District Coach on the Go
21 Mar 2023 Leave a comment
in post office, science Tags: ounces, weight
The United States post office must use the most sensitive scale in the world.
I thought that a package I mailed weighed 13 pounds. I was mistaken. It only weighed 10 pounds and 4.960000000000008 ounces.
Does that equal eight trillionth of an ounce, or 800 quadrillionth? A pico ounce or a femto ounce?
30 Mar 2022 Leave a comment
in 33M, animals, pets, science Tags: animals, aquarium, chelsea, stuffed animals, taxidermy
I love a science lab that has real natural artifacts. This science lab in Chelsea Prep school (33M) was filled with living animals, dead animals, bones, hides and more.
There was also a friendly guinea pig, sitting right there in the middle of everything!
The science room at P33M, Chelsea Prep
Fish Tank with Red Devil Cichlids
Shark jaws, stingray jaws, shark eggs and babies in formaldehyde
Dolphin skeleton
Stuffed turtles
Live turtle
Assorted skulls and antlers
Puffer fish
Stuffed alligator
Live bearded dragon lizard
Random reptiles and larvae
21 May 2021 Leave a comment
in 323, animals, science Tags: ant farm, ants
One Busy Ant is taking the lead in clearing out the tunnel. The other ants are chowing down on a piece of pear. And it was evening and it was morning, day 1.
21 May 2021 Leave a comment
in 323, animals, science Tags: ant farm, ants
We set up a new Ant Farm (which took about a month to receive). The ants were a little too live coming out of their testtube when I tried to spill them into the farm, so some of them had to be mashed inside… some survivors are missing body parts.
27 Apr 2021 Leave a comment
in 323, Covid 19, deployment, science Tags: butterfly, caterpillar
This was a fun, four-part activity. First the eggs on a leaf (stickers on foam leaf; then making a foam caterpillar of different colors; then twisting a pipe cleaner to make the pupa/cocoon and taping it to a foam twig; then using highlighters to color in in the butterfly. It took exactly 45 minutes, so yeah.
27 Apr 2021 Leave a comment
in 323, Covid 19, deployment, science Tags: butterfly, caterpillar
I bought painted lady caterpillars, to somehow incorporate them into the April=Animals curriculum. They came.
At first they were littles.
Then they ate
and ate
and got big
and bigger,
then cocooned.
I clipped the cocoons to the big mesh butterfly habitat.
Then we waited.
Sometime today, the first butterfly emerged. I feel like a proud papa!
14 Apr 2021 Leave a comment
in science Tags: PK Dick, Ron Miller, The Elements
I was looking for a science book and found this in the closet: The Elements by Ron Miller
Cover is pretty, right? However, the pages are mostly black and white. The few illustrations there were did intrigue me though:
Well, I am a toothpaste snob, and am currently using Marvis toothpaste. I have never heard of “fluoridine.” Google tells me it is a British brand.
OK. But what about “Black Cat Brand Salt?” I have never heard of it and neither has Google.
Same with the Black Cat baking soda:
and Bettcher’s Best Milk of Magnesia:
I feel like I have stumbled upon an alternate reality of countertop medications, like in any PK Dick novel.
A little research left me with the stunning conclusion: Ron MIller, the author of the textbook, created the illustrations himself, to use as examples for the chemical elements. Crazy, right? So I googled him.
Ron Miller is a superstar writer, illustrator, college professor, consultant, USPS postage stamp designer (!), comic book creator, and much, much more.
So there you have it.
27 Jul 2018 2 Comments
in computer lab, science Tags: Edmark, Netscape, virtual labs: electricity
Before augmented reality. Before virtual reality. Back in the day when software came on CD-ROMs in binders, the Edmark company released several science titles. Unlike their software marketed to younger children (e.g., with cartoons and talking animals), these titles were sophisticated simulations. I discovered a classroom set of “virtual labs: electricity” (note the ‘laid-back’ lower case title on the cover of the binder).
The program needed 16 MB of RAM to run and Netscape 3.0. ~ sigh ~ The salad days of the Internet.
Occasional Observations of Traveling Technology Coach 