Archive for the 'Howtosmile.org Web site' Category

Solar S’mores—hot fun in the summertime!

Ingredients: graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate, SUN!
With the days getting longer until June 21 (the summer solstice), there’s plenty of sun for solar fun. One recipe for sweet solar success (now or this summer) is melting s’mores in a Solar Oven —no campfire needed!
A cardboard-box solar oven that you make yourself, placed in a very sunny […]

Posted in Topics: Educator Profiles, General, Howtosmile.org Web site, Outdoor and Nature, SMILE e-newsletter

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Close Encounters of the Brainy Kind

Marian Diamond keeps her brain in a hatbox—not her own brain, but the preserved human brain she shows in her famously popular anatomy lectures at the University of California, Berkeley. Holding the brain gently in her gloved hands, Professor Diamond introduces her students (including 1.5 million YouTube viewers) to this cell mass that weighs only […]

Posted in Topics: Educator Profiles, Howtosmile.org Web site, Human Body, Human Senses and Perception, Life Sciences

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Allergic to his dissertation topic, Michael Edwards found a cure in informal science

When Michael Edwards moved from Aberdeen, Scotland, to New Brunswick, Canada, he intended to earn a PhD in biology. But he had to abandon that plan when he developed an allergy to the potato beetles he was working with.
The doctoral program’s loss was informal science’s gain; reasoning that he had enjoyed the teaching aspect of […]

Posted in Topics: Educator Profiles, Engineering and Technology, Howtosmile.org Web site, Life Sciences

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Stop motion animations on a shoestring: Make your own science videos

Have you been meaning to create some simple videos, maybe to illustrate your favorite hands-on science activity?
If you already have a high-end digital video camera, professional backdrops and lighting, and FinalCut pro, you can stop reading right now.
But what if you don’t have any of that equipment, and still want to make some stop action […]

Posted in Topics: Chemistry, Engineering and Technology, Howtosmile.org Web site

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Maps in the Oval Office: the progress of geography education

On November 5, 2008, a few days after Barack Obama was elected president, Daniel Edelson wrote an open letter to the man who would soon occupy the White House.
Edelson, National Geographic’s Vice President of Education, delivered an eloquent plea, asking that the new administration “take up the cause of geographic education.”
“The U.S. has done a […]

Posted in Topics: Earth and Space Science, Howtosmile.org Web site, Outdoor and Nature

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Getting teachers to stand on chairs & play kazoos

At an unassuming table in an unremarkable exhibit hall, sandwich bags filled with tongue depressors and rubber bands were an unexpectedly hot item.
The conference was the recent 2010 annual meeting of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) in Honolulu. The table showcased howtosmile.org, the newly launched math and science portal for informal educators.
And the sandwich […]

Posted in Topics: Howtosmile.org Web site

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