Fall 2005 Newsletter

DTS Leadership Looking for Ways to Boost Membership

DTS President Jessica Tenney-Jackson emphasized a need to increase the membership of the

Delaware Teachers of Science Organization at the October dinner meeting. With many veteran science teachers

retiring, the membership is dwindling. She is asking for suggestions on how to improve the organization

and/or how to boost the membership. Email your suggestions to her at jtenney@nccvt.k12.de.us

Earthquake Recorded in North Wilmington By S. J. Baxter

On April 9, seismographs located at the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) recorded a small earthquake in the

north Wilmington area. The magnitude 1.2 event occurred at 8:27 p.m. EDT. The earthquake is the first to

occur in Delaware since a magnitude 1.7 occurred in the Newark area on August 13, 2003. The Survey

received several “felt reports” primarily from people in the area of the event. Most reported hearing a thud; a

few others reported hearing an explosive sound or rumble. On February 23, the DGS recorded a regional

earthquake on three of our seismographs located in northern New Castle County. According to the U. S.

Geological Survey, the 2.0 magnitude event occurred at 9:22:43 p.m. EST. The epicenter was located

approximately 20 miles southeast of Baltimore, Maryland. No felt reports were logged at the DGS as a result of

this event. If you would like to learn more about earthquakes, the DGS has two publications available on their

website www.udel.edu/dgs. They are Open File Report No. 42, “Catalog of Earthquakes in Delaware,” and

Special Publications No. 23, “Earthquake Basics.”

DTS Newsletter is Now Electronic The Delaware Teachers of Science (DTS) newsletter is now being distributed electronically. This move drastically cuts

production and distribution costs of the newsletter. The Delaware Teacher Center will receive a paper copy of each newsletter.

If you did not receive a copy of this newsletter via email, please send an email to John Moyer (jmoyer@doe.k12.de.us) (or call 857-3353) at the John Collette Education Resource Center in Dover, DE.

In This Issue News & Events ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Cairns’ Corner ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2, 3 & 4 Science Humor -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 Astrobits -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

National Science Teachers Association

DELAWARE TEACHERS OF SCIENCE

A STATE CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

Global Climate Change Column ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7

C The World of Educational Reform (According to Cairns)

Back in the 1800's the Tates Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for pocket watches, decided to market compasses for the pioneers traveling west. It turned out that although their watches were of finest quality, their compasses were so bad that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California. This, of course, is the origin of the expression: "He who has a Tates is lost!" Many of our current Delaware science teachers are not aware of the contribution of Delawareans to national science education reforms over the past 50 years. Delaware has played a significant role in the development of quality science education on the national scene.

Two of the persons responsible are still active today in DTS and other endeavors, but have retired from active teaching in the public school system. They are Sandy Wolford and Renee O’Leary, both formerly of the Colonial School District. Dr. O’Leary continues to teach part-time at the Caravel School in suburban Newark; while Sandy continues to work part-time with the folks at the warehouse. Mrs. Charlotte Purnell Langrell was the first and foremost person so responsible for putting us on the map! She was a biology teacher at the old Georgetown High School and later she became the third State Science Supervisor at DPI. Charlotte is now retired and living in Fruitland, Maryland.

Free public education for all citizens is the United States’ contribution to the great ideas of the world. The Egyptians gave the world great architectural structures such as the Sphinx and the Pyramids. The Greeks and Romans gave the world art and sculpture, while the Babylonians gave us the codification of law. We Americans gave the world the concept of free public education of all! Now it is true that for the first few hundred years of our existence, education was really not available to all. The economy, the lack of a safety net, and the need to feed ones family required young people to “go to work” at a very early age But let’s start the education saga in the early part of the last century. John Dewey made major contributions to the concept of public education in these United States of America. His work was substantial, well documented and unchallenged throughout the early part of the century. The next major reform in education came, not as a result educational research ala Dewey, nor from the legislation of the United States Congress or the state legislatures, but rather as a result of a court case, Brown v. Board of Education. As we all know, this 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision was a challenge of the concept of “separate, but equal” education. This concept alone could take several pages to Delawarize but it involves more than math and science! I’ll let others more familiar with the detail(s) of that reform write about it.

Charlotte Purnell Langrell

But I digress. The next specific reform of public education began in 1957 shortly after the launching of the Russian satellite, Sputnik. When the Russians placed a satellite in orbit, the United States of America, its elected officials and the population in general went into a “panic”. The cold war got a lot hotter. The United States made the same total commitment to public education as it had made to the arming of this nation to assure the defeating of the forces of evil in Germany and Japan during the early forties. The communists threatened our way of life! We needed an immediate response! We needed to be prepared to fight the Red Menace all over the globe and we were desperate to improve all public education to catch up with the communists! We needed better science and math for sure (if we were to put satellites in orbit around the earth), but we needed a more modern worldview; thus we also needed to upgrade economics, geography, and foreign languages to name but a few. The entire system needed work. One of the first acts of Congress was the creation and/or the upgrading of NASA and the NSF. NASA, of course, was going to be needed to figure out how to build and then place a satellite in orbit. In reality, we did have most of the men who built the German V2 rocket (a terrifying weapon used against the British during World War II) working in the United States, but the Russians were clearly ahead of us in putting up a satellite! The NSF was empowered to upgrade our elementary, secondary, and tertiary education, curricula, and upgrade the subject matter knowledge of those teaching it. State Departments of Education were given funds to hire specialists in the curricular areas noted above. The federal government appropriated money in order to permit upgrading of textbooks. More important for science teachers, monies were appropriated to permit the purchase of science equipment and other related materials at the elementary, junior and senior high school levels. Colleges and Universities were provided funds to pay science teachers to upgrade their skills. Hundreds of summer institutes were developed for science and math teachers, and teachers in other fields, and offered to any teacher wanting to apply. Academic Year Institutes (AYI’s) for full time study were a major part of the reform and local projects were funded. (I mention several of these later in this paper.) It was an incredible time to be in science and math education! Teachers that took advantage of these opportunities got paid differently depending on their family situation. One stipend went to the teacher who was studying science, but he got more money if he was married and more yet for each dependent he might have. In addition, the stipend provided funds for a limited number of trips from the institution of study to home. Teachers were encouraged to get higher degrees and they were completely paid for by the federal government! Furthermore, none of these stipends were taxable! Delaware was awarded one of only two statewide projects funded by NSF to study and then overhaul, in systemic manner, the entire system of math and science education. It was to become a model for such change across this nation. Mrs. Purnell Langrell was the writer and principal investigator in the project. She and her team of John Bolig, John Reiher (fourth State Science Supervisor), Jim Gussett (former chemistry teacher at Milford High School), Barbara Logan (Supervisor, Colonial School District) and Tom Baker studied our system, wrote monographs on: The Delaware Model, A Systems Approach; Applying the Del Mod Model; The Role of the State Department of Public Instruction in the Del Mod System; Dissemination: the Key to Success; Field Agent Activities in The Del Mod System; In-service Education and the Field Agent; Science/Math Resource Center: What makes it Go?; Protocol for a Science Instrumentation Resource Center; Developing and Evaluating the Del Mod System; and many more. They conducted leadership projects, recommended changes in certification, created the first edition of our safety manual, Safety First, and funded a major effort to have the

metric system adopted as the official measurement system in Delaware. This last item was a national movement, but because of our size, Delaware made real headway with the process. Further, Del-Mod funded individual projects for teachers. I was paid, for example, to write and publish a manual, for use in schools, to help students better understand the concept of dimensional analysis. I also led a project at Dover High School to assist the entire science department in learning about new curricula. The entire 15-teacher science department was paid to meet on 24 different Saturday mornings during the school year to determine which of the new curricula (developed through NSF grants, as described below) to adopt for each course that we taught. The money was significant; it amounted to a month’s pay! Imagine! All Dover High School science teachers were paid for eleven months in 1973! We created 5 different levels of 9th grade science based upon ability, 3 levels of biology including five different elective short courses (9 weeks in duration) in anatomy, physiology, ecology, microbiology and biochemistry. The short courses were totally laboratory oriented and they became very popular with students interested in medicine, dentistry, nursing, x-ray technology, and other such scientific/laboratory careers. Chemistry and Physics each created two different levels. The project was a stunning success by any measure and some of that work still exists today, though it has undergone significant modification to keep pace with today’s needs. The reform activity in our state could not have occurred without Charlotte Purnell Langrell. She placed Delaware on the map with THE DEL-MOD PROJECT. I might also interject that she could not have accomplished so much without the complete cooperation of the legislature, the governor’s office and the business community. They all united to modernize science and math education in Delaware! Furthermore, without Del-Mod, none of our later efforts would have been possible. A creature rose up out of the surf and came ashore. Its garments were made of green sea lettuce. "I am the friendly Witch of the Sand," she said, "I am only going to sunbathe." The sun was terribly hot. Her skin began to bake and it turned as red as a ripe tomato! Have you ever seen ... a baking lettuce and tomato Sand Witch?

S c i e n c e H u m o r The following was found floating around on the internet:

A Party of Famous Scientists One day, all of the world's famous scientists decided to get together for a luncheon tea. Fortunately, the doorman was a grad student, and was able to observe some of the guests:

Everyone gravitated toward Newton, but he just kept moving around at a constant velocity and showed no reaction.

Einstein thought it was a relatively good time.

Coulomb got a real charge out of the whole thing.

Cauchy, being the only mathematician there, still managed to integrate well with everyone.

Thompson enjoyed the plum pudding.

Pauli came late, but was mostly excluded from things, so he split.

Pascal was under too much pressure to enjoy himself.

Volt thought the social had a lot of potential.

Heisenberg may or may not have been there.

The Curies were there and just glowed the whole time.

Source: Vernier Caliper newsletter

WWoorrlldd YYeeaarr ooff PPHHYYSSIICCSS 22000055

Join physics teacher Pete Parlett on November 10, 2005 at the John Collette Education Resource Center as he presents physical science demonstrations for all levels. Register through the DE Teacher Center, c/o Gene Carlisle; a $10 deposit (returned to you the night of the event) is required. The event is sponsored by Downstate Quest and Dupont.

Register your event on our 2005 Event Finder! We want to hear about YOUR World Year of Physics event in the United States. Add your open house, public lecture, lab tour, or physics demonstrations to our online event finder so others in your area (and around the country) can find out about your events. Click here to submit your events: http://www.physics2005.org/events/submit.html

ASTROBITS: Fall 2005 For further details about information provided in

ASTROBITS, call Dr. Stephanie Wright at 454-2432. Space Science Technology Education/Delaware Teacher Center

swright@udel.edu or our website: www.dasef.org

***************************************************************** 2006 GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER FORUM

First come first serve. In order to get on the list to go, please email swright@udel.edu with the following information: In subject area, put GSFCF

List Name, school/district, grade & subject taught, home address and home phone number Day trip will include speakers, tour, and transportation & box dinner.

Date: Thursday, February 15, Snow date: Wednesday: February 22. Lunch on your own. Cost $50 per person.

Shuttle will depart from Friendly's on Route 896 in Newark (same road as U of DE stadium) @ 7:20 a.m.

Maximum: 23 participants - K-12 educators are welcome.

Objective: To use the NASA mission, facilities, human resources, and programs to provide exposure and experiences to teachers and faculty to support the enhancement of knowledge and skills, and to provide access

to NASA information in science, mathematics, technology, engineering, and geography.

Sponsored by: Aerospace Education, DE AeroSpace Education Foundation & DE Space Grant

ROCKETS FOR SCHOOLS PROGRAM: SATURDAY MAY 6, 2006 Students in grades K-College will be given the opportunity to participate in Delaware’s Rockets for

Schools Program. Different types of rockets will be launched all day, along with various displays, briefings and demonstrations at Cape Henlopen State Park. This tenth historic launch day continues Delaware’s distinction as a launch state. For more information about participating: www.dasef.org Registration reminder will be sent to all schools in February. Information and Registration forms are available online under Rockets for Schools.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: SPACE SCIENCE CONFERENCE: 2006 Kennedy Space Center: Scheduled for April 27-39, 2006. First come first serve. To get

on the list, please email swright@udel.edu with the following information: In subject area, put KSCC

List name, school/district, grade & subject taught, home address & home phone number. Includes 3 nights, banquet, transfers and Air Guard flight to & from Florida. Cost $240 per person.

LAUNCHING A DREAM: The 2006 Launching a Dream (LAD) is the continuation of an annual, statewide, Aerospace

Education Program in its, consecutive year coordinated by Dr. Stephanie Wright. It is the culmination of the cooperative efforts of students, teachers, parents, and businesses at various Delaware mission sites. Redding Middle School will participate in the 2006 LAD Program. If you would like to participate in the 2007 Program, please call 454-2432.

D E L A W A R E A E R O S P A C E C E N T E R C a l l 4 5 4 - 2 4 3 2 R e s o u r c e s : V i d e o s , S l i d e s , a n d a u d i o t a p e s t o b o r r o w o r c o p y .

AVIATION WORKSHOP: Look for training to be offered in the winter of 2006. Intro. To Principles of

Flight for Elementary Teachers can Apply NOW! Call 454-2432 to register. Need a K-4 team of 2-3. Boeing Elementary Simulator comes to your school for 2 – 3 weeks after training!

PLANNING STAGES: TWO-DAY SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATORS

More information to follow in January. Tentative for August 2006. Day 1: Lunar/Meteorite Certification Day 2: Earth’s Ecosystems

D E L A W A R E A E R O S P A C E A C A D E M Y

In operation since 1990, the Delaware Aerospace Academy provides hands-on training and experiences in AeroTech-related activities and fields for students in entering 3rd – 10th grades. . All academies are designed to integrate the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics using AeroSpace Education as the unifying framework.

New Academy planned for 2006: Destination Dinosaur (two sessions)

2006 Day Academies: 6/26 – 6/30 Overnight Academies: 7/8– 7/13. Youth can register online in early 2006: www.dasef.org

NASA EXPLORER SCHOOLS: NASA invites the selected teams to work with education specialists from NASA Centers in an effort to spark innovative science and mathematics instruction for students in grades 4 through 9. While partnered with NASA, NASA Explorer School teams will acquire new teaching resources and technology tools using NASA's unique content, experts and other resources -- to provide exciting learning experiences science, mathematics and technology for students. Deadline for submission of the on-line application for NASA Explorer Schools is January 31, 2006.

To learn more about the NES program on the Internet and the on-line application process: http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.

INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY & EXPLORATION CENTER: SOON. Founded in 1989, the Delaware Aerospace Education Foundation (DASEF), an independent non-profit

educational organization having 501(c)(3) status, exists to inspire and educate the people of the Delaware Valley in the areas of math, science, technology and aerospace through the use of academies, presentations, symposiums, professional development, events and activities and the Innovation, Technology, Exploration Center.

The Environmental Outpost Phase I is near completion. Once our certificate of occupancy is received, set up and preparation for an April opening will begin. It is expected that the opening event will occur around Earth Day.

The Innovation, Technology, Exploration Center (ITEC) will provide a facility that demonstrates the DASEF

mission with emphasis on the appreciation and understanding of the natural world and beyond and the integration of human ingenuity with the ecosystems of the Earth.

DASEF Vision:

To create an exceptional learning environment that inspires children and their families with a sense of appreciation for the earth and its place in the universe.

Check it out on our web site – www.dasef.org

GGLLOOBBAALL CCLLIIMMAATTEE CCHHAANNGGEE CCOOLLUUMMNN …….. BByy CChhaadd TToollmmaann

HURRICANES

Hurricanes are natural heat engines that convert heat energy into mechanical energy. To form, they need sea surface temperatures above about 27 °C (about 80 °F), which is why they form in the tropics, where solar heating is most intense, and why the hurricane season is in late summer and early fall, when the sea surface is warmest (the middle of the season is Sept. 10). There is an excellent new book on hurricanes by Kerry Emmanuel, a faculty member in the MIT Program in Atmospheres, Ocean and Climate, titled, Divine Wind: The History And Science Of Hurricanes, which describes the mechanism of their formation in some detail. Briefly, warm air is capable of carrying more water vapor than cool air (the vapor pressure of water increases rapidly with temperature), and moist air has a lower density than dry air at the same temperature and pressure [H2O has a lower molecular weight (18) than N2 (32) and O2 (32)]. The pressure under a warm, moist column of air is less than that of the air around it, causing winds to blow in toward the center. The earth’s rotation causes the wind direction to bend, giving the wind a circular motion (counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere). Just as a figure skater spins more rapidly when she brings in her arms (angular momentum is conserved) the speed of the wind increases as it approaches the center of the growing storm. Because air temperature decreases with increasing altitude, the moist air reaches a point where it is saturated, and can no longer hold all of its water. The heat that was absorbed when the water was evaporated (540 calories/g) is released--warming the air and driving it higher as the liquid water formed falls as rain. The pressure in the eye of the storm falls further, increasing the speed of the incoming winds, which are now able to take up water more rapidly from the warm sea surface. The positive feedback makes the storm increase in strength until it is broken up by high altitude winds, or it moves over cooler water or land and loses its heat source. The meteorological term for these powerful cyclonic storms is ‘tropical cyclones,’ called hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific. In August this year, shortly before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Immanuel published a paper in the journal Nature, titled, Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. He defined a Power Dissipation Index (PDI), a measure of the destructive

power of these storms, as the 3rd power of the maximum sustained wind speed, integrated over time. The 3rd power means that a hurricane with 150 MPH sustained winds is likely to do dissipate eight times as much energy in a given period of time at one with 75 MPH winds. He reported that the Atlantic hurricane power dissipation has more than doubled in the past 30 years, and that the PDI is highly correlated with September sea surface temperatures over the past 75 years. Katrina was a Category 1 hurricane (75 MPH) when it passed the tip of southern Florida on its way into the Gulf, where the water temperatures were unusually high. It increased in strength to Category 5 (159 MPH) before it made landfall. Sea surface temperatures worldwide are increasing as a result of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—especially carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Katrina has been called the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Immanuel wrote, “My results suggest that future warming may lead to an upward trend in tropical cyclone destructive potential, and—taking into account an increasing coastal population—a substantial increase in hurricane-related losses in the twenty-first century.” Reference: K. Emmanuel, Nature, Vol. 436, 4 August 2005.

If you are interested in receiving my monthly electronic newsletter, Climate Change News, with the latest developments in

this important area, send me an email at ChadTolman@comcast.net.

Note From the Editor …

Attention All DTS Members …

I have created a distribution list for the DTS membership to make our information get out more efficiently. Many of your emails, especially aol emails, did not work. I made some corrections and used the state emails when I could (the ones that end in .k12.de.us). Please email me back at jmoyer@doe.k12.de.us if you have an alternative email or if you did not receive the newsletter electronically. Please check with your fellow teachers and see if they received their newsletter also. Thanks!

Newsletter Editor John Moyer jmoyer@doe.k12.de.us, Science Van Project, John Collette Science Resource Center, Department of Education, 35 Commerce Way, Dover, DE 19904 and Ann Alexander, alexanderlloyd@msn.com. Please contact them if you have any items of interest. Delaware Teachers of Science website: http://www.k12.de.us/science/dts Delaware Teacher Center website: http://www.dcet.k12.de.us/teachers/instres/dtc/index.html