A 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.
Wishing those of you who are now on Summer Break a very relaxing time. As someone that taught for 33 1/2 years, the very first FULL day of vacation was always the beginning of possibilities of things to do that I didn't get to do during the school year. In fact, I remember dreading the alarm clock going off at 6 a.m. during the...
Recently, I was cleaning the garage, going through some old classroom supplies, when I came across a pile of money.
Well, not really—it was “play” money I had created years ago, when I taught a self-contained fifth-grade, gifted classroom. The money was part of an economic system I used with the students, one that produced lots of fun but also instilled valuable lessons.
One of the largest gaps in our current education system is financial literacy. We do little if...
“For depressed rural areas, there are two options: Help people relocate to stronger areas or help them get skills and jobs where they are, at least partly through subsidized job creation and newer kinds of economic development.” — Harry Holzer
Donald Trump’s journey to become president of the US...
“Each of those objects is a portrait of who we were as a society, and a promise of who we wanted to be. So who are you now, and who do you want to become, now that you’ve had a look into the mirror of Robots?” — Ling Lee
What will robots mean to our future, and more specifically, what will their impact...
I’d like to take a moment to write about an often-ignored topic in teaching. Likely, it’s not covered in professional development or faculty meetings or college coursework, but I believe it is, nonetheless, a vital, living, breathing component of the classroom, which can transform learning and uplift students and teachers.
Humor. It’s present in some classrooms, dreadfully absent in others. It comes natural to some teachers, difficult for others.
Believe it or not, humor in...
“American kids are now 10, 20, 50 or 90 times more likely to be on prescription psychiatric medications compared with kids in other countries (the rate varies depending on the diagnosis in question). I think it’s an important and disturbing trend.” — Dr. Leonard Sax
Dr. Leonard Sax graduated Phi Beta...
I found this recent news story of interest and wanted to share. Perhaps, it might be a writing prompt for your students.
Imagine reaching the summit of Mount Everest. Now, imagine reaching it TWICE in one week. Anshu Jamsenpa, of India, set a new women’s record for a double ascent of Mount Everest in one season. Even more amazing, this is the FIFTH accent of Mount Everest by Jamsenpa! At 29,028 feet, some say it is now 29,035, Mount Everest stands about 5 1/2 miles above...
It’s no secret that social studies regularly takes a back seat to other academic subjects. If teachers are honest, they will admit that they struggle to find time to teach social studies, and if they do, it’s crammed into the last minutes of the day, or perhaps creatively combined with other lessons.
What if there was another way to approach social studies? What if there was model that could provide students with meaningful, relevant social studies instruction, while at the same time...
UCLA’s 2015 survey of US students found that “interest in political and civic engagement has reached the highest levels since the study began 50 years ago....
In a technology driven, infinitely connected world, the roles of teachers and parents in the learning process are changing. Good communication is arguably more important than ever before. A teacher-parent relationship that’s in sync is the best way to create a positive experience and learning environment for each student. So how do...