Friday, August 24, 2012

Adopt-a-Physicist



It's that time again! Registration is open for the fall session of Adopt-a-Physicist. This free program connects high school students with working physicists in an effort to demystify science and promote awareness of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers.


From Kendra Redmond, at the American Institute of Physics:

If your students ever ask…

-What do physicists do?

-What does this have to do with the “real world”?

-Has anything new been discovered in physics since Einstein?

Then consider participating in Adopt-a-Physicist this fall, a free program for high school physics classes hosted by the physics honor society Sigma Pi Sigma. Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to real physics graduates who are eager to share their stories. Working in areas ranging from particle physics research to freelance writing, the participating physicists embody a huge range of careers, backgrounds, interests, and educational levels. Adopt-a-Physicist connects classes with the physicists of their choice through online discussion forums that are active for a set three-week period. Each physicist can only be "adopted" by up to three classes, making lively, in-depth discussions possible.

Learn more here.  For more details on the program and ideas for incorporating it into your physics class, browse the resources for teachers.

*Teacher Registration: Now - September 12 (or until full)

*Teachers adopt physicists: September 20-28

*Discussion forums open: October 2-22

For more information on Adopt-a-Physicist, visit http://www.adoptaphysicist.org/webdocs/about.cfm or send us an email at editor@adoptaphysicist.org

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

When You Give a Three-Year-Old a Camera

Yesterday, my three year old daughter asked if she could use the weather app on my iPhone. Now, granted, I think she just wanted to get in the request before her older brother Kerm did. But I was tickled that she asked, so I handed the phone back to her. Unbeknownst to me, she not only knew how to locate the camera function, she decided to use it. Now, I've blogged about Kerm and Little Brother's love of photography before, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that their little sister enjoys taking pictures too. But what I think is fascinating about young photographers is the truly unique perspective that they bring to their art. You can learn a lot about a child by looking at his or her photographs. Princess Twinkle set out to capture the view of rain from her car seat. These are some of the pictures that she took today.
Perhaps I was driving a little fast here ...