What do you get when you combine knowledge, passion, experience, and some fantastic graphics? A friend sent me the link to a TED video of Robert Ballard’s talk on Exploring the Ocean’s Hidden Worlds. I thought I was fairly knowledgeable, but during his riveting talk, it became apparent how little we actually know about the seafloor. As he states, we know more about the surface of the moon than about the floor of the ocean. People enjoying a summer day at the beach have very little knowledge or appreciation of what lies beyond (and below). This is a frontier that we should be exploring, for the resources that lie below the ocean floor as well as for the study of the fantastic life forms there. This video is well worth 20 minutes of your time or your students’ time (yes, it can be downloaded).
The Internet has many other resources, but you can find relevant ones on exploring the ocean floor by logging into SciLinks and using the keyword ocean. Regardless of the grade level, you’ll find websites that are interesting, even if you don’t live near the oceans. Some of my favorites include Ocean Explorer from NOAA (which has archives of explorations starting with 2001), Dive and Discover: Expeditions to the Sea Floor from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (I’ve spent a lot of time poking around this one, including the teacher section), and Sea Floor Mapping from NOAA (this game-like activity is designed for younger elementary students).
To increase your own background knowledge, check out NSTA’s Science Objects. These free (yes, free) online resources for teachers are self-directed and provide relevant information on many topics. Related to oceanography, you’ll find topics in Earth Science such as Plate Tectonics (I’ve done these five Objects myself) and Oceans Effect on Climate and Weather (a series of four Objects). Also look at the Life Science list. The four Coral Reef Ecosystem objects review the physical and biological factors in the formation of coral reefs.
The part that I appreciated the most in Ballard’s presentation was his plea for more “jaw-dropping” moments in our schools (he mentions middle schools in particular), when our students are inspired by scientific learning and explorations and begin to make connections between this knowledge and their own lives. Having been a middle school teacher, I can agree that this enthusiastic age is the time for laying the groundwork for this sense of wonder and for an interest in further study in the sciences, whether as a career or an area of personal interest. What happens to the sense of curiosity and wonder of younger students as they progress through school?

In previous entries, I’ve mentioned the online, collaborative projects that are part of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s (CLO) Citizen Science program. Well, they’ve done it again! The Spring 2008 issue of Birdscope, (an excellent newsletter with an online version), describes the newest CLO project, CamClickr. After 9 years of nest-camming, the Lab has collected more than 7 million images from nest box cameras from across the country. These images are valuable data to answer research questions such as How do feeding rates change throughout the day? How do feeding rates change as the babies grow? What is the frequency of feeding by males as compared to females? But at this point, the images are not organized and categorized. This is where the Camclickr (yes, that’s the way they spell it) project fits in.
The Camclickr site is designed to provide a way for anyone to assist with this project, and you don’t have to be an ornithologist or bird watcher to participate. So I decided to give it a try. After logging in (you can create a login or use an existing login from another CLO project), you launch the Camclickr. You get a screen with 9 photographs and a sidebar with the categories, which are based on the presence/absence of adults in the nest. You drag and drop the photo into the appropriate category. It’s like creating a scrapbook or photo album. The site keeps track of how many you do each session, and you can review the categories to change any entries that are not correct. Save and Logout enters your work into the database. It took me a little while to make out what I was looking at, because the photos I had were from the top of the birdhouse. Each photo has a location, date, and time stamped on it, and you can enlarge the picture to get a better view. The photos can also be printed. After categorizing a set of photos, you then move to “Level 2” in which you are given your scrapbook, and for each photo in it you describe the behavior of the adults and the nestlings (from a menu). The site keeps track of what level you’re on and how many “points” you have earned. There are links to live nest cams and other resources. Right now, it’s in the beta testing version, so you and your students can be in from the beginning of the real-world, authentic project.
For more information on birds, go to SciLinks and use the keyword “birds” and your grade level. You’ll find a variety of sites, including Migratory Bird Center from the National Zoo, Aves from the University of Michigan, and Birds, Birds, Birds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Doesn’t it seem like there’s always something new in technology? How can we keep up with what’s going on? I’ve found a resource that can be very helpful: TipLine – Gates’ Computer Tips. This award-winning blog is written by Jim Gates (no relation to Bill), who is a technology trainer/coach and a former teacher. I’ve added this to my Google Reader, so that every day, when Jim adds a brief “tip” it appears! And you can check out the archive (dating back to 2005) to find other topics of interest.
He notes that reading blogs is a new form of professional development. Yes, there are a lot of trivial blogs, but check out the list he has. Fortunately, he is willing to pass along what he learns to the rest of us. Now, if there were only more hours in the day to read these!

Several issues of NSTA journals this year have had an assessment theme, including the April/May issue of Science & Children and the January issue of Science Scope. I recently became aware of another assessment project called MOSART, which stands for a mouthful: Misconceptions-Oriented Standards-Based Assessment Resources for Teachers. I must admit I get a little skeptical when I see a project name that manages to incorporate multiple descriptors into its name (and I’ve written many of these myself!), but this one is well worth a visit!
These assessments, for grades K-12 in the physical and earth/space sciences (no life science/biology as of this date), are designed to help you determine what your students understand and what misconceptions they bring to class. The project is sponsored by a National Science Foundation grant to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Note: check out the other terrific resources on their site for professional development and content background). The assessments are different than many multiple choice tests, in that the questions are not designed to test students’ recall of facts. The questions are based on the NSES standards and allow students to think their way through the items.
But you can’t just download the tests and put them to your file cabinet! Users must register (free) and complete a brief orientation. It’s online and it took me about 30-40 minutes (mostly because I wanted to see all of the video segments!). This tutorial is one of the best things about this project, It guides you through a discussion of what misconceptions are, how these tests let you probe your students thinking, how/when to use the assessments (e.g., at the beginning of a course, or as a pre/post test), what you can learn from looking at how many and which students chose which distractors, and how to interpret the results. As you can probably tell, this is not the type of assessment to use for a “grade.”
After the tutorial, you then have access to all of the tests, which are emailed to you in PDF format, along with guidelines for interpreting the results. I looked at a K-4 physical science test (which is to be given to students in grades 5-6). The download included two versions of the test and a key that goes far beyond a traditional answer key to help you to analyze the results in terms of student (mis)understandings.
The end of the school year is hectic, but I could see myself using this during the last week of school as a “puzzle” exercise for the students (the grades are turned in by then anyway). Then, over the summer I would look carefully at the responses to determine what I might include or change next year. I’m sure the students’ responses would be interesting!