chemistry Department is coming to show the kids some cool chemistry stuff. (Check out her web-page to see how super-smart this lady is!) The cool thing is that I didn’t really know anyone from the Chemistry department until I met Dr. Rayat at the Wakonse Conference on College Teaching. Through that common experience, we have developed a friendship that ultimately has enabled the kids in tiny & very rural Clyde to rub elbows with a world-class scientist this weekend. How cool is that?!?

Recently I uploaded some never before seen videos from last year’s Fun With Science Day. This first one shows the kids experiencing conservation of angular momentum. This is the same rule of physics that allows an ice skater to speed up while spinning by raising their arms and bringing their mass towards the center.

This video shows the kids playing with “Oobleck” or “Cornstarch Goo” which is a non-Newtonian liquid. Isaac Newton described the basic properties of a liquid, which most liquids do posess, but this liquid defies the rules. It is part liquid and part solid, depending on its environment. A strong impact aligns the molecules letting it behave like a solid, while a gentle touch releases the molecules and it behaves like a liquid. Isn’t that weird? And the kids love it! You just mix enough water into cornstarch to make a batter, and this is what you get!

The weather calls for a chance of showers today, but I’m hoping we can pull this event off without getting soaked. I just looked at the radar map and everything is north of us right now, but some cells are firing up out west of us, which means we could catch some rain later today.( It’s been an unusually wet and cooler summer. Normally in the 90’s & 100’s and bone dry this time of year, but yesterday was pleasant, only 88 degrees.) But I’m keeping my fingers crossed. A lot of people have put in a lot of work to make this event happen, so hopefully we’ll make this one happen today without any bad weather.

Anyone who does any kind of research knows how far we have to go towards digitizing printed collections of documents. Last spring I did a research project at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and was surprised to learn that there are no plans to digitize anything from that important collection in the near future due to a lack of funding.

My ears perked up recently when I learned that the Forsyth Library at Fort Hays State University has been working to digitize the Apollo document collection of the Kansas Cosmosphere. This video is from the press conference announcing the online publication of documents from the Apollo 1 accident investigation which once belonged to Jack Swigert and were given to Charlie Duke who donated them to the museum.

Anyone interested in NASA history and the Apollo space missions should check out the online documents here: http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/digital/space/

Emily and I had the amazing opportunity last week to meet Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 astronaut at the Kansas Cosmosphere. Charlie describes the experience of viewing the entire Earth at 16,000 miles from space.

Tags: apollo, lunar, moon, science, space

I arrived in Austin, Texas this week for the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE) conference. It is interesting that an unintended consequence of engineering design, the Congress Street Bridge, has resulted in one of Austin’s favorite tourist attractions, the Mexican free-tail bat colony.

Last night, Elena, the professor from Notre Dame who helped me write our paper we are presenting here, Camilla, her beautiful 4 month old daughter and I walked down to the bridge to see the spectacle. We really didn’t know what to expect, but were quite impressed.

We arrived at sundown, and a large crowd of people had gathered to watch. We waited for what seemed to be 15-20 minutes then slowly, a stream of bats emerged from beneath the opposite end of the bridge. It was dark enough that we could barely see them against the trees, but when they headed out into the open sky, it looked like a long, streaming cloud of black.

Edit: More information about the history of the bats is here. I hope to find some bat t-shirts today.

Tags: Austin TX, bats

This spring I have been researching about the origins of federal aid to education—the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 in the Eisenhower Presidential Library. If you care about No Child Left Behind, whether you agree or disagree, you should know that all federal aid to education including NCLB can be traced to the original federal education funding of NDEA in 1958.

Because the launch of Sputnik spooked the American public, supporters of federal aid to public schools were able to get the ball rolling by tying school funding to a perceived national crisis; thus the National Defense Education Act was born.

Not everyone bought into the need for federal funding for schools. For instance Sen. Barry Goldwater wrote the following brief opinion about the NDEA:

This bill and the foregoing remarks of the majority remind me of an old Arabian proverb:

If the camel once get his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.

If adopted, the legislation will mark the inception of aid, supervision, and ultimately control of education in this country by Federal authorities.

To continue the precedent of state and local control, and to ensure its passage, the law was very explicit in ensuring that the federal government would have no control over public schools.

Sec. 102. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution or school system (National Defense Education Act of 1958)

Indeed the law did pass when President Eisenhower signed the bill. Here is the statement he made at the time:

You will notice that Ike was also a strong supporter of decentralized control of schools. He notes that the NDEA was only intended to be a short-term remedy to a national crisis when the nation needed more scientists and technologists, with a planned end for the program after four years.

The NDEA did have the intended effect, spurring great strides in math & science education. America ultimately did land a man on the moon, and survive the threat of the cold war.

Kansas primary school students studying science with hands-on experiments.

Kansas High School students learning “Binary Numbers,” the basis upon which digital computer work.

However, since 1958 federal aid to public schools has remained a steady part of the public school landscape—but the original hands-off, decentralized control aspect has become a distant memory. Under federal direction, our schools have become focused upon narrow standards, primarily in math and reading. When I asked my daughter’s teacher about the science that they do in first grade this year, he told me he that the time available is limited because of the push for testing in math and reading.

Also interesting, my daughter recently mentioned to me that her “painting shirt” was wasted this year because they didn’t get the paints out even once this year! This is not a complaint against her teacher at all. He does an excellent job. I spent a day watching him work, and I may go back again soon if I can work it into my schedule before school lets out. But this is a very strong complaint against a system that I believe is headed down the wrong path.

I’m not worried for my daughter. She lives in a very enriched home environment. We think about and talk about a broad variety of things at our house. I am worried for the kids who don’t live in such a place, who depend on the school to provide an excellent, broad education. All of the focus on the testing and accountability isn’t heading us in the right direction.

I know plenty of people think the same way. But what can be done when all of our schools are dependent upon federal dollars to operate and those federal dollars come with strings attached? I wonder if the congressional leaders who voted in 1958 for that first NDEA law could see where we are today, would they have still passed the bill that ultimately changed the way American schools operate?

Tags: NCLB, NDEA

I am writing this from the fair city of Hutchinson Kansas. Progressive leadership in the community is responsible for organizing a tour for travel bloggers to visit and write about the exciting things that are going on here.

I was late to the party tonight because of class obligations, so I didn’t get to meet everyone yet, but I’m told there are bloggers here from Oklahoma, Illinois, California as well as Kansas.

I did make it in time to see a special screening of the IMAX film, Magnificent Desolation. Amazing film, and I kept thinking how much my daughter Science Girl Em would have liked this show. The film included shots of the Cosmosphere’s lunar lander & lunar rover. (Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to make some photos of those.)

The Kansas Cosmosphere at night. Not just every window you look into has both a space shuttle and an SR-71 Blackbird visible.

In the IMAX projection room. Large format 65mm film being loaded

The IMAX sound system has a digital sound track stored on a computer hard disk, and a backup sound track on a magnetic system stored on 35mm film.

The SR-71 Blackbird is on permanent loan from the US Air Force.

A full-size replica of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

The short time I have been here, I’ve been made to feel most welcome and the group of bloggers is a spirited bunch. I’m really looking forward to see what tomorrow has in store for us.

Tags: cosmosphere, hutch, space

Happy Birthday Kansas! I’m celebrating the state’s 148th birthday by telling you about one of my very favorite Kansas historical figures, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. Although Clyde wasn’t born in Kansas, he got here as quick as he could! As a young man growing up in rural Kansas, Clyde taught himself to grind his own optics and build home-made telescopes from spare farm machinery parts.

Using his homemade telescope, Tombaugh made detailed sketches of the planets he saw and sent them to the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. He was subsequently offered a temporary position which ultimately turned into a long and illustrious astronomy career. During his time at the observatory he made the discovery for which he is most famous- the discovery of the 9th planet Pluto.

One of the things I find most interesting about Tombaugh is after he made his huge discovery, he returned home to study astronomy at the University of Kansas. The legend says that the professor who taught the Introduuctory Astronomy course refused to seat the famous freshman, saying it would be a waste of time. Can you imagine such an odd situation? An internationally known astronomer, discoverer of the 9th planet, wanting to enroll in Introductory Astronomy because he had yet to earn his college degree! Eventually, Clyde Tombaugh did graduate from KU, and the observatory there bears his name today.

Clyde Tombaugh will always be a Kansas hero, even if they did disrespect his discovery by downgrading its status to “dwarf planet”. Let’s just hope that Pluto doesn’t take it too personally.

Will It Blend?

Internet Video

The title of the workshop emphasizes video, so I will take a bit of time to discuss Internet Video here.

You cannot discuss Internet auctions without mentioning eBay, and you cannot have a discussion of Internet video without discussing YouTube. YouTube is the go-to site for internet video.

Before you try to begin a viral video campaign, it would be wise to understand some of the history and culture of the Internet. The Internet began life as a public, not-for-profit cold-war effort. Commercialization of the Internet did not begin until the late 80’s & early 90’s. I believe that recognizing the history and culture of the non-profit Internet can help you even if profit is your ultimate motive.

Take for example the BlendTec line of blenders. BlendTec has successfully started a viral video marketing campaign while respecting the non-profit Internet culture that exists. What makes the BlendTec approach succeed when others fail? Several things are in play here.

1. It isn’t shouting. Instead, BlendTec is using Kathy Sierra’s new way of marketing by showing how people can be great if they are using a BlendTec.
2. It is funny and interesting.
3. It offers a unique relationship opportunity. Customers can request items to see “Will It Blend?”

Question for thought and discussion:

In what ways do the products or services you offer help others to “kick ass”?

Viral video genius Kevin Nalts adds value to people’s life simply through entertainment.

Nalts

Video Tips

1. Keep it short and simple. BlendTec videos are usually less than 2 minutes.
2. Be funny and informative.
3. You don’t need expensive technology. Use a Flip camera or a point and shoot digital camera with video capability.
4. Experiment! Even a kid can do online video!
5. Read and follow advice in The Little Digital Video Book by Rubin

Three Motivations in Marketing

Seth Godin talks about three ways to market, Fear, Hope and Love.

The easiest way to build a brand is to sell fear. The best way, though, may be to deliver on hope while aiming for love.

Read Scarcity Shortage by Seth Godin, then answer these questions for thought and discussion:

How can small town businesses recognize the “scarcity shortage” and benefit from it?

What ideas do you have for using “viral video” to promote your product or service?

(Photo by Kuzytac)

Last summer we put on a Science Fun Day in the park for the kids. I was recently going through some old papers and came across a note I wrote to myself because it was so cute. I thought I would share it with you here.

How lightning works according to my daughter’s first grade classmate Jaysie B.-

1. Sky opens up
2. Light comes through
3. Sky slams shut (boom!)

That’s about right, isn’t it?

You can create simulated 3-D stereoscope photograph by wiggling two slightly different angles of the same pictures, as shown in this picture of my wife & daughter. I’ve been wanting to experiment with this for some time after reading about Wiggle Stereoscopy. I have created this image by showing two successive images in an animated gif picture made with ImageReady.

The two images I am using were not made with this technique in mind, but when I viewed them together it seemed to work. I think it might work better if I kept the camera on the same horizontal plane, rather than changing both horizontal and vertical viewing angle. But like I said, the two images were accidentally made.

We are able to see in 3-D because our two eyes see the world from slightly different angles. A Viewmaster toy is a good example of a true 3-D stereoscope. This technique is only simulated because you aren’t viewing both images at the same time. It’s still pretty cool, isn’t it? What do you think?