Science vs The Bible: A Study in Conflation

Science and the Bible are at odds. Intelligence or faith, you have to choose. That's what we've been told. It's not true. Why am I posting this here on an education blog? I don't want anyone, student or educator, to feel like if they are studying or working in STEM, that they cannot also be a person of faith (and vice versa). Since many present this as a two sided issue, I wanted to share my perspective.

When I first became a Christian I found myself surrounded by people who, upon finding I was studying science, wanted to tell me how to harmonize the Bible with science. I spent the first few years of my faith, reading all of the apologetics and resources I could find in hopes of understanding how the Bible would be compatible with my knowledge of science and math.

Some of these resources were interesting and enlightening but many raised more questions and issues than they solved. Worse yet, many were attempting to discredit evolution and the like because of the perceived incompatibility with the Bible. It was very frustrating because I felt that the Christian community was forcing me to choose what I observed to be true about the universe and what I believed to be true about God.

Sadly, this black and white belief is also reflected by many prominent voices in the science community. Making claims like, "if evolution is true then there can be no God" is an untestable statement and is just as much a belief system as any religion.

The problem with this either/or debate is it leads to unnecessary confusion and frustration. Is the Bible made obsolete by modern theories and discoveries? Can one apply the same intelligence to their faith that they do to their work and other aspects of their lives? I believe it is possible and God's will that we be able to fully use our minds to learn more about the Universe while using that same mind to deepen our understanding and relationship with Him.


Science: An cumulative progression or a series of paradigm shifts?
Textbooks and many historical narratives send the message that science has been a cumulative effort where each previous theory and law builds on the previous. If you consider the stories of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Einstein as an example, each proposed a new theory that was not initially well received within scientific circles. Their detractors were opposed not always based on evidence, as some would have you believe, but because it conflicted with their worldview and paradigm.

These scientists, as well as Darwin, Crick, and many more in the scientific community continued to have skeptics and detractors long after the theory was confirmed by data and evidence. One day, I stumbled upon the word "conflation" which I found to be very useful in this situation. Conflation is where you take your personal beliefs (e.g. that the world is only a few thousand years old, or that there is no God) and combine them with the Bible or the theory of Evolution to make them say something they were not intended to say. In hermeneutics, the study of texts like the Bible, this is known as eisegesis and one must constantly be on guard against it. If one is to read a text, they must understand what assumptions and worldview they are bringing to it.

The problem is well meaning and passionate people on both sides of this supposed debate are trying to "save your mind and soul" when they don't realize, or refuse to acknowledge, that they have an "-ism" or a worldview as much as anyone else. You may think it was Galileo vs the church but it was much more about politics and cherished philosophies left over from Aristotle. It's been said that Christians have always opposed evolution and that scientists have always embraced it. Neither are true and it has led to misleading representation about what the theory of evolution actually is (as well as what a "theory" is for that matter).

If you were writing the book of Genesis for the Jews a couple thousand years ago, what do you think would be the most useful message to them? Remember they were just rescued from slavery in Egypt and are wandering in the wilderness. The writer of Genesis was inspired to write a message about God and creation that explained why God was different than the other gods they had seen in Egypt and would encounter from other nations. The story told in Genesis 1-3 (creation) and 5-9 (Noah and the flood) is not intended to be a literal account of the geological and biological events that took place in the early days of the Earth. A scientific explanation would not have had much value to the aforementioned Jews in their situation. Throughout these narratives and the Bible as a whole, God describes his love for us and why we need salvation. As Galileo, quoting Caesar Baronius, put it famously in his letter to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, "The intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven. not how heaven goes."

This post could be miles long, but I feel you will get more value if you check out some of these books:

• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas Kuhn: As mentioned above this is where the term "paradigm shift" is coined and it is an excellent tour through the history of science with examples of how evidence required a complete change in how we perceive the universe rather than an cumulative progression as textbooks would have us believe.
• Personal Knowledge - Michael Polanyi: Everyone has a belief system and worldview and it is impossible for one to be 100% objective. Experiments are reproducible, their implications are open to interpretation.
• Galileo Connection - Charles E. Hummel: If you have the understanding that the Bible is incompatible with science, then you may find this book useful. It clarifies the role of Scripture and nature in understanding God and the universe. It also provides an excellent perspective on the politics and disagreements that led to Gailieo being forced to recant his scientific findings.
• The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins: This book, among others, helped me to better understand the topic of emergent complexity and how very simple rules can lead to diverse behavior. Dawkins is also an interesting read, as a self proclaimed "militant atheist" you will see an example of how a brilliant scientist can see the same data and evidence as others but interpret it differently based on one's own personal belief system.
• Perspectives on an Evolving Creation - Keith B. Miller et al.: A series of articles from Christians who are also scientists on how the we have been misled to believe that one cannot be a scientist and a Christian.
• Galileo's letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany - Galileo was a devout and pious Christian which is why he was so confused and frustrated by those in the Church who opposed his discoveries on theological grounds. In this letter, he describes his faith and how that lives in harmony with his scientific pursuits, his belief that his accusers in the Church were misunderstanding the passages from the Bible and its role, and the role of the natural world in declaring the glory of God.

If you have a strong opinion on this topic, how much of it is based on evidence and how much based on your own personal belief system.? Regardless of your position on the issue, I have always found it helpful to hear other perspectives. I am glad that science is an endeavor I can continue to pursue while maintaining a faith in God. My hope is you will also find harmony on this topic and realize that a universe with evolution, a big bang, or whatever else we discover, are not barriers to understanding God's existence and love (Ps 19:1).

Physics Gizmo is updated to version 2.2

Physics Gizmo is updated to version 2.2 for phones running Gingerbread, Honeycomb, or Ice Cream Sandwich.

If you are running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android version 4.0), this update brings with it a visual refresh in alignment with the new look and feel.

For everyone else, Physics Gizmo will no longer close if you choose not to turn on Bluetooth. This is a bug I have wanted to resolve for a while, and I appreciate your patience.

Bluetooth is necessary to connect two phones as a photogate (video), but if you don't turn on Bluetooth the other sensors work just fine.

Thanks to everyone who uses and tells others about Physics Gizmo. Please let me know your comments, feedback, and requests and I would appreciate it if you leave positive feedback/rating in Google Play.

See the original Physics Gizmo post for more background and information about the app.

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Stop Saying I Don't Know to Student's Questions

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Albert Einstein

The above quote is the challenge of every science teacher. My professor once told me that Einstein would walk up to people on the street to tell them about his theories and if he was unable to explain it to them or answer their questions sufficiently, then he felt he did not understand it well enough himself.

I am a big fan of the Mythbusters as well as books like There Are No Electrons which show us when our conceptual models are too limiting to our understanding. So when David Rudel, editor of the excellent ExploreLearning site (home of the awesome science Gizmos) asked me to review his book Science Myths Unmasked, I couldn't wait to check it out. I have to say I was not disappointed, in fact I would have written this review sooner but I was enjoying the book too much to stop.

Science Myths Unmasked takes the most common experiments and models that every middle and high school student encounters.  In Vol 1: Earth and Life Science, Rudel challenges some of the big questions that teachers encounter every day from students.

If you have ever had students question the genetics and evolution curriculum they are right to do so. Textbooks ask students to go from Mendel's pea pods and variation within the species to evolution into new species which leaves them wondering how Dominant and Recessive genes can accomplish this. With clarity and research to back it up, the book explains how evolution can occur as well as the modern viewpoints on the mechanism for evolution.

There are many other topics covered in the book like:

• How do clouds form?
• Why do my veins appear to be blue?
• What is the "greenhouse effect"

These topics are those that keep coming up in classrooms and from our own children, unfortunately the canonical explanations are often half true or completely false (the blood in your veins is not blue). These books read like a mystery novel rather than a textbook and you will find it hard to put it down.

I especially enjoyed Vol 2: Physical Science, having spent time as a 8th grade physical science teacher. Students are wonderfully skeptical and with encouragement will have no problem speaking out about it. When something doesn't match their view of reality they must ask WHY?

Unfortunately, our textbooks in an attempt to make things simpler often omit or erroneously explain natural phenomena. I have reviewed most of the textbooks out there and there is always one or two places where I reread a paragraph over and over because it just doesn't seem right.

I must admit there were a couple of times in Rudel's book where I thought, "Oh that's why, that never made sense before!" I too have misconceptions that I have explained away and it has been a great week to reaffirm and test my own understanding of Physics.

Some of the explanations include:

• Why does the water in an overturned jar rise when the candle inside burns out?
• Does electricity only flow in a "closed circuit"?
• What do we mean when we say a wave of light and why do we draw a sine wave to describe it?

The best part about these books is how accessible they are. They contain no additional math and the descriptions are clear enough to be read by anyone with an inquisitive mind. Rudel takes all of the questions teachers and textbooks sweep under the rug and finally bring them to light.

If you go to the book's website, you can download sample chapters. At the price these books are being offered, they make a great gift for the science teacher in your life.


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Android + Science with Physics Gizmo

Science equipment can be expensive and yet many of your students have Android phones. Why not put this incredible technology to use for learning. Physics Gizmo allows you to collect scientific data in your classroom, at home, or even in space using only the phone.

Download Physics Gizmo from Google Play

Physics Gizmo is Open Source
I've put the source to Physics Gizmo on GitHub. If you are interested in helping me develop a tool for students to collect and analyze scientific data in an affordable way I encourage you to join the project.

Physics Gizmo on GitHub
Discussion Group Forum

For inspiration, here's an experiment using Physics Gizmo - via +Roberto Catanuto (@RobertoCatanuto)


Version 2.3
This version no longer requires you to turn on Bluetooth when the app starts. The only time you need to turn it on is if you wish to use two phones as a photogate (see below).


Version 2.2
Physics Gizmo is updated to version 2.2 for phones running Gingerbread, Honeycomb, or Ice Cream Sandwich.

If you are running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android version 4.0), this update brings with it a visual refresh in alignment with the new look and feel.

For everyone else, Physics Gizmo will no longer close if you choose not to turn on Bluetooth. This is a bug I have wanted to resolve for a while, and I appreciate your patience.

Bluetooth is necessary to connect two phones as a photogate (video), but if you don't turn on Bluetooth the other sensors work just fine.



Version 2.0
Now there are more opportunities to conduct scientific experiments with your phone.

New Sensors
Using the phone's proximity sensor (usually in the upper left of the phone), Physics Gizmo has three new options for collecting data:  

1. Photogate Pulse - Triggered each time the proximity sensor is covered. Use it to count events. 
2. Photogate Pulse with 2 Phones (Beta, only for Android 2.0+) - Connect two phones for accurate event timing. Similar to the 1 phone photogate but one phone starts the timer and the other one stops it. If you are tired of inaccurate experiments from human error with a stopwatch this is for you. See how long it takes for an object to fall or roll down a ramp like Galileo's and more! With Bluetooth's range ~30 ft/10 m there are many possibilities for learning. Watch a video of the 2 Phone Photogate in action.
1. Click yes to turn on Bluetooth Discovery mode.
2. Select another phone running Physics Gizmo from the list.
3. The timer starts when the first phone's proximity sensor is triggered.
4. The timer will stop when the second phone's proximity sensor is triggered.
3.  Pendulum - Notoriously difficult to time accurately, an event is recorded for each completed full swing/period (two triggers) of a pendulum passing by the proximity sensor. Watch a video of the pendulum sensor in action.

Note:

• If you don't see the new sensors your device does not have a proximity sensor (some tablets). 
• If you don't enable Bluetooth in the beginning, you will not see the 2 phone photogate.

Updated Accelerometer Sensing

• Continues to sense from the accelerometer even if the screen is turned off (note: be sure to try this with your phone as results may vary). Useful when the phone is in your pocket on a roller coaster.

User Interface 

• New layout with higher resolution.
• When finished sensing, press the "plus" button to add more time and sense again.
• Pressing the question mark button in the upper right opens contextual help for you to successfully use Physics Gizmo and upload your data.

Using Physics Gizmo

1. Turn on Bluetooth to access all sensors.
2. Select your sensor
3. Give your data a name or leave it with the time and date.
4. Set the timer.
5. Click start to collect data.
6. Upload your data to analyze later using Google Docs, Fusion Tables, Geogebra etc. It is also saved in the ScienceData folder on the SD card as a csv.

Think of all of the experiments you can do, considering how much more likely you are to have enough phones in the classroom to do the experiment

I am really excited to see it used by students. I was originally inspired to create the app for my colleague who takes his students to Magic Mountain for Physics Day. Now they can collect accelerometer data on all of the rides and analyze the data back at class! That data will help them build their own roller coasters. The photogate sensors were inspired by my other colleague who creates pinewood derby cars but was always looking to improve the accuracy of the racing data.

The point is, now students can learn science with a phone they already use everyday. Please share in the comments how you used the app!

How Did I Get Here 
A while ago I created an app using Python and Android so everyone could collect data for science experiments. That post became one of my top all time read posts. But, I worried that all you did was read it. You see, I made a couple of mistakes that I wouldn't let students get away with:

1. I made it relatively difficult to access. The instructions are there, and it would probably take about 20 minutes to get the app on your phones, but 20 minutes is a huge chunk of time in the Internet world and we have so much to do. I have seen people pass up learning Geogebra because they thought it would take too much time to learn!
2. My second mistake was I didn't push myself to learn. Instead of learning Android programming, I asked all of you to do the work of getting it working so I could play it safe with Python. 

I decided to fix that right away. Now I love Python for its syntax, therefore Android (which is built upon Java) seemed more complex than I would have liked. But, if I wouldn't allow a student to get away with that, then I certainly couldn't.

So I did what I always do when trying to learn something new: I read, and read, and read until I stored up all of the confusing syntax and methods in my head. Keep in mind that this didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. 

Then I came across this excellent tutorial by Chris Blunt. It takes you through the setup, installation, and programming of an android timer app. The clear instructions, pictures, and hints made it really simple to see how an Android app comes together. Eureka! Everything clicked together and suddenly, I was writing all kinds of additions to the app. 

Now, that makes it sound pretty simple huh? Well there were still plenty of bumps in the road, but I did learn than programming for Android is a lot easier than I thought and it makes sense once you get the hang of it. Not to mention I had two powerful tools that kept me going. 

1. Eclipse - It's free, it's open source and it's incredible! It will generate templates, spell check, find errors, suggest fixes. I can't imagine how I would have come this far without it. 
2. The Web - Yes, I know it sounds obvious, but books take too long to root through and sometimes your question doesn't fit the examples in the book. I must give special appreciation to Stack Overflow which always seemed to have the right answer. Although, when it had a similar answer, but not the exact one I needed, it pushed me to understand the concepts even more.

The Apress are my favorite Android books so far. I used, Android Apps for Absolute Beginners, Beginning Android 3, and I just ordered Learn Java for Android Development so I can gain an even deeper understanding of how this works. I intend to fully immerse myself in Android programming this year so I can make some apps that can support learning.

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Start Programming with Your Math and Science Class Today

If you are a long time reader of this blog, then you have seen the many ideas, thoughts, and examples of how I use and encourage the use of programming to learn math and science. I realized that I have not ever created a clear introduction to getting started with using Python in your class.

I hope that this tutorial helps you get started and have some great ideas. The more of us who are using and creating awesome math the more it helps everyone else. So please enjoy, ask questions, try something, and share with us what you did and how it went. It is exciting to think of all of the cool learning, questions, and skills that your students will gain from this experience.

Enjoy, and if you have any feedback or discover errors let me know. Here is a link to the PDF as well.

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Physics and Math for Everyone with Exploriments

Last week I spoke at the CUE Conference and having arrived early, I was able to check out all of the vendors. About 90% of it was similar to last year and SMART/Promethean boards and projectors always have a huge presence. I also saw a few companies promoting Augmented Reality, which you can see in the video below.

The research is showing that when students can interact with learning in a visual, kinesthetic way they are more likely to remember the content.

I am not promoting or encouraging these tables/tables/boards etc as they are expensive and do not promote learning in and of themselves. However, when you can make the content itself interactive, then your students can really get into it.

I have created a few of these myself with Geogebra, and also some modules with Python but I have always wanted something more complete that would support the learning in the classroom. PhET is definitely the kind of thing I am referring to. It is interactive and has lots of features. Plus it is asynchronous so students can learn from it even when I am not specifically working with them. You can find these and many more free applets on my Math and Science Resource page. My only frustration with these are how few there are and sometimes they are intended for college students and are thus over complicated for high school students.

Exploriments - Amazing Science/Math Modules


Back to the CUE Conference, I came across a booth whose demure appearance understated the excellence of what they were promoting. Exploriments has created amazing Shockwave based demonstrations, experiments, and explanations.

Too often, I want to demonstrate a concept but a powerpoint or whiteboard explanation will not suffice. Sometimes there is a YouTube video but there are far too few quality videos out there. Additionally, if your school is suffering budget setbacks like the majority are, then it is difficult to afford the expensive lab equipment and materials. Yet, with Exploriments, much like Geogebra and Khan Academy, this levels the playing field so all students have an opportunity to learn even if their resources are limited. All of the benefits of online learning software come along with it:

• Students can learn at their own pace any time (could be given for homework before a lab or lesson).
• Repeatable and accessible anywhere that has a computer with internet.
• Interactive learning and teachers can follow along to see how they are progressing.

There is a free trial which allows you to explore the quality and thought that went into designing these simulations. However, the cost is far cheaper than any science video set or even the cost of a single lab experiment for an entire class. In the full version, you have access to:

Physics - Electricity, Electrostatics, Weight vs Mass, Motion (1D), Projectiles, Force, Friction, Momentum, Moments, Simple Machines, Gravitation, Oscillation, Pendulum, Spring, Pressure, Fluids, Light, Heat, Vectors and the list goes on!

There are experiments and demonstrations that would be expensive (electrical charges) or impossible (gravity at high altitudes) that are brought into the classroom and easily accessible for you and your students.

The math portion is growing as well as currently offers number sense and basic algebra. Chemistry has just started with compounds, but the representatives spoke with me about all of the modules they are working feverishly to add. If you have a subscription, you have access to all of the newest stuff.

If you are a math/science teacher, I strongly encourage you to check Exploriments out. I think that you will see that these can help your students learn and understand in a way not possible before.

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Challenges of Engineering Project

Even with all of the resources I have for planning projects, sometimes the best ones come from just being in the right place at the right time. A couple of months ago, I took some students to the first National Science Fair in Washington DC and we had a great time seeing all of the universities and organizations who had shown up to renew the country's commitment to STEM.

One of my favorite exhibitions was with Disney/Imagineering and the National Institutes of Health. They were partnered to demonstrate innovation in one of the critical Challenges of Engineering that were produced by the National Academies of Engineering. Some examples are cyber security, solar energy, personalized learning, and 11 more.

When I came home, my humanities teaching partner mentioned to me that she would like to work on the technical writing skills of our students. An idea for a project was born and after some collaborating, we had decided that we would have the students create research paper/posters based upon the Challenges of Engineering.

This was a valuable project for many reasons:

• It did help the students learn about these important topics that threaten the survival of our society as we know it. Students began with almost no knowledge of these topics and yet at the exhibition were able to impress community members we had invited with the depth and breadth of their knowledge.
• Students worked diligently to research these topics using college level resources and understand it in a way that they could explain it to others.
• This provided them an opportunity to create beautiful work through feedback and refinement.
• We set a high standard of excellence, our model and criteria were based upon the same used for Graduate School work, but the students rose to meet our expectations. 

If you would like to see the finished posters the students made click here for the link.

The instructions, template, etc can be found here.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

What an exciting event. America is renewing it's support and interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with the first annual USA Science and Engineering Festival. It was exciting to bring our virtual bike to the fair, but there were many other exciting booths and events.

It was uplifting to see hundreds if not thousands of people come to ours and the other booths. Organizations, Corporations, and Schools of all types came out to get citizens of all ages excited about science and engineering. So often we forget that it is possible to have fun while learning but events like this are just what is needed to remind us. I also appreciated the chance to meet and talk with educators and business people from all over the country and hear their passion and interest in getting interest reignited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Everyone did an amazing job and brought some wonderful exhibits. Here are a few highlights:

There are so many potential discoveries and opportunities in biology and genetics so it was great to see so many exhibits teaching about DNA. Students of all ages learned trascription/translation, how to extract genetic material from fruit, mutations, and much more.

Robotics was a big player in this festival. Almost every type of robotics team was represented at the fair. VEX Robots were playing soccer, BotBall bots were following obstacle courses, but FRC stole the show with its high powered catapults and launchers. Who wouldn't want a robot that could shoot a soccer ball 20 feet into the air?

The National Academies of Engineering and Disney's Tron had a line out the door with their exhibit on Virtual Reality (you can imagine why we took an interest). Partnered together because of the NAE Grand Challenges. It was mindblowing to see the virtual technology being used to improve neurosurgeon's precision. As they practice, they are able to see if their stress levels are high, as well as practice on a realistic simulation. Apparently one cannot learn everything by practicing on a cadaver. It will be amazing if the top surgeons of the future can trace back their skills to practicing on video games like this.

Thanks to all who made this event possible. My students and I would definitely come back to exhibit another ground breaking innovation by the Chaos Vortex Robotics Team from Chula Vista, CA.

Did you go to the event? Share your experience below!

Virtual Bike at the National Mall in Washington DC

After almost a year of preparation 4 of my students are bringing our virtual bike tour of the Otay Valley Regional Park to the first ever USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC. How did this happen? Let me back up and tell you the story.

The incredible Lisa Davis approached me about participating in the HP Grant our school was receiving to encourage the implementation of technology in the classroom. Through this grant we received laptops and scientific sensors.

One of the organizations we were were connected to work with was Wildcoast and the Otay Valley Regional Park. Through our discussions, we learned that the largest obstacle the park was dealing with was obscurity. There are miles of beautiful trails and natural resources that much of the San Diego community is not aware of. So we decided our project would be to help make the community more aware of this park while encouraging the use of technology.

After some brainstorming and prototyping, the students developed a basic 15 second movie of what was possible. The video was created using Blender a free and open source 3D Rendering Software. I have embedded below the prototype video (which the students despise because they have learned and improved their skills so much since then). 

Wildcoast and HP were extremely happy with our idea and so we received the green light and funding to move forward. After months of work and learning along the way, the students refined their work significantly. The user sees the virtual park through Virtual Reality Googles we received through a sponsorship with Vuzix. With the built in accelerometer, it is possible to look around 360 degrees within the virtual park.

The bike was donated by REI, and while were unable to bring it with us for logistical reasons, it is quite an exciting experience to ride. Using force sensors from Sparkfun Electronics and the Arduino Microprocessor, the game is able to detect when the rider pushes on the pedals and moves them forward in around the park.

The final video file is huge and I am unable to show you a video inside the final version of the park, but here are screenshots, pictures of the students working, and pictures of people enjoying it at the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

I hope you will be able to stop by and say hi, this is a result of a lot of student (and teacher) effort and we are honored to be a part of such an exciting event. We will be located in National Mall 3 on 4th Street. Next week I will post pictures and a report about the other events and exhibits at the festival.

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Wolfram Alpha for Powerful Science, Math, and Humanities Research

Data is everywhere, it doesn't matter what you teach, you need data and researching the web is a fast and great way to do it. Sometimes, we don't always get what we want.

If you have not tried it, enter 5 pounds to grams in Google. The effect is even cooler because of Google Instant. Or try entering 60/2.5. For all that Google can do, it is also a great calculator or conversion tool. In fact Google is able to do all kinds of helpful things besides just searching for websites (link)

Yet, try entering y=2x+5 and you will receive websites that may help you understand linear equations or maybe eventually show you the graph but this isn't exactly what you meant. What if you are researching different countries and comparing demographics? England and China, England vs China, no matter what you try, you will still need to root through search results.

Now I love Google, this would happen if you were using Yahoo, Bing, or any other search engine because that is what they do, find and return web pages that match your search terms. This all changed last year when WolframAlpha.com emerged on the scene. Developed by Stephen Wolfram and his colleagues, it touts itself as a "Computational Knowledge Engine". For those of you familiar with Stephen Wolfram's previous work with Mathematica, the website is powered by the same algorithims.

Try it out or look at some of the examples. I honestly, could spend a lot of time going through each one. They are just so beautiful and helpful. Going to our original examples, go to WolframAlpha.com and type in y=2x+5 and hit enter. There is the graph you were looking for. WolframAlpha.com is a full fledged graphing calculator.

Now try England vs China. This will not pull up sports scores or obscure websites with those keywords. You are presented with a useful side by side comparison of the two countries' demographics, landmass, etc.

I enjoy typing in my name as it will tell me how many others of me there are in the world. The examples are certainly worth your time. Click around and see the possibilities of seeing data in a way that is truly useful.  This isn't surprising from Stephen Wolfram who has spend a great deal of time and energy trying to make the world's knowledge not only searchable but computational. Data is worthless if we cannot work with it and that is exactly what Mathematica and Wolframalpha.com were intended to do. You can see more of Mr. Wolfram's philosophy in this TED talk where he draws from his research and writings in A New Kind of Science.

In an effort to make Wolfram Alpha more accessible, others have implemented this in Firefox, and Chrome, (free) and now Android, iPhone, and iPad (for $1.99).

Two other free options for educators are Wolfram Alpha Demonstrations, and Widgets. Demonstrations are similar to the examples, but with a large amount of interactivity. Show your students a physics or math principle, art and color, sports examples, optical illusions, and more. Widgets are an option for you or your students to create your own mini Wolfram Alpha program. It is easy to create one to add to your website or for your classroom, there is also a gallery of premade widgets.

Whether you teach the humanities or sciences, WolframAlpha has the power to make data managable and useful. If you haven't already go over to the site and browse you will find it hard to leave.

Audacity is All You Need to Record, Edit, and create Audio

Audacity is one of those applications that make people amazed at the generosity and power of Open Source. Everytime I show this app, they cannot believe that this is available for free. Audacity allows you to record, edit, export sound all in one easy interface. You can download it from the Audacity website. It will work on pretty much every Operating System you can imagine.

Once you have it downloaded, do a test run to make sure all of your sound settings are correct. To do this click on the big red button in the upper left. 

Talk into your microphone and you should see sound waves appear on the screen below it. If you don't see this: 1) Make sure you are talking loud enough, 2) Check your sound settings (Windows: Click on Start, Control Panel, Sound and Audio Devices, the Audio tab at the top, and finally under sound recording click Volume and make sure it is turned up)

You may already have a microphone built into your computer which is perfect for podcasting and basic recording. If you are really in a pinch, take your earbuds (like those for your iPod), plug them into the microphone slot and you have a makeshift microphone. Speakers and Microphones are pretty much the same thing just in reverse.

To playback push the Green Play button. The red line will show you where you are in the recording.

Once you are done with your test, you can delete the test by clicking on the X on the track you just recorded. 

Editing Your Track:

Let's say you are recording your speech or music and you make a mistake. Just keep going because you will edit it out later with ease. If you can edit a document you can edit audio in Audacity. After your recording is finished, use the sliders at the bottom of the screen to move it to the approximate time. The click and drag your cursor to highlight the area you would like to remove (if you are unsure if you are in the correct spot, click play and Audacity will only play the highlighted area). To remove the selection, click Backspace or Delete and your selection will be deleted and shift everything up. Couldn't be easier right?

You can do the same thing to copy and paste a selection, to repeat a sound over and over. A lot more settings can be found in the aptly named Edit menu at the upper left just as if you were editing a document.

You may find it useful from time to time to get a very specific part of your recording. Click on the magnifying glass under the menu bar. 

Move the mouse over the area to magnify, left click to zoom in and right click to zoom out. Click on the selection tool right above the magnifying glass to return to the ability to highlight and edit.

Saving and Exporting your Files:

Audacity is easy for recording and editing, but it is just as easy to create files for sharing your music or sound with the world.

Save Project for later:If you are not finished with your work just yet, you should save it as a project so you can come back to it later. Click File and Save Project. It will prompt you to save and then create an Audacity Project File (.AUP) and a Data folder. Do not separate the Project File and the Data folder or you will not be able to reopen your files.

Export WAV: A standard file that can be played on any computer. It tends to be a larger file than if you made an MP3. Click File then Export as WAV, you will be prompted to save and then Audacity will create your file.

Export MP3: One of the most widely recognized and playable sound file types in the world, you will most likely want to export your file as an MP3 as it is playable on mobile devices and is smaller than a WAV file. To export your sound as an MP3 you will need an additional free plugin. To download it, click on the following link, LAME MP3 Encoder. Once installed, you can click on File and then Export as MP3 in Audacity. 

NOTE: Audacity is using a large amount of memory to create your file. If you notice that Audacity is running slow or crashing often, close other programs and make sure you are not sharing to a networked drive. At our school, our students had a networked "My Documents" folder that it would default to saving to. This would slow down the entire network and crash Audacity. This is not a problem for those of you who are saving to your hard disk.

I hope you will find many uses for this powerful software. If you have any questions, send me an email or leave a comment. In the follow up post, I will review some of the ways you can use this software for music, podcasting, Physics, and more! Stay tuned.

Math, Science Engineering Resources

General Science:
The 100 Coolest Science Experiments on YouTube


Astronomy:

• Animations
• APOD - NASA Astronomy Picture of The Day, this page will never cease to amaze and inspire.
• Celestia - Free planetarium software
• Galaxy Zoo - Classify planets for NASA to better map the Universe. while learning it yourself.
• Google Earth - Don't be fooled by the name, in addition to the Earth you can also point your view into Space.
• Google Moon
• Impact Earth - Adjust the settings to determine whether or not our Earth would be hit from outer space.
• NASA Images
• Stellarium - Free planetarium software

Biology:

• Body Browser - Currently in Google Labs but really useful for seeing the human body.
• Breathing Earth - A visual representation of the amount of CO2 emitted by various countries.
• Cell Biology Animations
• Dissections can be expensive so have them practice before the real thing. Salmon and Frog
• Fold It - A game where the players learn about protein folding while conducting important research.
• Online Games and Animations
• Virtual Microscope

Chemistry:

• Animations
• ChemCollective - Shared activities and virtual experiments
• Interactive Periodic Table
• Periodic Table - Beautiful with pictures describing the element in its naturally occurring form.
• Periodic Videos - Interesting short video about each element describing its properties and reactivity.

Math:

• Dr. Math - Homework help, explanations on all topics, puzzles, and simply fun math. Run through Drexel University.
• Geogebra - This should be a must have in your math classroom and every student's home computer. Allows students to visually manipulate and "play" with math concepts.
• Mathematics Illuminated - Interactive information about some of the most exciting parts of mathematics. 
• Purple Math - Explains with the quality of textbook while still using accessible language for students. 
• Wolfram Alpha (maker of Mathematica)
• Wolfram Alpha Examples
• The Math Playground
• Video Tutorials:
• Khan Academy - Highly recommended, great quality videos about a variety of math and non-math topics.
• Your Math Gal/Website - Provides videos aligned to the math classroom.
• YourTeacher.com - Watch the videos for free. With a paid subscription, you can gain access to online help and quizzes.  

Physics:

• Physics Simulations
• Berkeley
• Physics Simulations
• Physics Flash Animations (not really simulations per se, but too good to pass up)
• Astronomy and Physics
• Simulations
• Phet Physics Interactive Simulations from UC Boulder
• Phun 2d Physics Sandbox

Electronics:

• Fritzing Circuit Prototyping
• Circuit Simulator

Google Document Updates

Just a quick update, Google Documents received an update making it all the more useful in the classroom. Of most interest to Math and Science teachers is the ability to insert an equation.

Previously you could create an equation in Word or Open Office's Writer but when you uploaded the document to Google Docs the equation would turn into a blurry unreadable picture. That problem has been resolved.

Note: You will not notice these changes in your old documents, you must create a new one.

To use this feature:

1. Open Google Documents
2. Click on Create New
3. Click on Document
4. To add mathematical equations click on "Insert"
5. Click on "Equation"
6. You will then see new options for you to create fractions, mathematical/scientific symbols.

Enjoy!