Better thoughts

During my weird week, I also had a couple signs of beauty.  Both from my nieces, and one in the midst of sadness.  If I haven't reminded you before: I've got great nieces!

First, from my niece Kristen, whom you've heard from before, an observation about science/scientists:

Somehow I was chosen as one of two students who got to share dinner at an excellent Cuban place (which the school paid for) with most of the chemistry professors and the person who gave a presentation to us tonight about his job as an environmental consultant. So much knowledge was tossed around at the dinner table oh my gosh I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such an interesting group of people. I also feel really proud to be going to a school where the professors and students can eat and be nerds together like one happy dork family :'D

Second, following the death of Leonard Nimoy (best known as Spock, from Star Trek), my other niece Madeline:

Losing our beloved Mr. Spock left me with an empty part of my heart, being that my best friend and I call each other Kirk and Spock. In the words of that same friend we must not think of the fact he is gone, but to remember all of the good times we had with him.

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Science Fair Participants

First: Congratulations to Elliott Rebello, winning his category in the Eleanor Roosevelt HS Science Fair.  (The reason I single him out -- he's my intern.  Be sure, though: the work he presented was his.  And it was his presentation and understanding that earned him his place.  Yay Elliott!)

Having judged another year's science fair at ERHS, I'll share some thoughts for participants.  I'm a little emboldened that maybe I know something since Elliott did well.  On the other hand, maybe he did well in spite of me.  Use your own judgement on what ideas to make use of, and how to make use of them.

One note: I never did very well in science fairs when I was growing up.  You don't have to do well in science fairs to do well in science, even more true than you don't have to be good at math to do well in science.  One failing in most of my projects: I was setting about learning what was already known, rather than striking out my own path.  This is an excellent way to learn more, but not to get science fair points.

My base suggestion for any age: try to learn more about the universe, know what you did and why you did it.  Maybe there are points in it, maybe not.  But you'll definitely learn something, which is always good.

For science fairs, the major categories on the official judge's score sheet are: 'Scientific Thought', 'Creative Ability', 'Thoroughness/Clarity', and 'Exhibit Presentation'.  They have some connection to usual professional proposal or paper review criteria (except, mostly, for exhibit presentation).
But we all, and it's interesting that it's all of us given that we come from different backgrounds, even judges in my rather small niche, think differently than this.  We start more like journalists:

• What did you do?
• Why did you do it?
• Why did you do it this way?
• What did you learn?
• How would you do it differently?  (given what you've learned)

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Science Fair Judges

I'll write about and to science fair judges before a note to the students.  A joke I made today got its due chuckle, but there's a real point to it.  I observed of judges that "We're very scary people."

Now, we know ourselves, and scientists in general are not scary people at all.  Even more so, if anything, those of us who do science fair judging.  We tend to be parents with school age kids ourselves, or at least not too long since we were (and, in my case, I'm still an uncle to kids this age).  And to like talking with kids and have a certain degree of understanding of (in today's case) 14-18 year olds. 

On the other hand, I can recall ages back, when I was a 26 year old finishing his PhD and presenting at an international scientific meeting.  Only about 200 people in the room (on the other hand: 200 people in the room!).  And I was 26 and nearly done with a PhD, not a 14-18 year old in perhaps my first talk with a scientist.  But I was seriously nervous, before, during, and after.  Most of that was unnecessary, as, again, scientists aren't actually a very scary bunch.  (It did work out in my accidental favor, more in a moment.) 

It was a great relief to survive the talk (nobody threw anything!  er, ok, that didn't happen to anyone, and I'd never seen it happen before.  But ... I was nervous).  And it was thrilling when, unforced, one of the 'Big Name in Field' people present said they'd liked my presentation.

I try to pass this along (not the big name in field aspect, which I'm not, but at least a good word somewhere).  And try to de-scarify for the students I talk to about their work.  We're still pretty scary to the students.  But I enjoyed my chats with students, and hope they came away with a bit more understanding of doing science.

The 'more in a moment':  The later postscript on my presentation was about my nerves.  Back then, when I was nervous, I spoke slower.  Opposite of most people, but it worked in my favor.  The thing was, at an international meeting, many people (in this case, about 2/3rds) are not native English speakers.  A speed that a nervous native is capable of racing through can be all but impossible for a non-native to follow.  Since I slowed down, I was more understandable to the group.  Several folks thanked me for my consideration.  They didn't know it was terror :-)

Undergraduate Opportunities from NASA and NSF

Last Monday was opportunities for high school, and by chance, today, I'll move up to college.  From one of my email lists:

NASA offers paid undergraduate and graduate level internships in a wide variety of disciplines.  Over 200 internships are available.  The deadline is March 1^st, but offers may begin going out as early as Feb. 2^nd.  Visit http://intern.nasa.gov to apply for up to 15 opportunities with a single application.

NSF offers a wide variety of paid summer research experiences for undergraduates.  To search over 600 programs, please visit:  http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/undergrads.asp

For summer research specifically in ocean sciences:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/oceanscience.asp

For summer research specifically in engineering:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/engineering.asp

For mentoring and professional development support, please take a look at AGEP alliances:

http://www.agep.us

National Center for Science Education now also defending science on climate change

The National Center for Science Education is now also engaging on teaching good science on climate change.  I've long been a member, because they've been for even longer helping ensure that science is taught in biology classes.  I'm not quick on the announcement, it was originally made on the 16th.  But if you haven't seen the mention yet, it's new to you :-)

I'll add a few thoughts of my own as a long-time member, and one who had suggested some time back to the director, Eugenie C. Scott, that they take this step.  One of the things I like about the NCSE is that their focus is on the science.  They're not the place to go if, say, you want someone to lobby for your idea for solving climate change.  They're a good place for parents, teachers, school boards, to go with questions and concerns about whether the science in your school's textbook is good, or is even science.  NCSE is also a good place to go to find out what is happening in your state regarding attempts to change the science curriculum away from science.  The main page address is http://ncse.com/

It was partly the tracking of attempts to remove teaching evolution in biology classes and other such anti-scientific moves that made me suggest also covering climate change science.  Increasingly, over the last 10 years, bills opposed to teaching good science in biology classrooms have been including directives opposed to teaching good science in earth science classrooms.  Bills to deny that CO2 is a greenhouse gas, or deny that there's a greenhouse effect, or to deny that CO2 is increasing and this is due to human activity, and other versions of denial.

Young scientists

In Knight anoles, you got to see part of the reason I made one of my goals for this blog to be inclusive of middle school students.  They can be quite interesting to listen to about science, and can learn quite a lot of it themselves.  Biased as I am in being a father and uncle, I still believe that kids other than mine can match, or at least approach :-) mine.

So I'll mention that if you're a teacher, parent, or a student yourself, and your kid/you write up a science essay, you're welcome to submit it here for consideration.  I'll look for the essay to teach me something about the science, and to show the love of learning about your topic that Kristen showed for hers.  As you might guess from my usual topics being climate and ice, but this note of Kristen's being lizards, you're not limited to my professional areas. 

There will be details to work out, maybe later we'd want to establish it independently of this blog.  But think of it as something in the vein of Journal of Young Scientists.  A chance to share your love of your topic with others.  You can send to me at bobg at radix dot net.  We'll play things by ear.  I've created the tag 'young scientists' and retro-applied it to Kristen's (first! :-) note.

Knight anoles and science writing

What Are Knight Anoles?

By: Kristen Martinet
December 15, 2008
Liberty Middle School
Science/ Period 2

Abstract
Knight anoles are very interesting lizards. They are the largest anoles in the world and have very distinct features such as their speckled backs and striped sides. These reptiles are an invasive species in Florida and originate from Cuba. People like to keep knight anoles as pets, but then release them into the wild without knowing the consequences for the lizard. This makes them more abundant in urban areas. They eat insects and other lizards in the wild and in captivity. When fighting off a predator, the lizard bluffs to scare it away. While fighting with other males, the anole bobs its head up and down and extends the dewlap to look tough.  In the summer, knight anoles breed to create at least eight new baby knight anoles in five-seven weeks.     Knight anoles (anolis equestris) are a very interesting species of lizard that are also called the Cuban anole. This reptile is part of the order squamata, the sub-order iguanidae, and the family polychroidae. The knight anole is part of the genus anolis, which has about 250 species (Crowther, 1999). A researcher from Centralpets.com stated that the common name “knight” is derived from the Latin species name “equestris” which is derived from “equester,” a Latin word for knight. The other common name, Cuban anole, is probably used because its first home is in Cuba.

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