Joel’s Hypernet Infodump

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So Julia and I are like best buddies and all, so when she mentioned wanting to do a dry run of the station for Monday’s celebration, I could not resist!

the idea for the investigation station is forming as we work through the dry run.

The ingredients to make a “bouncy ball”

Corn starch

Water

Borax

Glue (the animal derivative pasty kind)

So Far I have made one of these concoctions, and had some pretty interesting results.  While Julia’s first attempt yielded a moderately bouncy ball of paste, my mix yielded a more putty like substance.  I can only equate it to a marshmallow that can be molded into all sort of shapes and then turn back into it’s original form.  Its like a smooth version of silly putty.

It started off really messy, but as the corn starch homogenized, the consistency changed and the material became less moist.  Soon it was a lumpy rope in the hands.  Eventually it was completely smooth.

So naturally, Julia and I ask each other what the fundamental difference between our preparations was in order to figure out why we had such different results.

firstly there is the issue of measurement.  Obviously we each had slight difference s given the tools at our disposal.

Secondly, there was the type of glue used.  Julia used this clear glue while I used a traditional paste (the tasty stuff).

So I decided to do some interweb research and looked into the chemistry behind the fun product.    Elmer’s Glue contains a little something called polyvinyl acetate.  Well, when Polyvinyl Acetate gets together with -OH groups like in water (H2O) or alcohols (R-OH).  When these two get together, the alcohol functionality from the Borax molecule attacks the polyvinyl chain where the acetate functionality is located.  Since the Borax has multiple (R-B-OH) functions, it can bridge between two polyvinyl acetate chains.  this is called cross-linking and it feels really really weird!

Intermission….

So I’m back after about an hour of fiddling around in the kitchen being a scientist…and wow!  some awesome stuff Julia and I are working with here.  here are a few pics pf the resultant variations in goo we tried.  I am going to leave in the large format pics, and just write up here above them to narrate whats going on.  The yellow mess in Julia’s hands is an in-process polymerization (lowest pic in order).  The big sheet of yellow is that same product after a touch more starch was added to Julia’s hands and much kneading was done.

So the research behind the polymerization got me thinking to try something a little different…I decided to use our clear glue and dissolve it in a cup of water, about a 50/50 mix.  To this homogenous diluted glue, we added 1/2 tablesppon of a borax solution we made up and…WHOA!  got some pretty cool results.  this stuff reminds me of the smelly good I used to pay 50 cents for from a supermarket vending machine.

The bottom line is that we got to do some really awesome science on a Saturday night.  Yeah, this is how we chemists roll on Saturday night.  There ‘aint no party like a PVA partay!  So For all of you reading out there, expect some pretty messy science on Monday Night.  I expect you all come prepared to investigate and have some fun.

I would like to openly thank all those cohort members out there who have used, suggested and promoted teacher assessments.  I just finished sifting through my pile from my second placement and I wanted to share some of my thoughts as well as some memorable quotes.  I think Becci did this once a while back on her blog, and I remember reading it and thinking it was a cool idea.  So Kudos Becci!

In reading the comments, I did learn a lot about myself as a teacher.

Many students thought science class was boring.  I can see their perspective.  I don’t think all of the activities were as engaging as I had anticipated.  I will try and do a better job in the future, it was a challenge that I did not master this time around.

Some students also mentioned that the pace was too fast and I did not explain answers enough.  I believe that this is true for some students and I can only use this for the future.  Interestingly, I also recieieved many comments about how well I explained answers.  So I can only conclude that I either did not answer the questions of select students, or my explanations were not in the format accessible to all students.

Many students also asked for more labs, stating that they liked the crystals lab that we did, and wanted more.  All I can say is that I apologize for not doing more lab activities.  I think I got caught up in the content of the unit and Diddnt connect it to any labs that could have been done.  If I had framed the unit differently, I could have done better.

so now that the Arrow’s are aside, here are the pluses, straight from the paper.  These are responses to a variety of questions like “One thing I liked about Mr. Monaco’s class…” and “what can Mr. Monaco do to become a better teacher?”

1. Thank you so much for encouraging me to draw in class.

2. Burn Stuff!

3. He would always help me

4. Have study groups before tests (I really liked this suggestion, will try it someday)

5.  Grade our work faster!

6. I liked how Mr. Monaco did cool labs and had a sense of humor.

7. Less work for 7th graders!

8. He has lots of Energy!

9. I wish he could stay the whole year (so do I buddy…so do I…)

10. Do more study games in class.

11.  Find ways to make work smaller (I just liked the way that was written).

12.  I liked the demonstration where Mr. Monaco shocked himself.

As always, I look at these pieces of feedback for information that I can use to guide my future actions.  I did learn a lot about HOW I taught the innovative unit.  And I found out that it was not the way I had intended to teach the unit.  Somewhere along the way I missed a step or allowed myself to be guided by the rigid  curriculum guide to easily.  If I were to teach Chemical Bonding again, would I do it the same way?  NOPE.  I would use a great deal of the tricks and tips I discovered this time around, but it would be different for sure.  I don’t yet know exactly how I will try it differently, I need to think of some ways to incorporate more inquiry into such a narrow curricular unit.  I think I may try and combine the units chemical bonding and chemical reactions.  Studying reactions first might offer the opportunity to investigate the abstract nomenclature and notations of chemical bonds by calculating combustion heats (breaking bonds) making salts from acid and base reactions, and other ways to focus on ionic, metalllic and covalent in a more contextual manner while getting lab skills.

I guess hindsight is always clearer, not 20/20 yet, as I am still processing from the unit, but getting clearer nonetheless.

I R a Gamer.  I was just sitting here and scrubbing up my Resume and thinking about how much my video game experiences correlate to the underpinnings of education.  This is not a new notion amongst our cohort, and I hate to sound like a parrot but I wanted to weigh in with my own thoughts at some point.

Here is a little bit of my extracurricular experiences as they appear in my resume.  Gutsy, perhaps.  But I intend to defend my assertion in more depth than most would care to see.

RELEVANT SKILLS & EXPERIENCES

• Frequently engaged in collaborative problem solving and inquiry based cross cultural technological experiences.

“Frequently Engaged in”-  More so in the last day or so after winding down from the Unit.  Historically though, I have played Games for more than half of my life.  10 years old is when I got my first game system…I made the transition to computer and Internet gaming around 17…almost 10 years ago.

“Collaborative Problem solving” –  Within 5 minutes at any given time, I can choose to become engaged in an online collaboration with four other people in order to work together and solve a problem;  ”How are WE going to eliminate our opponents?”  Sadly, the problem statement in the types of video games I play are always the same “How do I eliminate my opponent?”,  The format of this “elimination” and nature of the opponent varies by game but it is perpetual and repetitive.  It is the variation in probability of reward that motivates me to keep at it regardless of the obvious repetitive aspect.

“Inquiry Based” – I already mentioned that the problem statement has been given, but the process is completely unwritten in many cases.  There is a first for everything and everyone.  With the introduction of new content and puzzles or tasks and jobs, new processes for completing these must be investigated, tested, and reflected upon in order for progression through the game’s content.  The organic nature of Online Multiplayer games allows design changes to frequently occur, requiring all players involved to engage in conceptual change in order to continue playing the game.  Inquiry in the sense of communally finding out the process by which a task is to be executed without direct or express information is at the heart of what gamers call “progression”.  In order to progress, individuals and gaming communities alike must prepare themselves and learn how to work out each problem.  Every exposure to new game content offers an inquiry based opportunity.

“Cross Cultural” - On the individual level, randomly pairing up with four others from around the world introduces cultural and linguistic variations.  Tech tools for human interaction are common (Voice Over Internet Protocol), as is condensed internet text lingo.  At the next level of social interaction there are organized structures called guilds.  Guilds are like tribes, gangs, groups of friends, or even organized bureaucratic entities.  With such a gathering of people from all over the world, there are invariable connections to other languages, cultures, customs, and even connections to real life relationships that go across international borders.

“Technological Experiences” – This pretty much sums up the entire mode of interaction.  Electrons running through wire connections and silicon transistors organized in patterns and code to transfer energy from one location to the other, manipulating the resultant in the process. Enough said.

So How mind Blowing is MMOing?

Whats mind blowing for me is that this program has given me a perspective to see deeper into something that I am intrinsically interested in.  The connection between Community and underlying scientific motivations really hits close to home for me with respect to my personal motivations.  I guess this may be why I find these games so interesting.  Every gaming experience is an inquiry, more so when the social aspect of MMOing is introduced.  In order to succeed a huge variety of problem solving and interpersonal skills are stressed and strengthened.  Not only does one have to figure out how to eliminate one’s opponent, but you have to figure out how to communicate effectively to succeed as a team or the problem will remain unsolved.

What is more mind blowing is that we as educators have such a hard time figuring out how to incorporate all of these things into our daily practice within the classrooms and with our lessons, and we find that it is extremely difficult!  Yet it is so easy for students to go home, and plug into games and act out in all the ways that we want to see in school.  It also blows my mind that these very complex social and process oriented skills are being practiced so routinely by gamers, but harnessing that motivation in the classroom is totally different, but it does not have to be.  I just have to figure out how to integrate the two together.

These are all real people posing for a “photograph” after being the first to make progression in World of Warcraft.