He’s not alone, many teachers are using the Web, but Steve seems very adept and progressive in the things he does. We need to encourage such efforts and help promote them, I believe. Spotlighting them whenever possible is one way, I can help.
He’s involved in a contest on a Website called Instructables.com. I propose that anyone interested in science education would learn a thing or two by visiting this website and do a good turn for a very deserving teacher and help further his educational goals by voting for it.
Note the link to several free, online software programs available for such instructional and personal use. Even the comments to his information page provide links to more free technical PC programs.
Here’s Steve’s description of what “Cheap, Easy Light Probe” is and does:
I teach high school physics and I use a lot of expensive probeware to collect data. The only reason I can do this is my school has been collecting the probes over a number of years, building our collection slowly over time. For those who aren’t science teachers, probeware refers to a collection of interfaces used to connect a variety of sensors to a computer or graphing calculator. These interfaces can allow for real time data collection and graphing or can serve as data-loggers collecting data over time.
I believe one of the most ambitious and potentially rewarding International programs in Computer literacy is the One Laptop Per Child initiative that began in Boston. It has been shipping the XO laptop since November 2007 and I think their updates are worth a report, at least every now and then, to our visitors. Here’s their latest
From The update One Laptop per Child Vol. 4 No. 27 July 6, 2008
Deployment
Rollout Update: Since November 2007, OLPC has shipped nearly 400,000 laptops. Better than a quarter of those machines went to donors who participated in the G1G1 program. Simultaneously, OLPC has been working with countries to prepare for their donee XOs, many of which already have been received. The two largest rollouts, Peru and Uruguay, account for nearly half of all units shipped to date, but have yet to receive the bulk of their orders. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m old enough to remember Neils Bohr (actually had the pleasure of hearing him lecture at MIT in the 1960s) but I first learned about him in my Atomic Physics course when we discussed the model of atomic structure that he first proposed early in 1913. He was one of the giants in 20th Century Physics and would be amazed at what’s been done in just the past few years.
From Rice University in Houston Texas, USA comes a remarkable story of a new development in modeling atomic structure and imaging it. It really brings back memories to me!
NCSL International issues a call to action by the Metrology Community
Boulder CO, USA — According to NCSL International’s Press release dated May 28th: The US Dept. of Labor rejects petition to recognize Metrology job descriptions in its proposed 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System”
We know that Metrology is the bedrock upon which all U.S. commerce and manufacturing is built and that persons engaged in metrology/calibration activities provide services vital to the U.S. economy and national defense.
It is also widely known that in the United States there is a critical shortage of technical personnel posed to replace retiring baby-boomers.
The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s SOC provides formal recognition of job descriptions which are the basis for its Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) used by educators and counselors to inform students about career opportunities.
If the SOC does not include Metrology job descriptions neither will the OOH.
The following is the reason given by an SOC administrator as to why Metrology job descriptions were rejected; Read the rest of this entry »
ISO has just published a new version of the SI Guide, a small manual for the use of the SI, the International System of Units (Système International d’Unités).
The SI is a comprehensive metric and decimal system based on units and derived units. The seven base units are: length, mass, time, electric current, thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, and luminous intensity.
The 32-page SI Guide will be useful for many people including engineers, scientists, technical writers, teachers and students. Read the rest of this entry »
For news of new devices or applications visit MeasurementDevices.com where you also may post PR & New Product news at no cost, without need to register!
Some may recall the article done a while back (actually there are three) on the Science teacher, Steve Dickie, from Dearborn Michigan, who is using some very clever Internet and other technology in teaching physics to High School students. 
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