Quick Run-down of the Week

I still like the black box activity to generate lots of discussion about the nature of science and how we know what we know. Today we also brought up some ethical issues relating to scientific honesty - someone couldn't help him/herself and cracked open a corner of a box to peek inside. In the course of our discussion a student mentioned the just discovered Kuiper Belt object, EL61, and the accusations of scientific dishonesty around it. I hadn't read the Times article yet, so I looked into it after school today. It's an interesting story and the website I linked above is quite readable and discusses a number of interesting points. See also the same group at Caltech who discovered the "10th Planet." They discuss the definition (or lack thereof) of a "planet," for example, and the issue of following standard scientific protocol in terms of sharing information and so on. It is from the point of view of the scientists who feel they have been wronged, so keep that in mind. Read it!

I know it's still honeymoon time, but I'm in love with my new school. It's a totally professional environment among the staff, the admin is supportive and positive, the students are lively but mostly hard working, even when they have self-control issues and difficulty curbing their enthusiasm. It's a small school - I have 4 science department colleagues and we are all specialized, for the most part, although each of us has at least one class outside our main area of expertise - I have Health (which obviously overlaps a lot with biology, but it's a little different), the Chem teacher has a 7th grade Physical Science class, and the Earth Science teacher has a 6th grade Life Science. The Physics guy has a Math program. All the middle school kids (one class per grade) have science at the same time, which is probably why I didn't get the 6th grade class, since the 8th graders are taking my regents class.

I could say so much more about the school and what is right about it, but I don't want to raise anyone's hackles. I also don't want to jinx anything. I will, however, post some pictures of my classroom as soon as I get a few moments.