Teaching Science to Digital Natives

Happy Ada Lovelace Day–Celebrating the Mercury 13 March 24, 2010

The space race has just begun.  NASA is training a group of men, the Mercury 7 to fly into space.   They must pass rigourous physical training.   At the same time, Dr. Charles Lovelace begins a similar training program although it was privately funded, for women.  Twenty-five women the program and thirteen will complete it. They are: Jerrie Cobb, Bernice Steadman, Janey Hart, Jerri Truhill, Rhea Woltman, Sarah Ratley, Jan and Marion Dietrich, Myrtle Cagle, Irene Leverton, Gene Nora Jessen, Jean Hixson, and Wally Funk.

Women in the US are, at the time, considered the weaker sex.   The women, who became known as the Mercury 13, passed the same rigorous flight standards and tests as the men who eventually flew in space.   All of the women were recognized as excellent pilots and many had recieved awards, prizes, and trophies before heading into the astronaut training program. 

Although it was a private program, Dr. Lovelace believed he could gather a group of women, prove they could pass the strenous testing just as the men did.  With these results, he hoped to create a team of female astronauts.   The Navy decided against pursing the program any further and the women were told not to report for further training.  They appealed to Congress for further funding, but were denied.

The work, determination, and drive of the women would pave the way for women to enter NASA’s space program in 1978, for Sally Ride to become the first US women in space in 1983, and in 1995 for Eileen Collins to become the first female pilot in space.  Despite not flying in space, the women proved that female astronauts would be as capable and hardy as men. 

Bravo and thank you to the Mercury 13 women.   As a young girl, I remember Sally Ride shooting into space.   One of my dreams was to become an astronaut and be the first women to land on Mars.   I have no doubt women will continue to make strides and impact NASA and further space exploration.  

If you’d like to hear some of the women share the experiences about the training, visit NPR to hear their stories.   You can also visit the Mercury 13 website to read the individual biographies all the women and read how the women had been recognized and honored. 

A little history about Ada Lovelace Day.  Ada Lovelace is thought to be first person to write an algorithm for Charles Babages analytical machine–the precursor to the computor.   She is considered to be the first computer programmer and her work is important in understanding the history of the computer.    Ada Lovelace Day began as a way to honor women in science, math, and technology.   It is a great way to showcase women of all ages and times who have promoted and furthered the women’s movement in a traditionally male dominated area.  If you’d like to learn more about Ada Lovelace, check out the wiki entry:Ada Lovelace wiki.

Better get back to the natives,

Service Learning —> Project Learning? March 18, 2010

I attended a lunch meeting of the Guilford County Council of PTAs and the last item on the agenda was an informational update about the county’s move toward a greater integration of character education. 

The presentor stressed that teachers would not be asked to do something more, just build peices of character education, like service learning, into their curriculum.  

What is service learning?  From the Guilford County Schools website, it is defined as

Service Learning is teaching that connects meaningful community service experiences with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility. Service learning goes beyond extracurricular community service because it involves participants in reading, reflection and analysis; provides students an opportunity to develop a personal connection to what they are learning; and creates a context for the application of concepts introduced in the classroom.

She did not give an example of  how to integrate the service learning into a specific project learning in the classroom.  I can see where there would be great potential in a classroom that had some freedom–i.e. no EOG test.    I can also see the other side where it, the service componen,t is a GIANT flop.  

The question is, how do you engage the students in a project where service is a key component?  Is it the starting, middle or end section?  

I’d love to hear how other educator’s whose district is requiring this character ed peic, are incorporating it all.  Can it be done?

The digital natives are calling,

Looking forward…. March 15, 2010

I’m trying to get into a schedule for blog posting.   Looking forward for the second half of March, I’ve got several new web applications that I am investigating, playing around with, and writing about how to integrate them into the classroom.  Stay tuned for new blog posts about how to get your digital natives really hooked in–both in class and at home. 

1.  Glogster

2.  Prezi

3.  CoboCards

Time to get back to the natives,