Thar Be Pirates About!

This weekend we went to such a fabulous concert!  It was part of the North Carolina Symphony Summerfest Concert series, which I have blogged about previously.  The title of Saturday night's show was Pirates, and it comprised all sorts of nautical-related music.

At first, I was concerned it might be a bit too commercially-oriented, but that turned out not to be the case at all.  Yes, it did have music from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies--which, I have to admit, I was so wrong about and love although I ridiculed it prior to actually seeing the movies (that is generally true about the movies as well as the music in them).  So, yes, they are ridiculously popular and money-making movies, but that doesn't mean that Hans Zimmer's music wasn't great, because I think that it was.

But the show contained so much more than that.  It did have its show element, with songs from the movie Hook, the musical Peter Pan, and even the classic Captain Blood.  It had light operetta (The Pirates of Penzance) and Wagner's opera, The Flying Dutchman, along with some traditional sea chanties and nautical songs.  The NC Symphony did a wonderful job with all these works.

However, my son and I were particularly enthusiastic about two sets of modern compositions.  I was really struck by some songs done by a composer from Greensboro, NC, who had written a musical about North Carolina's most notorious pirate, Blackbeard.  Laurelyn Dossett got to sing two of her songs from that show, entitled Bloody Blackbeard, accompanied by the state's symphony, which I imagine is pretty much a life's ambition for a local composer.  They were great songs, and I hope they become more well known.

My son's favorite was a piece called The Last Voyage of the Currituck:  A Symphonic Odyssey, which was by Terry Mizesko, who is a member of the NC Symphony.  This six-part piece ran from the hussle-bussle of taking off, to the enthusiastic beginnings, later longing for those at home, and eventual bad end in the Bermuda Triangle, with dramatically different emotions conveyed by the talented musicians.  It was also a well-written work that I hope will gain wider renown.

But I give the NC Symphony a lot of credit for a really well-developed evening of music around this theme.  As I've stated before, I come from Washington DC, so I'm used to a high level of cultural arts in my arts, museums, theater, and musical performances.  And I don't really expect the North Carolina institutions to compete with what it is possible for, say, the Smithsonian Institution or the Kennedy Center for the Arts to do.  But I think North Carolina has been really smart about targeting the resources that it has.  So, for example, the NC Zoo has an African section and a North American section; it has restricted its scope, and does those two areas really well, rather than having a mediocre mish-mash of animals from all over the world.  Similarly, both the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina Aquariums (all three of them) design their major exhibits around North Carolina environments (terrestrial or aquatic); again, this gives a logical focus to their museums, and they cover that narrower focus really well.

And so for the theme of Pirates, the Symphony found a way to focus the show on North Carolina talents and assets, including the always intriguing legends of Blackbeard.  The concert tied into the recent exhibit in the North Carolina Maritime Museum on Treasures from the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's flagship vessel that has recently been been recovered from the seabed along the North Carolina coast.

Plus, it was a lovely night, we were seeing the show with good friends, we had plenty to eat and drink, they had all kinds of pirate exhibits and activities to entertain the children, PLUS they had fireworks afterwards.  So what's not to love?

PS--Here is my son's blog post inspired by the concert.

Curriculum Resource: Museum Educator Bob Alderink

If you live in the Triangle area and aren't familiar with one of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences premier educators, Bob Alderink, then you are really missing out.  Bob Alderink is exactly the kind of person you want your child to be learning science from; he is passionate about his subject, knows all sorts of both deep and trivial knowledge on many different aspects of biology, and is an excellent presenter who couches his lessons with demonstrations, hands-on activities, age-appropriate pacing, and really great energy and humor.

For years, we have enjoyed Alderink's presentations at the NCMNS.  My son has watched the same show over multiple times (an unusual behavior for him) because of Alderink's energy and funny comments.  However, Alderink also offers a number of classes for homeschoolers outside of the Museum, and we were fortunate enough to attend a series of his wildlife classes this past year.  Just walking through the woods with Alderink is a treasure, because he can explain so many interesting facets of just about every plant you pass.

So I was so glad to hear that the North Carolina Science, Math, and Technology Center recently awarded its first ever award for Outstanding Informal Educator to Bob Alderink.  You can learn more about Alderink and his work in science education through this video on the SMT website.

Or, you can see some of Alderink's work here on a new project he is doing for the NCMNS:  a series of short videos entitled A Moment of Science:




I was so pleased to hear about Alderink's award--I don't know anyone who deserves recognition more than he does for the wonderful job he does on turning kids onto science.  If you don't know him, you should definitely go see one of his public educational presentations at the Museum.  And if you are a homeschooler and have an opportunity to attend some of his classes, jump on it!  You won't be disappointed.

Vanished Science Game: An Update

Another family is playing the Vanished science game with us.  Vanished, as I described in an earlier post, is an online game developed by MIT and the Smithsonian Institute to engage middle schoolers in science investigations.  In the game, we are being contacted by someone from the future, who is trying to figure out what caused an environmental disaster in their time/place that also wiped out all written records.  Participants get various clues and assignments online, but also are requested to go out into the world to collect data about climate, animal and plant species, and other environmental factors, and to upload them onto the site.  There are a number of collaborating museum and science centers that are also sponsoring events to assist with this project.

We are fortunate, because one of the museums that is participating is the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh.  Last week we got a communication from our mysterious online leader telling us to visit the museum on Saturday, April 23, to get more clues about the situation.  So our team went down there, not knowing what to expect.

It took us a bit, but eventually we found our game contact in Miss Liz, who is one of the educators who works at the museum.  She did not tell us anything directly, but pointed us in the direction of a few exhibits that she thought would help answer the cryptic message we had received about visiting the museum.  She was also wonderful about helping us think through what we had noticed from the exhibit, and answering questions about the science of that situation, if not about the game per se, which she said she didn't know any more about than we did.  After we had displayed enough understanding of the exhibit, she awarded us with individual patches from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as what she called an "easter egg" (in the digital sense, even though ours happened to take place during the Easter weekend)--another clue about the mystery, this time in the form of a poem.

I will admit that I am very confused about what is going on with this game.  However, our students are interested and engaged, and they are enjoying it.  We can understand specific directions in the game, including the "missions" that include data collection and reporting, and events such as visiting the Museum on Saturday, and those activities are valuable, regardless of whether or not we ever figure out the overall mystery.   And I really appreciated the activity on Saturday because although we've probably visited that museum close to 100 times since it opened, and have walked by the exhibit involved most of those visits, I never took the time to piece together the story that part of the exhibit told until this Vanished visit on Saturday.  It just goes to show the depth of information in these science museums, and how even those of us who are members and frequent visitors still have lots to learn, no matter how many times we have been there.

So I would recommend this program to other middle schoolers who want to add a little science mystery to their end of the school year activities.  All the past activities are on the website, so you can still catch up if you are interested.  This is an interesting attempt to engage middle schoolers in science in a very non-traditional way.

Smithsonian and MIT Launching Interactive Science Game for Middle Schoolers

The scientists at the Smithsonian Institute have cooked up a scientific mystery, and they are asking the nation's middle schoolers to solve it.  It is a game, but also serious business: to demonstrate to students in the 11-14 age range that science is not merely memorizing a bunch of facts and figures, but instead involves using scientific clues, tools to make sense of data that at first seems completely random.

The game is called Vanished, and has been developed by the Smithsonian Institute and the Education Arcade (the learning games development center) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  The game will be played both online and in real life over an 8-week period, as students work together to solve a puzzle related to a fictitious environmental disaster.  Clues will be given online each week, but students will also be encouraged to visit local museums and collect data locally in order to figure out the solution.  The middle schoolers will also be able to interact with working scientists from MIT, the Smithsonian, and other locations to get answers they need as they work towards their solutions.  Ultimately, the investigate includes aspects of many different disciplines, including life sciences, environmental sciences, paleontology, archaeology, geology, anthropology, math, the arts, and language arts.

Those in the Wake County area are fortunate, because the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is one of about 20 institutions that are affiliated with the Smithsonian's efforts.  These means that some of the clues will lead to exhibits or information contained in the museum in Raleigh.  These local clues are to be shared with student teams across the country, creating nationwide cooperation among middle schoolers dedicated to solving the problem.

To sign up for the game, visit the website at http://vanished.mit.edu.  Then stay tuned for April 4, when the first clues will begin to arrive in email inboxes across the country.

Museum's Middle School Girls in Science Applications Due February 4, 2011

If you have a 6th or 7th grade girl who is passionate about science and who lives in Wake County, NC or one of the surrounding counties, you might want to look into the Girls in Science Neuse River Project sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  This intensive 10-week program allows middle school girls to work individually with female scientists investigating issues related to wetlands and native species in North Carolina.  The weekly sessions, which take place from 3:30-5:30 each Tuesday afternoon (starting March 1), will include classes at the museum or other science institutions, field trips, and hands-on experiments in the field.  There is also an overnight stay at the Museum' Prairie Ridge facility, followed by an Open House presentation of the outcomes achieved on May 15.

To apply, download the form and schedule from the Museum's website (click here to go to that page).  The application includes an essay by the student, a personal recommendation from an adult not related to the student, and a recommendation from the girl's 6th grade science teacher (who I think can be related--at least, I know that homeschoolers have participated in this program).  If accepted, there is a $65 fee (mostly to cover equipment and the overnight stay) and an expectation that the student will attend all sessions.  The complete application is due IN the Museum by 5:00 on Friday, February 4.

I do have one friend whose daughter participated in this program, and they found it to be valuable.  So those of you with middle school girls whose schedules aren't TOO overloaded already might want to take advantage of what I'm sure is a high-quality program (at least, we've always been impressed with the quality of the classes we've taken through the Museum).

Geckos, Music, and Photos, Oh My!

Today we went to the National Geographic Museum, which had four terrific exhibits in one location.

• The main thing we went to see was the Gecko exhibit, where they have around 20 different varieties of live geckos on display.  Not only was it fun to see so many different types of geckos (which I didn't realize lived in so many different countries and environments), it was fascinating what scientists are learning about geckos, particularly about the unique way they attach themselves to trees or vertical surfaces.
• They were also showing an exhibit called "Wild Music," which explores sounds in natural and different human cultural envrionments and how they influence, contribute to, inspire, or can even be considered music.  It was a wonderful blend of nature and high technology about an artisitic subject (one of the panels discussed the wide difference in opinion about what even should be considered music).  This exhibit had actually already been displayed at our local science museum, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (one of the developers of the exhibit was the Music Research department of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro), but it was several years ago.  We enjoyed it a lot then, but enjoyed revisiting it today, especially since my son is now several years older and could appreciate things he didn't back then.
• Of course, National Geographic is famous for its fabulous photographs, and they had another display of wonderful photographs taken all over the world that ended up not getting into the article for which they were shot.  So we got to see photos of a water park in China, brightly painted boys undergoing an initiation ritual in Ethiopia, turquoise-clad women in Afganistan, and much more.
• Finally, they had one other photographic display, this time of American presidents.  They had a lovely collection of capturing presidents in candid poses that revealed a lot of their personality.  It 1was also a good review for my son's recollection of the last ten presidents.

Snowflake Photography

Now that we're done with both Christmas and Boxing Day, the big excitement around here is the SNOW.  My sister-in-law up North reports that the snow in Raleigh even made the front page of The New York Times.  We've just gotten in from driving around looking at pretty snow scenes, sledding, and having the obligatory snow ball fight.

I'm sure that the many of you all who are blessed with similar winter wonderlands have been out taking pictures of the snow.  But for something different, how about taking pictures of the snowflakes themselves?    Here is an article talking about how to take shots using a popular point-and-click camera, and here is another one with more specialized camera equipment.  Apparently the hardest parts are finding an individual snowflake, or else separating one from a clump without destroying it, and getting enough light without melting the snowflake.   If you are using things like tweezers (to capture a snowflake) or some kind of dark background to contrast with the snowflake, make sure to pre-cool them.

Of course, if all that is too much for you, Snow Crystals.com is a fantastic resource on snowflakes.  Not only do they have a photo gallery of wonderful pictures of snowflakes, they have information on photographing snowflakes (for dedicated photographers only), the science behind snow and ice crystals, snowflake classification, and even how to make your own snowflakes.

So there you go!  Your art and science activities for the day are all set now.

Curriculum Resources: Interactive Science Visualizations

I thought I would take a break from my educational theorizing today and share two science learning websites we've used lately (for those readers who are looking for some more concrete middle school resources).  My son has been taking two great science classes through one of our homeschool learning coops, but we've used these sites at home to reinforce and supplement the hands-on experiments and activities he has been doing in class.

First, he has been doing a class on Cells where they have been looking through the microscope, doing experiments, and making models of cells and their components.  But we found that Sheppard Software's Cell Games is a great review for what he has learned in class, as well as a way to extend his knowledge beyond animal cells to plants and bacteria as well.  These are really well-done visual depictions and short, comprehensible descriptions of the different organelles in each of the three types of cells.  First you learn about each one, then drag the correct label to a picture of each part of the cell.  Once they get them all right, they get to see a little animation, such as a cell dividing.  My one complaint is that I can't really call these games, since there is no random aspects to them, nor any choices besides matching the right items together. But as interactive visual manipulatives, they are really well done.  While his teacher deserves kudos for how well he recalled the names of the organelles of the animal cell (and corrected my pronunciation, since it's been a LOOONG time since I've taken biology), he said that the visualizations was helpful in understanding cell operations.

He has also been taking a class entitled "Mysteries of Geology," which has been focused on learning rock and mineral analysis, and spending time each class applying the theories and definitions they've learned to identify what the mysterious rock and mineral samples the teacher gives them actually are.  Looking to extend his geological concepts, we spent time this afternoon working with "Landform Detective," which is part of The Jason Project's unit on Geology called "Tectonic Fury."  (If you aren't familiar with The Jason Project, you should check them out; they are leaders in developing science curriculum for middle schoolers based on real-world, interactive scenarios--and it is all free online!)

Landform Detective is, once again, not really what I would call a game.  But it is an engaging and effective simulation that teaches how unique landscapes around the globe were formed.  What happens is that the student choses one of 25 landmarks, such as the White Cliffs of Dover or the Grand Canyon, and compares how it looks now to how it looked thousands, millions, or even billions of years ago.  They then have to pick what geological processes--plate tectonics, volcanoes, erosion, glacier movement, etc.--produced that particular landform.  Many of the landmarks involved two or three processes, so they have to put them in the right order AS WELL AS associate them with the right timeframe (some processes require only a thousand years or so, while others took millions or billions).  However, before you think you'll have to get your masters in geology before your children with these simulations--their choices are constrained, usually to three or four options, and they can run simulations before making their final selections to see if each process is getting them towards the final product or not (and how long it takes).  Each stage is done separately, so they have to get the first process and time right before they can proceed to the next, and are given a clue if they choose a wrong answer.  In the end, a real geologist comes and says a little about the place, and the entire animation runs to simulate the entire period of geological activity.

As usual, my words don't do the simulations justice.  All I can say is that they are well-designed and well-executed, and are PERFECT for visual learners like my son.  While he fussed when I first told him we were going to check it out, he sat there and did it for almost an hour and a half straight until he had completed all 25 landforms.  And although it took him about an hour to do the first 15 scenarios, I think it only took him 20 minutes to do the last ten.  So in that first hour, he had really gotten a concept of what processes produced what kinds of effects on the land and which ones had to come before other ones, and he was really able to apply that to answer the last 10 quickly and accurately.  Also, to be perfectly honest, I had a bit more knowledge going in, so I led at least some of the first maybe, 6 or so scenarios, after that, my son was processing the visual information so much more quickly than I was that he was making a choice faster than I could even consider the options, and checking off his selection before I could say, "Do you think we should....?" whatever.

It was a major success in our household, so I recommend it to others wholeheartedly.  But I can't call it a game....

Plans for the NC Museum of Natural Sciences New Research Center

As I discussed in a previous post, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is building an addition that will house new educational, research, and exhibition areas to help visitors understand how science has developed the scientific knowledge it has attained.  While there are all sorts of exciting plans in the works--multimedia presentations, interactive displays, and working state-of-the-art labs, particularly exciting for those of us with middle schoolers students and above are the possible of expanded educational programs that can go into greater depth about some of science's most pressing issues.

Today we got a preview of some of the plans under development from one of the Museum's educational staff.  First, the bad news:  the new facility will probably not be operational until 2012.  They expect to complete construction by late 2011, but preparing the exhibits and laboratories will take additional time.  In particular, there has to be a "settling in" period of some months that will allow dust, particles, or other cast-offs of the construction materials to clear the air before they can bring in the sensitive computer and laboratory equipment that will outfit the building.

However, once things get underway, they expect to be running educational programs in several different labs.  The labs specifically mentioned were a macrobiology lab, a microbiology lab, and a digital visualization lab that will specialize in helping us to understand how all the data scientists collect can be displayed in a visual way so that humans can actually understand it.  It sounds like these labs will come complete with fantastic microscopes and other equipment that will allow a small class to have hands-on experience with some advanced science topics.

So we still have to be patient for a little while.  However, particularly for those of us in the Raleigh area, it seems like this will be a great addition to our children's access to high-quality hands-on science education.  Also, for those of us who homeschool, the Museum is definitely open to and enthusiastic about working with homeschoolers to make sure their new offerings help meet our needs for the kinds of hands-on laboratory science that prepares our students for college.

Science Education Resource for Middle Schoolers Coming Soon

I had a really special  opportunity this evening for some advanced information about the new science education wing being built adjoining the North Carolina  Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh (affectionately called "the dinosaur museum" by many local families due to the rooftop glass dome where pterosaurs can be seen circling the fierce Acrocanthosaurus fossil known as the "Terror of the South).  The new section, currently called the Natural Resources Center (although that name may change), is an 80,000 square foot addition that will house labs, interactive exhibits, live presentations, and classes geared towards middle school students and up.    There will be a four-story, round multimedia presentation area called The Daily Planet that will introduce visitors to science research and topical scientific discoveries.

As explained by the museum staff, the existing museum was designed to answer "What Do We Know About Science?"  The new component will answer a different question:  "How Do We Know It?"  The new center will give students a chance to really delve into the meat of scientific inquiry through classes and interactive labs that let them use real lab equipment to collect data, make predictions, and find out results of current scientific investigations.

Another facet of the new building is that it is designed and being constructed with the latest in green technologies.  We were fortunate enough to get to hear from the architect about how the floor plans had been designed to maximize natural lighting (through windows with super-efficient glass, so that they save energy costs as well as let in light), how the rainwater will be collected and recycled to flush toilets and water plants, and how environmentally-friendly building materials are coming from local sources, saving transportation costs of the supplies.

For more information on the facility, or to see the architects' drawings and visualizations, visit their website at:http://naturalsciences.org/nature-research-center/how-do-we-know.

It looks like it will be a fantastic place for people from all over to visit, but those of us who live in the area will be particularly fortunate to have such a cutting edge learning and research facility easily available to our children