The Child is Made of One Hundred

The following poem is by Loris Malaguzzi.

The child

is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred

ways of listening

of marveling of loving

a hundred joys

for singing and understanding

a hundred worlds

to discover

a hundred worlds

to invent

a hundred worlds

to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not to speak

to understand without joy

to love and to marvel

only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.

Imagine if Picasso had listened to an art teacher tell him that he could not put both eyes on the same side of the nose of the grandmother in his protrait. 

And yet how many educators can be found guilty of this very act, as we try to get students to do things "the correct way".

Due to the industrialized fast food pedagogy of today's educational system we are all guilty of streamlining our processes to the "best" method.

But whose "best" method is this? The teacher? The student? The text?

The mind is only limited by the parameters we choose to place upon the learning process.

However, in order to overcome the possibility of chaos, it safer and let's face it much easier to educate the way McDonalds builds Big Macs.

Two All Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, Onions on a Sesame Seed Bun. 

The same in Pasadena, California as it is in Arlington, Virginia or even Mazatlan,  Mexico.

Unfortunately this only serves to standardize everything and essentially as the poem suggests, steal the ninety-nine. 

  

  

Nerd Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Even Scientists Need a Little Love.

Culture Bags

This was a wonderul idea shared by one mof my colleagues. 

We had studentts work together in partners to create Culture Bags for the individuals involved in the discovery of DNA.

We provided students with a lunch bag and the names of the scientists invovled in the "Race for the Double Helix".

Students were told to decorate the exterior of the bag and then fill the bag with items that represented that individual: Who? What? When? Where? Significance? Partners? and How?

Students could find images online, create their own or insert items to represent the individual and their contributions to the Discovery of DNA.

The list of scientists included:

Frederick Griffith

Oswald Avery

Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase

Sir Lawrence Bragg

Erwin Chargaff

Francis Crick

Rosalind Franklin

Linus Pauling

James Watson

Maurice Wilkins.

Students were then asked to present their Culture Bags to the class.  Explaining the significance of their individual scientists and the ways in which they represented that in the bags. 

We provided students with a blank chart for information about the scientists to fill in as these presentations were made.  

It was quite exciting to see how students used their imaginations and creativity to capture the essence of each of these individuals and their contributions. 

The beauty of this type of excercise is the cross curricular aspects that the students were able to see as they realized the historical, political and scientific ramifications of this discovery.  They also became very aware of the collaborative and competitive nature of science.

This type of excercise could be used in any subject and in a wide variety of topics.

Questions I Would Love Students to Answer. (Or, maybe just a rant on my part.)

Questions I would love to have students answer...

Why does your calculator disappear before every math and science class?

Why do you leave your book, pen, pencil, notebook, jacket, lunch bag, in my classroom everyday at the end of class?

Why do you stand in the middle of the hallway, and look at me like I'm crazy when I try to walk down the hall?

Why do you congregate for discussions at the top or bottom of a stairway?

Why must you slam your locker door to get it to closed?

Why do you close the door as you enter the building, without looking back to see if someone else may be trying to get in?

How come you know when the bell rings to the exact second, but can't understand time limits on quizzes, tests or labs?

Who cleans up after you in your own home?

Can I come to your house and dismantle the faucets and gas lines in your kitchen or bathroom?

Why do you drink less than a quarter of your bottle of water before you leave it in my classroom?

Why can't you ask a teacher if they need assistance when they are trying to balance a stack of papers, their computer bag, umbrella, coffee cup, while trying to get their keys out to unlock the classroom door?

Why do you jiggle the handle on a locked door or bang on it instead of walking over to check if the other door is open?

Is the empty water bottle so heavy, that you cannot walk the extra five feet to the recycle bin and must throw it in the trash can?

Do you you not realize that every quiz is difficult if you not have prepared?

Also, every quiz is easy for me, because I wrote it!!!!

Why can't you have your homework prepared to turn in when you arrive at class: with your name on it, stapled and organized?

Why do you tell me as the bell rings all of your excuses for not having your homework instead of emailing the night before?

Can I come and touch, move, take, misplace everything on your desk at your home?

Have you not figured out that the things I repeat several times might be important?

I would love to read your additions to this list of rants...

Periodic Table Scavenger Hunt

I like students to be comfortable with the periodic as a tool for their use in chemistry, rather than a sheet of information that they memorize.  To keep students up on using the periodic table as a tool, I periodically (no pun intended) ask them to search the periodic table through a scavenger hunt.

I have provided an example below. 

Periodic Table Scavenger Hunt

Hint:                                                                                                   Symbol

1. Start at the element that is a waste product of photosynthesis.            __________  O

2. Add seven AMU’s to the mass                                                         __________  Na

3. Add 26 to atomic number                                                                 __________  Rb 

4. Remain in that period and go to Group IB                                         __________  Ag

5. Go up one period and to the right six groups                                     __________   Br

6. Go to the top of that family                                                                __________  F 

7. Remain in that period and divide the electro-negativity by two            __________  B

8. Add fifty to the atomic number                                                          __________  Cs

9. Go to the element that is a liquid at 25^o C in that period                     __________  Hg

10. Increase the proton count by six                                                      __________  Rn

11. Go to element with the smallest mass in that group                           __________  He

12. Multiply the atomic number by ten                                                   __________  Ca

13. Decrease the proton number five                                                     __________  P

14. Jump to Group IIA in that period                                                    __________  Mg

15. Cut the atomic number in half                                                          __________  C

16. Decrease the mass by 3.0 AMU’s                                                  __________  Be

17. If the element is an even atomic number multiply by 4

      If the element is an odd atomic number multiply by 5                        __________ S

18. Jump up one period. You should be back where you began.            __________ O

While this isn't some earth shattering method of exploring the periodic table, it does provide students with familiarity with the elements, information and terminology necessary to use the periodic table efficiently and effectively.