Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Teaching Tips - Fun Science Experiments [sciencetechnology-center.blogspot.com]

Teaching Tips - Fun Science Experiments [sciencetechnology-center.blogspot.com]

www.euronews.com The European Union imports huge amounts of metal. Yet buried deep in Europe's bowels is a treasure trove of copper, zinc and other precious metals. Researchers have been digging deep to uncover ways to put European mining back on the map and they're not short of ideas. Europe's deepest metal mine is seemingly unfathomable, at 1430 meters. For forty years, Pyhäsalmi mine has been a rich source of copper, zinc and pyrites. However the countdown to its closure has already begun as Pihlaja, a Mining Engineer, at Pyhäsalmi mine explains: "We currently produce around 1,4 million tons of ore per year but if the metal prices stay at the current level, we won't be able to maintain the mine beyond the end of 2018". Metal mining throughout Europe is facing similar problems but scientists are becoming a regular fixture at the Pyhäsalmi Mine in an attempt to breath new life into an old industry. Juha Kaija, a Finnish Geologist talks about his research: "Metal resources exist in Europe but extracting them is socially and economically challenging. Our research aims to develop more efficient exploration methods and also at imagining new ways to re-use mining waste materials to give European metal mining a fresh new impetus". Finding new ores in active or abandoned metal mines is the researchers´first aim and that is no mean feat, especially for old, deep deposits. Timo Mäki, Chief Geologist, at Pyhäsalmi mine describes the difficulties: "Here in Finland and also in ...

euronews futuris - New life for old metal mines

Science teachers know that children believe there to be no fun science experiments. This of course is not true, but children continue believing so anyway. Perhaps it is because teachers have a difficult time getting through to their students, and showing them how fun and fascinating science can be. As a teacher, you have to understand that children have a certain attention span, and you have to catch them in that time or they can be lost to you for the rest of the period. Here are some teaching tips on how to get your students convinced that there are fun science experiments out there!

1. Research

The very first tip towards fun science experiments, of course is to find some fun science experiments! The Internet is an amazing resource, and you can find many easy and low cost experiment ideas which can be really fun for you and your class to do. Find an experiment that is fun, relevant to what you're teaching, and pretty simple. The simpler you can demonstrat e a concept, the more likely your students are going to understand it.

2. Give a Class Overview Before the Lecture

Before beginning each lecture class, whether or not there will be a laboratory activity involved, tell your students what you are going to discuss for the day. Include in your class overview the fun science experiments you have lined up to help them learn the day's science lesson. Telling your students beforehand that there will be a fun part in the day's lesson will keep them attentive with anticipation. If you tell them that after explaining a concept, you will produce lightning in a jar, they are likely to stay tuned to what you have to say.

3. Appeal to Their Interests

Find a way to bridge what you need to discuss with something they will want to discuss or do. For example, declare on day as "tattoo" day. Give them a discussion on photosynthesis, how plants get color, change color, and how dye can be extracted from plant flowers and l eaves. Then, open with one of the fun science projects related to plants. You can say that you will be making your own henna, and they are welcome to take the last fifteen minutes of class to create tattoos on their hands and arms. Henna tattoos are hip, and most young kids enjoy them. In this manner you were able to show your students a fun science experiment that is directly related to their lesson.

4. Call on Someone Popular

This is an age old trick, but it always works. As a teacher, you probably more or less know who the popular or well liked kids are. When you have one of your fun science experiments lined up for the class activity, call on one of the popular students to help you demonstrate or do the experiment. This will catch the attention of the rest of the class because they will want to see how well the popular kid will be able to do.

5. Learn to Be Goofy and Messy

This is something that works no matter what your subject is. If you can goo f off in front of your students and learn to laugh at yourself, they are likely to enjoy your classes, and pay attention. Adding humor into your fun science experiments or not minding how big a mess you create can appeal to some students. Even if they think you're a total goof ball, at the end of the day you would have achieved you goal of teaching them a science concept, and making sure that they understand it well!

Recommend Teaching Tips - Fun Science Experiments Articles

Question by Glenn Quagmire: How did life begin according to science? Let's just say there's no God (i'm undecided) and all the theories science has come up with are true, how did life appear out of nowhere? Where did the microbial life forms come from and why would they want/need to evolve and exist? Ok but why would a small enzyme want to evolve and eventually be able to walk talk and think for itself? So are we just energy, existing only for the sake of existing? and eating resources? Best answer for How did life begin according to science?:

Answer by jpmorganjeremy
That is one question i've always wanted to know, but no one seems to know.

Answer by MsCSF:)
According to science, life began with a prokaryotic cell who was able to undergo photosynthesis by evolution. With oxygen being a product of photosynthesis, the environment was then depleted of carbon dioxide and allowed for living organisms to more easily reproduce. The genetic information back then was not DNA but RNA because RNA can be its own enzyme and replicate while DNA cannot. But if there was no God, how did that cell get there in the first place?

Answer by Jonathan
the big bang theory. but it's not completely accepted. basically everything that exist today came from an explosion and burst out at an incredible rate. forming what is today the universe. i don't know the exact details of it, but that's a broad understanding of it. evolution and natural selection are different theories that have nothing to d o with how it all started. it just has to do with animals striving to survive, and they will do anything to succeed. i personally don't believe in god or the big bang, but i do believe in evolution. try no to think so black and white. research stuff and see what is more reasonable for you. don't let other people convince you of how the universe works.

Answer by cireengineering
It started with amino-acids and the evolution thereof.

Answer by Austin
The miller-urey experiments have shown that in the volatile, oxygen poor environment of early earth, amino acids(basic organic compounds) occur naturally. These amino acids, when heated and water removed, can form protenoids; which are simpler versions of cell membranes that are made entirely of protein. Within these protenoid bubbles, amino acids could form additional proteins which would help facilitate biochemical reactions. These primitive protenoids could fuel their biochemical reactions by "eating" the free floating amino acids and other organic components in this environment, and breaking them down into useable products. Continued consumption would inevitably lead to growth. Also in this environment scientists have hypothesized that free floating RNA molecules would be able to self replicate by using proteins in their environment. Much as DNA does in cells today. If a protenoid could consume segments of RNA that would complement its own functions, and give it capability to reproduce. an early version of life could easily form. It all sounds really confusing, so I hope this helps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis An enzyme doesn't want anything, in the same way a spoon doesn't want anything. It only reacts to its enviroment based on its current state. A cell that is capable of not only growing and reproducing, but become better adapted and more able to compete for resources, will out compete any other organism that is not able to evolve. The natural world favors entities(molecules, RNA, cells, organisms) that are able to adapt and change. We are just matter and energy in a continuous reaction. But we have the Pleasure Principle, so life DOES have meaning.

Answer by neal
this video is a little corny but the biochem makes sense http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9eg

Answer by Lightnote
From what I understand... Amino acids fell to the earth in meteorites (amino acids have been found in meteorites) that have fell on earth. Protiens (the stuff we are made from) are made from ammino acids. The process of turning an amino acid into a protien which then began to life would probably require a number of things. An appropriate temprature, pressure, an atmosphere, & ignition source to kick start the it all. Once that's happened the cell would need to be next to a constant source of energy. The cell would instinctively multiply and multiply because it has energy and every time it multiplied it would make a tiny error (called a mutation) these mutations would sometimes be good and sometimes be bad things. The microbes with the good mutations would survive and the ones with the bad ones would die out either due to competition from other microbes or some environmental factor. The mutations would cause something like us to exist eventually. I would think that we came from one common ancestor (all life at least that we see today) and all the mutations over time have produced what we see now. Some microbes can transfer genes so this is probably how microbes started to become multicellular organisms. Edit-- We exist because we do. Sounds like your complaining your alive.I think it would be a waste if life didn't ever begin. We exist to learn, have fun. We eat to live, not live to eat.

Answer by Victor FC
I think tiny particles called hydrocarbons or something alike got together and formed single celled organisms witch evolved into bigger and bigger life forms i read it in a book. no one is realy shure. here are some sites that might help: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/how-did-life-begin.html http://www.foundalis.com/bio/lifestart/lifestart.htm

â€" [Science]

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