Hey there,
I'm high above the clouds right now somewhere over Ohio on my way to Chicago while writing this. Since we have been talking a lot about air pressure, I decided to buy a bottle of water before we left the airport to use it as a demonstration about air pressure. While in flight at an altitude well over 25,000 ft I opened the water bottle and drank about half of it. What do you think the bottle will look like when we return to ground level? Could you use what you know about air pressure and altitude to explain what will happen to the bottle water? Later today or tomorrow I will update the blog with a picture of what happened to the water bottle to see if you prediction was correct along with an explanation for what happened. Have a great night, check back soon for any updates about my experience at the National Science Teacher Convection in Chicago!
Sciencerely,
Mr. Botti
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Last Day in San Antonio
Today was my last day in San Antonio. This morning I went to my last session about studying Earthquake waves using a slinky and other virtual animations of how earthquake waves travel. The session was presented by IRIS. IRIS is a consortium of over 100 US universities dedicated to the operation of science facilities for the acquisition, management, and distribution of seismological data. This organization provides resources and shares data with various educational institutions and other researchers. Through this session I learned about new ways to present seismic waves to students. One method involved creating a human wave to simulate the P and S waves. It was a great way to demonstrate the speed of these waves and the mediums they can travel through.
After this session, there wasn't much else for me to see, so I took the afternoon to see parts of San Antonio I didn't see yet. All and all, it was a great trip. I learned a lot and had a good time enjoying the things San Antonio has to offer. Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday. Look for my final blog post about my trip tomorrow.
Below are pictures I took around San Antonio today. Enjoy!
After this session, there wasn't much else for me to see, so I took the afternoon to see parts of San Antonio I didn't see yet. All and all, it was a great trip. I learned a lot and had a good time enjoying the things San Antonio has to offer. Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday. Look for my final blog post about my trip tomorrow.
Below are pictures I took around San Antonio today. Enjoy!
Friday, April 12, 2013
NSTA Day 2
Howdy, from a very busy and jam packed day two of the NSTA science conference. After writing yesterday's blog, I ended up having dinner at nice Mexican restaurant with two other teachers from North Penn. Mr. Winkle (A fifth grade teacher from Gwyn Nor) and Mr. Berger (A physics teacher from NPHS). The restaurant where we ate is among many others in an entertainment district of San Antonio called the River Walk. After dinner, we took a stroll around other parts of the river walk and stopped to see the historic and famous Alamo which I have posted a picture of below.
During day two at the conference, I started my day off in another session sponsored by NASA which was about NASA's new web resource for teachers called wavelength. During the workshop, we got to participate in examples of hands on activities that are available thorough this new resource. The one activity that I participated in during this workshop was about water quality and we had to make qualitative observations about the various samples provided and try to determine whichever sample was pure water. I thought that a fun activity like this would be useful for me to use next year when discussing quantitative observations and it would be nice to modify it to incorporate quantitative observations as well. The one major take away from this session was the additional information about the new NASA wavelength teacher data base full of powerful lessons to teach students about science through a variety of instructional strategies.
After lunch, I attend two additional workshops that I thought were great. The first one was about using hands-on learning in the classroom and the two instructors showed various activities that they use in the science classroom. It was nice to see that they use a lot of similar strategies I use both with technology and the use of other science lab equipment to provide this type of learning environment. After participating in this session, I walked away with a few more ideas to try to incorporate into my teaching strategies as well.
The second workshop that I really enjoyed this afternoon was about the electromagnetic spectrum, a topic we will be studying before the end of the school year. During this workshop, I gained some new ideas or things to try to help me teach this topic to all of my students. One tool that they were using during this workshop was an almost ancient over-head projector, do any of you even know what those are? I am sure you do, but it probably won't be long before I have students who do not. For me, it has been years since I have used one, but it was cool to see how the instructor used it to introduce and teach about the visible spectrum. The presenters of this workshop also used emission tubes to show us how to analyze the spectrum of different gases. This was similar to an activity you will be doing later this year when we cover the same topic.
All and all, the day was filled with a lot of learning and fun activities. For now it is time for me to sign off and head out to grab a bite to eat. I hope that you all had a great end to your week now that PSSA's and the third marking period are over. Be sure to stop back tomorrow evening to see my Saturday update. Enjoy your weekend!
During day two at the conference, I started my day off in another session sponsored by NASA which was about NASA's new web resource for teachers called wavelength. During the workshop, we got to participate in examples of hands on activities that are available thorough this new resource. The one activity that I participated in during this workshop was about water quality and we had to make qualitative observations about the various samples provided and try to determine whichever sample was pure water. I thought that a fun activity like this would be useful for me to use next year when discussing quantitative observations and it would be nice to modify it to incorporate quantitative observations as well. The one major take away from this session was the additional information about the new NASA wavelength teacher data base full of powerful lessons to teach students about science through a variety of instructional strategies.
After lunch, I attend two additional workshops that I thought were great. The first one was about using hands-on learning in the classroom and the two instructors showed various activities that they use in the science classroom. It was nice to see that they use a lot of similar strategies I use both with technology and the use of other science lab equipment to provide this type of learning environment. After participating in this session, I walked away with a few more ideas to try to incorporate into my teaching strategies as well.
The second workshop that I really enjoyed this afternoon was about the electromagnetic spectrum, a topic we will be studying before the end of the school year. During this workshop, I gained some new ideas or things to try to help me teach this topic to all of my students. One tool that they were using during this workshop was an almost ancient over-head projector, do any of you even know what those are? I am sure you do, but it probably won't be long before I have students who do not. For me, it has been years since I have used one, but it was cool to see how the instructor used it to introduce and teach about the visible spectrum. The presenters of this workshop also used emission tubes to show us how to analyze the spectrum of different gases. This was similar to an activity you will be doing later this year when we cover the same topic.
All and all, the day was filled with a lot of learning and fun activities. For now it is time for me to sign off and head out to grab a bite to eat. I hope that you all had a great end to your week now that PSSA's and the third marking period are over. Be sure to stop back tomorrow evening to see my Saturday update. Enjoy your weekend!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
NSTA Day 1
Had a great first day at the conference here in San Antonio. After waking up to a very chilly morning in San Antonio and starting my day with my usual Starbucks, I began my conference day in a session about the water cycle that was sponsored by NASA. I chose to attend this session because we will be discussing this topic next week. I wanted to attend this session to gain new ideas and any resources that could help all my students learn and understand the water cycle and be able to describe how it works. While at the session, I learned about the many free resources that have been put together for educators to use in the classroom and I look forward to sharing these resources with the other science teachers at North Penn. One of the resources that I really liked from this session was a web quest about the water cycle. I look forward to using this web quest with my classes next week because it is a very student centered approach to teaching about the water cycle, while it incorporates the use to technology. You will have to let me know what you think about it and activities like it.
After taking a short break to walk around the exhibit hall (the area where all the venders are) and finding time to eat some lunch, I then attended a fun and highly interactive session called Rock and Roll Through the Earth. During this session, I was picked for an audience participation activity to act and represent parts of Earth's interior. I was asked to played the role of the Earth's inner core. Using what you already know about the Earth's inner core, what quantities do you think I had to possess? Hopefully you guessed that I have to be strong, very dense and hot. Of course I had to flex my muscles and growl at the audience to show what a beast I am. I love how things like this always happen to me, however, I was thankful not to be the only participant making a fool of themselves because all the other layers were represented in this interactive and entertaining activity. After this fun and silly activity, we played a dice game that demonstrated how materials flow through the rock cycle and the presenters tied in math and the analysis of the data that could be collected through this activity. I look forward to trying these activities out with my students next year. This was by far my favorite session of the day.
Later in the afternoon I attended two other sessions, one about infrared radiation and how to detect it, and the other was about classifying clouds. Both sessions were full of useful information, ideas and free resources. I am definitely looking forward to more exciting sessions tomorrow, but for now, it is time to eat and relax before another fun filled day. Oh, by the way, Bill Nye is here and he says "Science Rules!"
After taking a short break to walk around the exhibit hall (the area where all the venders are) and finding time to eat some lunch, I then attended a fun and highly interactive session called Rock and Roll Through the Earth. During this session, I was picked for an audience participation activity to act and represent parts of Earth's interior. I was asked to played the role of the Earth's inner core. Using what you already know about the Earth's inner core, what quantities do you think I had to possess? Hopefully you guessed that I have to be strong, very dense and hot. Of course I had to flex my muscles and growl at the audience to show what a beast I am. I love how things like this always happen to me, however, I was thankful not to be the only participant making a fool of themselves because all the other layers were represented in this interactive and entertaining activity. After this fun and silly activity, we played a dice game that demonstrated how materials flow through the rock cycle and the presenters tied in math and the analysis of the data that could be collected through this activity. I look forward to trying these activities out with my students next year. This was by far my favorite session of the day.
Later in the afternoon I attended two other sessions, one about infrared radiation and how to detect it, and the other was about classifying clouds. Both sessions were full of useful information, ideas and free resources. I am definitely looking forward to more exciting sessions tomorrow, but for now, it is time to eat and relax before another fun filled day. Oh, by the way, Bill Nye is here and he says "Science Rules!"
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Finally Here
Made it to the hotel by 10pm (11pm your time). As promised. Here is a picture of my water after being at 34,000ft and the view of San Antonio from the top of my hotel. Good luck on your last two PSSA Tests tomorrow. Looking forward to learning a lot while I'm here. Stay Tuned!
Flying to San Antonio
In flight to San Antonio for the NSTA Science Teacher Conference. As promised I have a water bottle to show what happens to it during flight. I opened the bottle at sea level and as we ascended guess what happened to it. should it have contracted or expanded?
Hopefully you know that the bottle should have expanded due to the higher pressure on the ground and you should know that the air pressure decreases as you go up into Earth's Atmosphere. Since the bottle expanded, not much use it taking a picture of it since you really can't see it, but be sure to see a posted picture of it once we land later tonight. For now, I attached a picture of the stratus clouds in the distance. Check back later for more updates!
Hopefully you know that the bottle should have expanded due to the higher pressure on the ground and you should know that the air pressure decreases as you go up into Earth's Atmosphere. Since the bottle expanded, not much use it taking a picture of it since you really can't see it, but be sure to see a posted picture of it once we land later tonight. For now, I attached a picture of the stratus clouds in the distance. Check back later for more updates!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Mr. Botti's New Blog
Mr. Botti's Trip To San Antonio:
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