Class on Thursday 11/19/09

Tonight we have learned about media literacy and its ever changing face. The MIT video that we watched as a catalyst called for the following new skills that students must gain in this new world. Karen P. stated that she recently attended a conference given by business leaders. These leaders also echoed the need for students to attain some of these same skills.

I love the fact that Play is listed as the first skill!!!


Play— the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem solving

Performance— the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery

Simulation— the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes

Appropriation— the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content

Multitasking— the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.

Distributed Cognition— the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities

Collective Intelligence— the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal

Judgment— the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources

Transmedia Navigation— the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities

Networking— the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information

Negotiation— the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.

My Love

I was cleaning my attic and came across a great find!

After my wedding, I asked my best man for his marked up copy of his his speech. It was placed in a box for five years!

How do they (Geologists) know what the inside of Earth looks like?

The answer? Seismic waves

Taken from www. wiki. answers.com

Seismic waves have helped scientists learn the various densities of the Earth's many layers because the speed of primary shock waves moving through the earth generally increases with depth. This is because as density increases, seismic wave velocity increases. While P-waves travel through the Earth's crust at an average of about four miles (6.4 km) per second, they reach an average of seven miles (11.3 km) per second at the center of the Earth. When the shock waves suddenly shift in direction and speed, scientists are able to determine the depths at which Earth's various layers are located.

Three different types of waves travel away from the focus of a seismic event. These waves travel at different speeds. In addition to surface waves, the waves that are proving critical to providing evidence about the interior of the Earth are 'P' waves (P standing for primary or pressure), and 'S' waves (S for secondary or shear). P-waves are faster than S-waves.

P-waves can travel through solid rock and fluids, and their speed will vary depending on the density of the rock through which they travel; increased speed will indicate increased density, thus providing information about the density and possible mineralogy of Earth's various layers.

S-waves cannot travel through fluids, thus when an S-wave encounters the outer core of the Earth (liquid iron and nickel), it is disrupted, indicating the boundary between the mantle and outer core and the boundary between the inner core and outer core.

Confused today!

I thought I knew what I was doing with this "blog thing". Today I am starting to feel confused. Ruthie told me she is "following" my blog, but I can't seem to find where this is mentioned!

Thursday, October 15th.

Today in class the students have started to draw a model of Earth's Interior. The students are very good at knowing what type of model to choose. When integrating art into science it becomes a natural way to differentiate. Some students are attempting 3D models, while others are using a simple two dimensional drawing. Either way, students are learning the different layers and relative sizes.

Need some text in my post to see if I can get a text to speech reader installed!

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-
field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of
that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave
their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate…we cannot
consecrate…we cannot hallow…this ground. The brave men,
living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world
will little note nor long remember what we say here, but
it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us…that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom; and that government of the people, by the people,
for the people, shall not perish from the earth.