Having a dream is one thing. Setting the dream in action is another. Below are some actions I could do to support a number of characteristics, taken from my prior blog post, of my ideal community.
2. No litter on the ground
Ensure
my students do not leave my room until it looks like it did before they
entered. Make comments on how much nicer
it looks when students pick up trash.
Do my
part in keeping my work space organized.
This means coming in completely prepared, possibly prepping the night
before for the next day’s lessons.
4. People are playing outside during the day
Make
some demonstrations take place outside.
Make comments on how beautiful nature is. Share activities that are able to be done
outside, for example tennis, soccer, looking for rainbows, etc. Tell students when you plan to be at the park
to play tennis. Share pictures of bike
rides along the bike path.
5. Everyone helps take care of the community
Involve
the students in classroom decisions.
Have sign ups to take care of the turtles and their tank. Encourage all to help clean up the lab. Make specific mentions of how much more fun
and less time caring for the community takes when more people help.
10. Schools focused on student interests
Assign a personal
development plan assignment and give students options for research projects.
11. People well dressed
Offer
extra credit and have a wall keeping track of students that dress nicely.
12. People with good health
Share with
the students what my meals consist of and my exercise schedule. Share my health goals and encourage students to set their own health goals.
There have been many ideal communities, or utopias, dreamed of in the past. I, however, had not spent time thinking of what I want a community to be. As a teacher, I find this extremely problematic, for I am responsible for developing the community of the future. Moreover, the way my current students act concerns me. For example, I've heard my students talk about how they would rather stay inside all day instead of play at a park. Also, many students stay up extremely late because they have smart phones. So I find myself with this question, What characteristics do the ideal community have? Below is a very quick list I came up with.
Communal living
No litter on the ground
People recycle
People are playing outside during the day
Everyone helps take care of the community
A research lab
Community garden
Large dinners held often
Weekly votes on community projects
Schools focused on student interests
People well dressed
People with good health
In a future post, I will take some of these ideas and try to find a way to incorporate behaviors that support them into my classes.
Friday, May 31, 2013
I wanted to share what I learned from this TED Talk by Martin Seligman. First and most important, I found his separation of causes of happiness eye-opening. He claims there are three ways to increase happiness: 1. living the pleasant life, or seeking rewards, 2. Living the engaged life, or being in "flow", and 3. living a meaningful life, or helping a cause bigger than you. The second thing I learned was about the history of psychology. Psychology used to focus entirely on the mentally ill, but now is starting to spread out to the "normal" people. The very important question, How can we maximize happiness?, is being pursued.
I comforted in finding out that living the pleasant life was not enough for the overwhelming majority of people. For most people, it was combining at least one of the other types of lives with the pleasant life that caused the highest ratings of happiness. But, I think this is a very important observation and one that can be used to support the difference between "happiness" and "well-being". I think I'll spend time personally differentiating those two terms in another post.
Below are 20 questions I answered to help me reflect upon this past school year. I found these questions originally at Minds in Bloom.
1. What are some things you accomplished this year that you are proud of?
· Presented at the Iowa Science Teachers Association Conference
· Participated in the Flood Institute
· Made many hands-on activities for students (Rutherford trays, Newton Cars, Water Rocket Launcher, mystery tubes)
· Helped with Lego League
· Wrote notes to each student
· Finished the mentoring program
2. What is something you tried in your classroom this year for the first time? How did it go?
I attempted large-scale, small group projects with my 6th graders. The end products they created were fantastic and I loved seeing what they created. I struggled at assessing them and giving feedback, but their hard work clearly showed. I found out managing multiple projects is stressful and I need to have individual folders/notebooks for each group to help maintain my organization.
3. What is something you found particularly frustrating this year?
Classroom management – specifically the 8th graders.
4. Which student in your class do you think showed the most improvement? Why do you think this student did so well?
I.S. showed the most improvement. He started the year out as an outcast, but he realized I deeply cared and would listen to him. He also found a group of friends that supported him. He went from causing trouble to causing motivation in me to teach!
5. What is something you would change about this year if you could?
I would know exactly how I would like to manage my classroom so it fits within my ethics and is not overly complicated.
6. What is one way that you grew professionally this year?
I felt much more active with the staff this year. I reached out for more help than I did last year.
7. Who among your colleagues was the most helpful to you?
B. A.
8. What has caused you the most stress this year?
The students not showing me their appreciation for the amount of time I put in for them.
9. When was a time this year when you felt joyful and/or inspired about the work that you do?
S. E. coming in after his guitar performance to get my feedback. J. C. building a model rocket for his self-development project and his excitement to show EVERYONE. K. W. creating a mission to Mars and his classmates saying it felt like a real mission.
10. What do you hope your students remember most about you as a teacher?
My honesty with them is what I want them to remember.
11. In what ways were you helpful to your colleagues this year?
I helped with Lego League and shared my activities.
12. What was the most valuable thing you learned this year?
You can’t effectively teach without first building the relationships with students.
13. What was the biggest mistake you made this year? How can you avoid making the same mistake in the future?
I put too much energy in my lessons while ignoring the relationships with students. Then, when my lessons “failed”, it hurt me emotionally. This caused me to struggle at maintaining motivation to keep putting my best effort forward.
14. What is something you did this year that went better than you thought it would?
Presenting one of my lessons at the conference went really well. Not only did Meag and I help other teachers, but the other teachers brainstormed ways to extend or improve the lesson!
15. What part of the school day is your favorite? Why?
My first hour class was my favorite. The students worked for me and I was able to be my goofy self!
16. What were your biggest organizational challenges this year?
Papers. I scattered them everywhere. Also, mentally knowing where each class was in my lessons from day to day.
17. Who was your most challenging student? Why?
Ja. C. was challenging. His attitude rode like a roller coaster. I could not read him and struggled at staying consistent with him.
18. In what ways did you change the lives of your students this year?
I let many know their passions were truly important and worth pursuing.
19. Pretend that you get to set your own salary for this past year based on the job that you did. How much do you feel that you earned (the number you come up with should be in no way based on your current salary - rather, come up with a number that truly reflects how you should be compensated for your work this year)?
45,000
20. Knowing what you know now, would you still choose to be a teacher if you could go back in time and make the choice again? If the answer is "no," is there a way for you to choose a different path now?
I feel like I would want to end up as a teacher. I do not know if I would start off as one. I am unsure if I have enough life experiences to both share with students and to personally grow from.
What ideas do I want my students to take away from my class? This question has been a major reflecting piece for me lately. After many realizations, the big ones being that people only remember what they consistently use and people will only put forth great effort if the goal is visible and meaningful, I concluded my teaching must focus on four big ideas. I will be releasing these ideas in a series of blog posts, with the first being the idea that science is an art. First, I will explain why I think understanding that science is an art is valuable to deeply understand. Second, I will make my argument for the truth of the statement science is an art.
What makes knowing science is an art valuable? First and foremost, people love to be creative. Creating a product increases happiness. If people understood science heavily depends on being creative and producing new products, then more people will want to pursue it. Also, if you want to stay competitively ahead in the global economy (which I know I do because this American lifestyle is awesome!), then having motivated people in scientific fields is required. In fact, having creative people in general is better for an economy, regardless the discipline in which they are working (this is why I disagree strongly whenever schools cut "art" programs for budget reasons, for education should allow the opportunity to practice being creative in a variety of disciplines). Sadly, the way science has been primarily taught is as a skill or a list of facts to memorize. If the goal is to learn a scientific subject, such as chemistry, then it could be presented as a list of facts. However, if the goal is to learn what science is, then memorizing facts causes a false idea of what science is in the learner. Importantly, science is how the content came to be known, not the content itself.
A second reason for understanding that science is an art is for the likely decrease in what I'm going to call "social elitism." People put scientists up on a pedestal; I often hear phrases such as "I'm too dumb for science." But if people understood that science is an art, then the imaginary pedestal will at least shrink to a step. People understand being a good artist, whether a musician, painter, or athlete, requires practice and dedication. This will at least cause people to respect a scientist more on a personal level like they do other artists. I can only dream of how cool it would be to have a group of students dreaming about becoming scientists instead of the normal dreams of being an athlete, rockstar, or hero. These two reasons can be obtainable if one understands that science is an art, but to what extent IS science an art?
Let's look at some quotes trying to describe art.
"Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man’s emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity."
"Art is a discovery and development of elementary principles of nature into beautiful forms suitable for human use."
Both of these quotes speak of a product being created for human use. I believe another way to define art is as a product a person created. Let's look at a few examples. First, we have a painter creating a painting. Second, we have a musician creating a song. Third, we have an athlete creating a performance. For science, the product being created is knowledge about the physical workings of the universe.
A second similarity between art and science is the fact that the best products get used. Again, let's look at some examples. First, you'd pay more money for a professional painting than a painting by a kindergartner. Second, if a musician's music is really good, then it becomes popular and played on the radio. Third, a professional athlete is arguably one of the best at his/her sport. For science, only the best scientific theories are used. Furthermore, science also has "teams" for which to cheer. An example is the two teams of explaining gravity. In one corner we have string theory. In the other corner we have loop quantum gravity. And just like painters, musicians, and sporting teams have their own supporters, these two scientific ideas do, too!
My last piece of my argument is the fact all arts have techniques to help them. For example, painters learn brush techniques and how to mix paint. Also, musicians must learn how to play their instruments and write songs. And athletes learn proper form and the rules of the sport. For science, scientists learn how to test variables, interpret data, and form a conclusion. All these techniques can be practiced, meaning everyone's ability can increase in any art discipline.
Science is an art. Creating art adds both meaning and happiness to a person's life. I'll leave you with this one last piece of evidence. All art is created by a person. Science, too, is a human endeavor! For the greater good, people must understand science is an art...
Overall, I'm becoming much happier with how I've been teaching. My classes are beginning to feel more structured, I feel prepared, I'm assessing the students more, and some students who were not working for me are starting to put forth some effort. Huge gains! There is just one lacking piece: my students aren't excited about what they are learning about. At all...
In order to ease the stress on me, I've been relying on the American Chemical Society's lessons specifically designed to teach middle school students. These lessons are full of cheap, hands-on activities and the website provides animations to help the students visualize what's happening in the "land of particles". Unfortunately for me, I had a bad spell of teaching where my students developed a terrible image and emotion towards the class. Moreover, these activities aren't "dazzling" enough to change their views (or if they are changing, then I sure wish it would go faster!).
So, how can I hook-line-and-sinker my students? I was up late last night in awe during a day dreaming session of chemistry. The following ideas are what caused the late night excitement.
1. The incredible strength of chemical bonds
2. The fact we and everything else are "dancing" particles
3. Two "wrongs" DO make a right
4. Breaking particles is what fuels us (and we run on "rechargeable" batteries)
5. Water is the coolest substance ever
I will break down each of these in more depth to both further clarify the idea and help me figure out what experiences my students will need to have the true awe feeling.
The incredible strength of chemical bonds
I wanted to see how strong chemical bonds were by comparing them to something everyone has available to them: water. I asked my students to measure how fast they could pull a drop of water 5 inches. Most people are probably thinking, "Big whoopdee doo! It's only 5 inches!" But, what is 5 inches to an individual water molecule? I did the math and if water molecules were my size, traveling 5 inches is the equivalent to traveling across the United States about 220 times! So, what was the average time my students measured for pulling a drop of water 5 inches? It was 8.02 seconds. That makes the speed for a human sized water molecule 247,371,293 miles/hour, or 37% the speed of light.
Maybe you don't appreciate the comparison I just made (e.g. the mass difference would make it physically impossible to travel that fast). However, you can't deny the fact an individual water molecule traveled more than 600,000,000 times its length in around 8 seconds. You try to keep all of your body parts while traveling at those speeds!
Amazingly, the bonds holding water molecules together are considered weak! Imagine how strong the strong bonds are!
The fact we and everything else are "dancing" particles
Take a moment and cover your ears. What do you hear? You may want to say, "nothing," but there is a hum. Now take a moment and cover your eyes. What do you see? Again, you may want to say, "nothing," but tiny "stars" are always there. How come this happens? It happens because you never stop moving! Sound and sight occur because particles hit one another which sends a signal to the brain.
Let's try another experiment. The instructions are simple: listen to the song and pay attention to what your body "wants" to do.
At 20 seconds into the song, what did you notice? Then at 40 seconds into the song, what did you notice? I'm predicting your body increased its motion at both times. Why? The answer is actually simple. At those times the energy of the song increased. In the particle world, if you increase the energy of a particle, then it will speed up. We can feel this happen to ALL of our particles when we listen to music. Thus, we are nothing more than "dancing" particles! And to emphasize my point (and show this works for non-living things, too), check out Oobleck dancing on a speaker in the video below.
Two "wrongs" DO make a right
Chemistry gives us a natural example of this popular saying. Look at how two elements react if separate:
Sodium:
Chlorine:
Chlorine gas was one of the weapons used in World War I. When breathed, the gas causes acidic burns in the lungs until the lungs no longer function. Death by asphyxiation.
Now, put these two "wrongs" together: sodium + chlorine = table salt!
Nom nom nom. There's a reason I don't buy (many) salty snacks: I don't stop eating them! Salt is not only delicious, but it's required for life. Before moving on, I must make it clear I'm using salt colloquially, meaning referring to table salt. Table salt is composed of two elements: sodium and chlorine. These elements are vital to many systems in our body, such as the immune system, nervous system, and digestive system. What exactly does sodium and chlorine do for us?
Going back to the "nom nom nom", one thing chlorine helps in is digestion! Check out this video of a McDonald's burger being placed in hydrochloric acid, the acid in our stomach.
Without our stomach acid, we would not be able to digest proteins quickly. If you want to know what happens when one becomes protein deficient, look at all the sad save-a-child-in-Africa ads!
Chlorine also plays a major role in our immune system. Most people remember the immune system has something to do with the white blood cells. But how do they actually work? The same way bleach does! See if you can find the chlorine containing compound in bleach.
If you saw "hypochlorite", then you pick up quickly! The white blood cells produce the key ingredient found in bleach, which most people know is a disinfectant. So when you are sick, know your body is "bleachin'"!
What about sodium? Well, hopefully you don't take for granted moving! Sodium plays a very important role in allowing our muscles to move. I'm specifically talking about its role in the sodium-potassium pump. Below is a diagram of how the pump functions.
There are a some important things to note. First, sodium is represented by "Na+" and potassium is represented by "K+". Second, for every 3 sodiums that exit the cell, 2 potassiums enter. Third, the "+" indicates the particles are electrically charged. So in the case of moving, being able to control the charge of the cells is important so as to not have our muscles stuck in a contraction (or a cramp), or unable to contract. Thus, sodium is a key player in our ability to move (the pump also has other functions, but I think understanding the need for motion is universal)!
Breaking particles is what fuels us (and we run on "rechargeable" batteries)
Let's marvel at how much energy is stored in bonds. My friend and I wanted to think of a way for my students to understand the amount of energy and we came up with the following demonstration. First, you show one liter of gasoline and ask students how much energy they think is stored in it. Second, you take your students to a school bus with no gas in its tank and pour the liter of gas in the tank. Third, you take the students for a ride until the bus comes to a stop and tell the students to push the bus back to school. Think of the students' faces! In case you are wondering, we calculated the bus would travel just under 3 miles on 1 liter of gasoline.
All that work of moving the school bus was contained in the bonds of the gasoline. More amazingly, the breaking of those bonds, or the burning of the fuel, is how the energy was released! The same thing is happening inside of us. Look up at the diagram above of the sodium-potassium pump. The star shape with "ATP" inside of it powers the pump, and you'll notice the "ATP" turns into "ADP". This represents one phosphate group left, or broke off, which is where the energy for the pump came from. Furthermore, that "ADP" will find another phosphate group and recharge to be used again. How incredible is that? All this renewable energy talk while our our cells have been doing it for a very long time!
Water is the coolest substance ever
What does all known life have in common? Water. It's unavoidable! But what exactly makes water so incredible? Below you will find a list of reasons why I think it's amazing.
Accounts for 99% of the molecules of a living cell
Universal solvent
Solid state is less dense than its liquid state
Great insulator
Relatively high boiling point for its size
Think about number 1 for a moment. I remember going to parties and complaining about the girl-to-guy ratio if the party was 65% guys. In living cells, water molecules account for 99% of the party attendants! If something is found in that high of percentages, then it either is extremely common or is incredibly important. Considering dehydration leads to death, we can assume water must be incredibly important. The reasons 2-5 above explain its importance. But we should start by focusing on its primary function in living cells, which is the fact it is the universal solvent.
Kool-aid. Mountain Dew. Gatorade. These are examples of solutions with water being the solvent. The key idea here is that what goes into these drinks starts off in a visible state and then water seems to make it "disappear". We know this as dissolving. So all of the salts and sugars in your Gatorade are dissolved in the water primarily making it. Contrarily, alcohol and oils, which are also liquids, do not dissolve these same substances as well as water. How come? Look at the following pictures to help you understand.
Water gently flowing from the faucet
Water bending toward combed plastic.
These pictures indicate water has a charge. Well, overall a water molecule is neutral, but one side of it is positive while the other is negative. (And in case you were wondering, I charged the plastic pasta scoop by combing it through my hair). We label this phenomenon as polar. Because the water molecule is polar, it is attracted to many substances. Moreover, this attraction allows water molecules to dissolve, or break apart, other substances. Lucky for us, the cells in our body are able to use these smaller pieces of the other substances, such as the sodium and potassium ions mentioned above!
Boy I'm glad to be alive. Nothing beats it. I should thank my parents for everything they've done, but I should WORSHIP water! Life would not exist if water was a normal substance, meaning its solid state is more dense than its liquid state. Imagine if lakes froze from the bottom to the top. Goodbye fish. More importantly, life is thought to have started in pools of water. If ice didn't form an insulating barrier on top of the liquid water, then life would not have had the opportunity to evolve. Bow down to the water gods!
Ice also shows how water is a good insulator. The layer of ice that forms on top of a lake or any body of water allows the liquid water below it to stay liquid. Another example of water's amazing insulating property is how humidity affects the weather. If there is a high percentage of water vapor, then the temperature stabilizes. This has led to quite a few miserable summer nights due to humidity, but my little discomfort is worth it! Thank you water for helping my body maintain a stable temperature and keeping me alive!
Lastly for my praises of water is the fact it has a high boiling point. To understand just how amazing this is, one must first realize how incredibly small a water molecule is. The molecular weight of water is 18 amus (atomic mass units). If you compare this to other gases, say nitrogen and carbon dioxide, then you will get an idea of how small water is. The amus of nitrogen and carbon dioxide are 28 amus and 44 amus respectively. I mention this because states of matter depend partly on the speed of the particles. So let's look at bowling balls to help me clarify my point. Which would you be able to throw faster, an 8 pound or 12 pound bowling ball? An 8 pound ball would clearly be the correct answer. Notice that water molecules are smaller than the other two gases! What about water allows it to stay in liquid state when other larger molecules are gases?
The answer is simply the polarity of water. Water's polarity allows the water molecules to hold onto one another, which causes more energy to break them apart. Now, this is required in order for life to occur at a temperature range that other important substances, mainly carbon compounds, require for optimal effectiveness. Life requires a small, liquid substance capable of transporting things around. Water is like a small rowboat. It is capable of moving up narrow streams and in open oceans.
Below is an essay I wrote for my Introduction to Philosophy course from Coursera. I thought I'd share it here. I was limited to 750 words, so please let me know where I should add more for clarity. Also, please bring up any arguments you have for or against my case.
Our morality is culturally developed, but should we accept
that fact and let cultures be? For the
greater good of society, we should not be moral relativists. If we are moral relativists, then we intentionally
allow humans to not experience maximum happiness. Experiencing happiness is the goal of life. And by allowing cultures to be ignorant, we
knowingly keep happiness from people. To
understand this point, one must acknowledge the fact there are specific actions
which lead to happiness, or morally correct actions, and specific actions which
hinders happiness, or morally wrong actions.
First, we must identify what these actions are.
What makes an action morally correct? If happiness is the goal of life, then
morally correct actions increase the happiness of a person. Broadly speaking, there are two types of
morally correct actions: 1) helping others and 2) helping oneself. By
helping others, one feels a connection to one’s group. This can be volunteering or doing a paid
job. By helping oneself, one feels
personal growth. In either, progression
can be felt, which leads to the feeling of happiness.
What makes an action morally wrong? Morally wrong actions decrease the happiness
of a person. The clearest example is
murdering another person because the murderer takes any chance of future happiness
away from the other person. Another example,
one which can be felt by another person, is lying. If a person lies to you, then you feel
distrust, which is the opposite of feeling connected to the group. So when someone lies to you, your “happiness
level” drops. Similarly, stealing is
also a morally wrong action. When
someone steals, he/she is lying about ownership and the person whose item was
stolen feels separated from the group, and thus less happy.
But what if a person’s happiness stems from making others
unhappy? At this point, we must look at
the greater community’s happiness level.
If one person’s happiness causes a net drop in a community’s happiness,
then that person would be considered immoral.
For example, many people lie in order to make their life easier. A common scenario would be a student lying
about getting his homework done to his mother, father, and teacher. The student’s happiness may increase
(possibly only momentarily, until he gets caught), while the mother’s, father’s,
and teacher’s happiness levels decrease because of the student’s lie. This is a good example of when morals
relative to groups differ: the student’s group of friends may have benefitted
from the lie, thus they may conclude lying is not immoral, yet the adult group
(mother, father, and teacher) suffered from the lie, thus they may conclude
lying is immoral. However, one must look
into the long-term effects of the lie.
Everyone involved knows the student lied, which causes the majority of
the people to distance themselves from the student. Once this happens, the majority’s happiness
level drops. Thus, the lie that
benefitted the student is still considered immoral.
What about people who are being treated unfairly, yet don’t know they are being treated
unfairly? An example is women living in
the Middle East, where the culture is male dominant. The women live happy lives. This can be explained because people will make
the most out of any situation. However, with almost certainty, increased freedom
would lead the women to more happiness. For
example, people with disabilities often say being given special treatment is
what annoys them the most. This supports
the idea that fair treatment leads to a happier life. The difference is the people with
disabilities have experienced both scenarios, where as the women may have never
been treated fairly in their whole life.
Ignorance may amount to overall happiness, but education and freedom
leads to more. Moreover, being treated
fairly makes one feel connected to the group, thus increasing happiness.
The big difference between being a moral relativist and a
moral objectivist is the amount of people one has in mind. A relativist breaks the entire human
population into smaller groups, where as the objectivist thinks of the entire
human population as a single group.
There clearly are actions, morally correct actions, which cause the
cohesiveness of a group to become stronger.
Also, there are clearly actions, morally wrong actions, which cause the
cohesiveness of a group to become weaker.
Because moral relativists can argue for morally wrong actions in certain
groups, we should not be moral relativists, but should be moral objectivists.
