today I impaled a balloon on a skewer and it didn't pop
I just got back from an amazingly fun and informative science workshop! As a bonus, I got double the continuing ed hours that I should have: it was a four hour workshop condensed into two action-packed hours, thanks to Deirdre and the people I'll be working with this summer. The instructor is a science teacher at a Catholic k-8 school in NW, and she walked the line between interactivity and exposition quite nicely. She started out by having us brainstorm in pairs ways to turn an ordinary object into a science experiment. Nigel and I got a plastic tube with a funnel at one end. Our ideas centered around sound, water and velocity. My favorite was the suggestion that the feather duster be used to explore flammability. That idea was disqualified for safety reasons.
There were seven of us and five experiments, so two pairs presented twice: the one with milk, food coloring and surface tension, Scared Pepper, one exploring density with colored liquids, using static electricity to separate pepper and salt, and to make cereal dance, and sticking a skewer through a balloon without it popping. I normally dislike presenting science as magic, because it is comprehensible, and the "reveal" ruins magic but makes science even cooler. These lent themselves to a magician's setup, involving audience participation in a way that was more like experimental exploration. Deirdre thought that I would find the workshop repetitive, given how much experience I have with science ed--not so! This was definitely worthwhile.
So, these are people I've met all of once before, and I found myself trying to strike a good confidence balance. When the teacher asked for our science background, I started out by saying that I majored in bio, which came across as snobby, especially when I was interrupted from flowing into "so I've mostly done ecology/nature projects."
When Nigel and I worked through the brainstorming and the two experiments, I kept pulling myself back from running the show. Both "tricks" were somewhat familiar to me but not really, and I don't have a good understanding of electricity and most physics, so it's not like I knew it all. I was excited, interested and yeah, on some level trying to prove to them and to Deirdre that I was indeed the Science Lady. In any case, the last activity was to build a boat that could hold as many pennies as possible. As I placed pennies onto my cellophane raft, I found myself wishing it was built more poorly because I was embarrassed by my success. I got 115-125 pennies before it sank, at least 20 more than the second most successful. Challenges stop being fun with that kind of margin. Ironically, I was highly dubious of my raft initially.
It helps that all of us have specific skill sets, like to learn from our coworkers and are above all, both professional and laid back. Nobody is highly competitive or proprietary of their specialty, and everyone laughs at just the right moments. I am stoked about the summer. I think I'm going to really like working with them. It's like UCDS but without the super rich kids!
Now I'm going to dope myself up with Nyquil and try to get adequate sleep before my morning shift tomorrow. Stupid sickness.
There were seven of us and five experiments, so two pairs presented twice: the one with milk, food coloring and surface tension, Scared Pepper, one exploring density with colored liquids, using static electricity to separate pepper and salt, and to make cereal dance, and sticking a skewer through a balloon without it popping. I normally dislike presenting science as magic, because it is comprehensible, and the "reveal" ruins magic but makes science even cooler. These lent themselves to a magician's setup, involving audience participation in a way that was more like experimental exploration. Deirdre thought that I would find the workshop repetitive, given how much experience I have with science ed--not so! This was definitely worthwhile.
So, these are people I've met all of once before, and I found myself trying to strike a good confidence balance. When the teacher asked for our science background, I started out by saying that I majored in bio, which came across as snobby, especially when I was interrupted from flowing into "so I've mostly done ecology/nature projects."
When Nigel and I worked through the brainstorming and the two experiments, I kept pulling myself back from running the show. Both "tricks" were somewhat familiar to me but not really, and I don't have a good understanding of electricity and most physics, so it's not like I knew it all. I was excited, interested and yeah, on some level trying to prove to them and to Deirdre that I was indeed the Science Lady. In any case, the last activity was to build a boat that could hold as many pennies as possible. As I placed pennies onto my cellophane raft, I found myself wishing it was built more poorly because I was embarrassed by my success. I got 115-125 pennies before it sank, at least 20 more than the second most successful. Challenges stop being fun with that kind of margin. Ironically, I was highly dubious of my raft initially.
It helps that all of us have specific skill sets, like to learn from our coworkers and are above all, both professional and laid back. Nobody is highly competitive or proprietary of their specialty, and everyone laughs at just the right moments. I am stoked about the summer. I think I'm going to really like working with them. It's like UCDS but without the super rich kids!
Now I'm going to dope myself up with Nyquil and try to get adequate sleep before my morning shift tomorrow. Stupid sickness.