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High Schooler Sets Physics World Abuzz

issac newtonA 16-year-old German high school student has written a paper that purports to have solved two mysteries that were beyond the intellect of the great Isaac Newton.

Shouryya Ray, an Indian-born student who won second prize this month in the math and informatics category for Germany's Jugend Forscht student science competition created formulas to answer the following questions that have puzzled scientists for centuries:

How do you account for air resistance in calculating the trajectory of ball thrown out at an angle?

Precisely how does a ball thrown against the wall rebound?

Because Ray's paper was a school-based project and was submitted for a contest, it is not subject to the publication process and peer review that professional work typically goes through. That has led some experts in the field to reserve jugement of the work until they've seen it for themselves.

However, everyone who has commented about Ray's paper has said it is an achievement that very few high schoolers could duplicate.

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Potato Chips and Books

In recent blogs~ Ive elaborated on Common Core~ school wide programs~ and other complex topics.

But this week~ lets keep it simple and talk about potato chips.

In truth~ I want to share strategies and ideas for making your independent reading sessions for gifted and all students come alive~ and for teachers to avoid those session from becoming too monotonous and predictable.

If one of our goals as educators is to foster a love of reading~ then we must challenge...

Enlightenment: Gamification Theories of...

  1. I have been wondering, "What learning theories actually support the use of games; where are games most appropriate?" Reminding myself of the differences between intrinsic motivation (doing something for its own joy-the reward is the doing) and extrinsic motivation (doing something for a reward or to avoid a punishment), I decided to push myself to review the model developed by John Keller-ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction). These seem to apply to what I thus far...

The Big Deal Book of Technology for K-...


The fall issue of the Big Deal Book of Technology for K-12 Educators featured Education World, and we couldn't be more honored.

The downloadable eBook of the fall issue:http://bigdealbook.com/ebook

Our entry is on page 47 in the Fantastic Free Finds section.

The Big Deal Book of Technology for K-12 Educators is a semiannual print and electronic...

Enlightenment: Remember Why You Started...

  1. I am fortunate enough to work in an environment that encourages me to link academic problems to life-struggling questions. By partnering with experts in an area~ we are solving the realistic issues that academic exercises yield. This is more than a "flipped classroom" I can assure you!
  2. My students are creating a literary magazine from conceptual ideals to realistic challenges. Making our work with life links is exciting indeed! Researching~ reading~ selecting options~ and making...

Good Grief, Charlie Brown- Pumpkin...

A pumpkin grown by Tim and Susan Mathison,Napa, California, has smashed the record for its mammoth size. The giant pumpkin weighed in at 2032 pounds! Grown in 105 days, the pumpkin surpassed the 2012 record pumpkin of 20089 pounds. Photograph from http://napavalleyregister.com

Pretend you are a pumpkin sitting on a front porch on...

A Rubric for Research

Teaching elementary students, as young as first grade, to research is no easy task. It requires enormous patience, persistence, and a belief in your students.

Training children to be young researchers provides them with all kinds of skills, which will help them succeed in college and the workplace.
Research skills have found their own place in the national Common Core English Language Arts standards, which requires students to conduct short and sustained research projects....

Enlightenment: Gamification Essentials...

  1. Autumn is a time for the bright colors and crispness of a season that I always associate with learning. Each day awakens us to possibilities, change, and bright new beginnings.
  2. In that spirit, my students and I are seeking to apply the principles of a new way of learning to this season's academic challenges: gaming! We are enlightening our work in Washington DC with our project called, "Monuments, Memorials and Museums". The project won us an Unsung Heroes Award from ING. The $...

Educator Preparation and the Common...

One of the greatest challenges that the education community faces in implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative is ensuring that the education workforce is ready to help students succeed under these new, higher standards.

Facing this challenge requires providing the current workforce with high-quality professional learning opportunities, something we talk about a great deal at the national level. But it also...

Study: Twitter Talk Reveals Suicide Risk

Researchers from Brigham Young University have found that people who mention suicide in their Twitter posts are likely to attempt the act in real life.

What seems like an obvious conclusion is being interpreted as evidence that teens use the social media platform for more than just posturing. Rather, in many cases, teens take...

Schoolwide Programs--Lessons Learned...

" Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose?"
Actress Eliza Dushku

This school year, I implemented a school wide enrichment cluster program---and boy, did I learn a lot.

Anytime, you roll a program out to the entire school population, you better be ready for some things to go wrong. In fact, after I expanded this enrichment program, the problems seemed to grow exponentially.

The good news is that the benefits to students and the...

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