You can grow new brain cells. Here’s how with Sandrine Thuret

You can grow new brain cells. Here’s how with Sandrine Thuret: Pre-thinking: Can we, as adults, grow new neurons? Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform neurogenesis—improving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline associated with aging along the way.   Why you should listen: Thuret’s work focuses on […]

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Being Thankful

Today I have set aside time to thank the donors who contributed money so that we could purchase a high quality 3D printer for our classroom.  Expectations from the DonorsChoose organization are:

An excellent way we can demonstrate our character traits of being respectful, responsible, honest and caring is to fulfill our obligation to the donors who supported our classroom by completing the actions suggested by the Donors Choose organization.

1.  We will take a picture of each class showing objects that we printed.  We will also take pictures of student designed 3D objects or of objects that you felt were really neat or significant.  I will upload these to the website.

2.  Students will write thank you letters - creative and fun letters are great!  The letters should be appropriate and could explain how using Tinkercad and a 3D printer caused you to think differently about what is possible in our futures or how they encouraged you to be design or enjoy some object you created.  For example, do you remember the 3D printed heart we read about?  You don't need to mention the heart in your letter, but you might consider mentioning something else you have thought about.

3.  Mr. Delemeester will upload the pictures and read the thank you letters.  He will then write an overall impact statement thanking the donors.

Deer Season Update from the DNR

As many of you know, I have enjoyed deer hunting each fall with my family members since I was a teenager.  I appreciated the visit from Hannah Schauer, the DNR biologist who informed us about the management of game animals during her presentation at New Lothrop last week. Along with Hannah's visist, a video from the DNR on YouTube caught my interest so I shared it below.

 I have pasted the links that Hannah Schauer provided to guide student investigations in the space below:

Wildlife reports: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10363_48664---,00.html

2016 Bear hunter harvest report: 
 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2016_mi_black_bear_hunter_survey_results_579049_7.pdf
2016 Deer harvest report: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2016_deer_harvest_survey_report_575841_7.pdf
Bear Management Plan: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/Bear_Management_Plan__FINALwith_Director_signature_283047_7.pdf
Deer Management Plan: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/mi_deer_management_plan_547265_7.pdf
Deer Management Unit information used to make management decisions – summary for our area: http://www.michigandnr.com/Publications/pdfs/wildlife/dmu_info/DMU_419.pdf
Find information on any deer management unit here: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10363_10856-428859--,00.html )

For life history information on different species, this is a good online resource to use:
http://animaldiversity.org/. 
For bird life history information, I’d recommend this site:
 https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search
Examples of some citizen science projects your students could participate in that help inform management decisions here in Michigan:

• Reporting reptile and amphibian sightings: https://www.miherpatlas.org/
• Reporting monarch sightings: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
• Reporting invasive species: http://www.misin.msu.edu/

Hannah offered her assistance and provided her contact information in case we have any frther questions.

Hannah Schauer

Communications & Education Coordinator

DNR Wildlife Division

517-388-9678

DonorsChoose request

Hi Friends,

I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed, so I just created a DonorsChoose.org classroom request.

High Quality and Easy to Use 3D Printer

In return, you'll get awesome photos of your gift in action and our heartfelt thanks.

Thank you so much,

Mr Delemeester

P.S. If you know anyone who may want to help my students, please pass this along!

The Eclipse!

Visit the Nasa Eclipse website at https://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive information about the August 21st 2017 eclipse.  If you see this post on August 21st you can watch streaming video of the event

National Geographic Photo Ark

I watched a PBS presentation about the National Geographic Society's Photo Ark last night.   A composite of some of the pictures from the photo ark website is shown below:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/photo-ark/about/

The Photo Ark came about through the work of Joel Sartore recording beautiful photographs living creatures.  This work is supported by the National Geographic Society with the goal of saving threatened and endangered species.

The program was very interesting and reminded me that I like to take pictures of interesting organisms I encounter and learn about them.  I think we can all stand a little more connection to and understanding of how we affect and are affected by the world around us.

Keeping government data publicly available helps the process of science proceed

Here's an update on a previous post about Earth's climate...  

A 2016 blog post about the most recent record setting temperature record on the Lyncean Group of San Diego website commended NOAA and NASA for their openness sharing the data on which their analysis was based.

The visualization below from NASA illustrates Earth’s long-term warming trend, showing temperature changes from 1880 to 2015 as a rolling five-year average. Orange colors represent temperatures that are warmer than the 1951-80 baseline average, and blues represent temperatures cooler than the baseline.  Free access to this data allows all citizens to discuss the concerns of global climate change. 

source: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20160120/

This data and these discussions are critical in the search to find the truths about our world that scientists seek.

NASA Update on SN 1987a

NASA updated their Supernova 1987a page with some excellent imagery and a cool 3D visualization of the expanding ring which is remnant of a star observed exploding in 1987.

NASA 3D Visualization

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/sn1987amodel.gif

Read more about this supernova at the NASA website: 

"The Dawn of a New Era for Supernova 1987a"

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/the-dawn-of-a-new-era-for-supernova-1987a

Railroad History and Saginaw's Castle Museum

I had an enjoyable visit at the Castle Museum in Saginaw this weekend and talked at length with Bill Falkenberg, a railroad enthusiast and volunteer at the museum. The visit led to further research on railroads in Michigan and a very informative online map at http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Evolution/1880s/Lower1888.htm.  It was interesting to think about how our history is interwoven with the development of the railroads in our state.

Much more information about railroad history in Michigan is available at http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/RRHXHome.htm

The Singing Dentist covers Ed Sheeran

A little fun for Friday....

Red Nova predicted for 2022

One of my students in Earth Science class found this YouTube video predicting that a pair of stars identified as KIC9832227 in the constellation Cygnus will merge and be visible to everyone on Earth in the year 2022.  The video from "CosmosNews" is shown below.

Please read more about this subject at http://earthsky.org/space/star-predicted-to-explode-in-2022

The video at the EarthSky website is shown below

2016 Hottest Year on Record

2016 Hottest Year on Record

 https://www.facebook.com/theconversationUS/posts/1829973957242498

https://www.facebook.com/NOVApbs/posts/10154229301607196

2015 PISA Results: US Science Scores on PISA slightly above International Average

2015 PISA Results: US Science Scores slightly above International Average

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/

Related Stories...

From Slate in 2014 - What’s Holding Back American Teenagers?  Laurence Steinberg asserts that if we want our teenagers to thrive, we need to help them develop the non-cognitive traits it takes to complete a college degree—traits like determination, self-control, and grit. This means classes that really challenge students to work hard—something that fewer than one in six high school students report experiencing, according to Diploma to Nowhere, a 2008 report published by Strong American Schools. Unfortunately, our high schools demand so little of students that these essential capacities aren’t nurtured. As a consequence, many high school graduates, even those who have acquired the necessary academic skills to pursue college coursework, lack the wherewithal to persevere in college. 

From Upworthy in 2012 - Ask The Kids.   Amanda Ripley surveyed hundreds of US students that participated in foreign exchange in a high performing country.  She found three major points about the US education system that they all agreed on.  The students all said that in their foreign host countries:

• School is harder. There's less homework but the material is more rigorous. People take education more seriously, from selecting the content to selecting the teachers.

• Sports are just a hobby. In the U.S., sports are a huge distraction from the business of school, but that's not the case in other countries.

   and most importantly

• Kids believe there's something in it for them. The students in other countries deeply believe that what they are doing in school affects how interesting their lives were going to be. Even if they don't like a class, they see their education as a stepping stone to their future.

  The YouTube video below shows Ms. Ripley presenting her conclusions.