Guest Thinkers — February 16, 2011

Video – My session with the Heartland AEA 11 superintendents

For your viewing pleasure this weekend, here’s my session with the Heartland AEA 11 (Iowa) superintendents. The video’s just over an hour long: about 25 minutes of my presentation followed by discussion (and a copy of Did You Know? 2.0). The video was filmed and edited by Dr. Gordon Dahlby, Director of Curriculum and Technology for the West Des Moines (IA) Community Schools (thanks, Gordon!). My presentation materials and other resources are available at the web page I made for the group.

Starts With A Bang

How the cosmic microwave background proves the Big Bang

In the 20th century, many options abounded as to our cosmic origins. Today, only the Big Bang survives, thanks to this critical evidence.

A realistic illustration of earth in space, bathed in sunlight with a visible blue glow from the GaiaSignatures atmosphere.

Hard Science

Gaiasignatures: A new way to search for alien life

"I hope we take a mindset where we are willing to look for weird life in weird places."

Black and white photo of an older man in a striped jacket whispering to a grinning young man in a suit.

Neuropsych

Rhyme as reason: The cognitive quirk that makes bad advice seem wise

Beer before wine and you'll feel fine? Well, it depends.

Starts With A Bang

The better way to measure cosmic time

For some reason, when we talk about the age of stars, galaxies, and the Universe, we use "years" to measure time. Can we do better?

A technician in a clean suit inspects a large, segmented, hexagonal mirror inside a circular gray structure.

Hard Science

Why a James Webb Space Telescope mystery doesn’t (necessarily) break cosmology

The JWST's observations of well-developed galaxies early in universal history may coincide with accepted astronomical theory after all.

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Guest Thinkers

High school grading: Mastery v. handing things in

One of the students in my data-driven decision-making class (for discussion purposes, let’s call her ‘Jen’) posted this in our online discussion area: Most grading at the high school level […]