Two atoms were walking down the street.
One atom says to the other one, "I've lost an electron!
The 2nd atom replies, "Are you sure?"
Says the 1st atom, "I'm positive."
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Success
This scientist was telling a colleague, "I have worked for many years
to develop an acid that would eat anything and I finally did it.” So I invested everything I had and could borrow into it.
“You must have made a fortune,” commented his friend. “No! I lost all my investments. I couldn't find anything to ship it in.” replied the scientist.
to develop an acid that would eat anything and I finally did it.” So I invested everything I had and could borrow into it.
“You must have made a fortune,” commented his friend. “No! I lost all my investments. I couldn't find anything to ship it in.” replied the scientist.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
What?
The two inventors of the bungee rope went to Spain to test their invention. They built a 50-foot tower and, once completed, one of the guys stood on the edge of the platform and dove into the air with the rope tied to his feet. The other guy, standing up on the platform, waited until his friend returned up so that he could grab him. The first time his friend sprung up, he tried to grab him but missed and noticed that his head was swollen. The next time, he missed again and again there was a bruise on his head and face. This time, with much concern, he dove forward to get his partner, pulled him in and asked, "What happened? Is the cord too long?" His partner replied with his face all bloody, "What is piñata?"
Sunday, June 24, 2007
South Africa Focuses on Leadership Standards for Principals
Making Science Matter
April 2007 | Volume 49 | Number 4
Message from the Executive Director /Gene R. Carter
Against a backdrop of optimism, rapid change, and profound unresolved challenges, South African society continues to struggle against the dark cloud of apartheid. While education is seen as the key to both economic and social progress, South Africa's principals face staggering responsibilities with scarce resources, fragile support systems, and a pressing need for leadership development.
Disadvantaged students—often concentrated in particular communities—low educational outcomes, sexual violence, and health issues further complicate the work of South Africa's principals, who face daunting statistics. Among 139 schools in 2006, fewer than 20 percent of the learners passed grade 12. At this critical juncture in its development, school management is considered by many to be the basic weakness in South African education. The absence of standards for principals and the means to forge standards has long been a missing element in the professionalization of the principalship.
In an attempt to address these challenges, the South African department of education has acknowledged the need to reform how principals are prepared and supported. Building on its 2004 Education Leadership and Management Policy Framework, the department approved as policy the 2006 South African Standards for Principalship. This policy framework affirmed the importance of leadership in the process of school improvement and established the qualities and expertise required of principals.
Research confirms that effective principals are the lynchpins of school improvement. They directly affect the implementation and sustainability of reforms focused on improving learning and teaching. They lead change; inspire teachers, staff, students, and parents; leverage resources to make improvements happen; and bring community members into the process of change. The new South African policy framework is at the core of a broad effort to help retool principals and to find ways to improve student performance in many schools. This framework focuses on coordinated and sustainable training, technical assistance, and support systems for South African principals. It includes the Advanced Certificate of Education and National Curriculum Statement; incorporates new research and theory about how higher education can best support school leadership; and makes strategic use of the experience and expertise to be shared among peers.
This requires dedicated partnerships between government, the higher education community, and others. It requires commitment to effectively equip and offer incentives to school leaders to deliver on the government's mandates. Furthermore, it is clear that decisive and bold action is needed to transform dysfunctional schools into successful and effective institutions focused on learning and teaching.
Recently, a team comprising representatives from the Harvard University School of Health, the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development held preliminary conversations in South Africa with colleagues from the National Department of Education, the Eastern Cape Department of Education, the University of Witwatersrand School of Education, and the University of Fort Hare School of Education. Participants explored a collaboration between South Africa and the United States to develop new models for the preparation and support of school leaders and managers.
This collaboration provides an opportunity for South African and U.S. researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to develop sustainable strategies to prepare school leaders for current and future educational challenges in both countries. Robert Quinn, author of Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (1996), focuses on the story of the hero's journey that involves individual transformation and change of identity. Through this transformation, Quinn says, paradigms change and the individual aligns with the surrounding environment.
This new journey, which principals in South Africa are preparing to take, is not unique to their part of the globe. It is a journey that principals in every country—including the United States—must make as they face their own rapid changes and unresolved challenges.
April 2007 | Volume 49 | Number 4
Message from the Executive Director /Gene R. Carter
Against a backdrop of optimism, rapid change, and profound unresolved challenges, South African society continues to struggle against the dark cloud of apartheid. While education is seen as the key to both economic and social progress, South Africa's principals face staggering responsibilities with scarce resources, fragile support systems, and a pressing need for leadership development.
Disadvantaged students—often concentrated in particular communities—low educational outcomes, sexual violence, and health issues further complicate the work of South Africa's principals, who face daunting statistics. Among 139 schools in 2006, fewer than 20 percent of the learners passed grade 12. At this critical juncture in its development, school management is considered by many to be the basic weakness in South African education. The absence of standards for principals and the means to forge standards has long been a missing element in the professionalization of the principalship.
In an attempt to address these challenges, the South African department of education has acknowledged the need to reform how principals are prepared and supported. Building on its 2004 Education Leadership and Management Policy Framework, the department approved as policy the 2006 South African Standards for Principalship. This policy framework affirmed the importance of leadership in the process of school improvement and established the qualities and expertise required of principals.
Research confirms that effective principals are the lynchpins of school improvement. They directly affect the implementation and sustainability of reforms focused on improving learning and teaching. They lead change; inspire teachers, staff, students, and parents; leverage resources to make improvements happen; and bring community members into the process of change. The new South African policy framework is at the core of a broad effort to help retool principals and to find ways to improve student performance in many schools. This framework focuses on coordinated and sustainable training, technical assistance, and support systems for South African principals. It includes the Advanced Certificate of Education and National Curriculum Statement; incorporates new research and theory about how higher education can best support school leadership; and makes strategic use of the experience and expertise to be shared among peers.
This requires dedicated partnerships between government, the higher education community, and others. It requires commitment to effectively equip and offer incentives to school leaders to deliver on the government's mandates. Furthermore, it is clear that decisive and bold action is needed to transform dysfunctional schools into successful and effective institutions focused on learning and teaching.
Recently, a team comprising representatives from the Harvard University School of Health, the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development held preliminary conversations in South Africa with colleagues from the National Department of Education, the Eastern Cape Department of Education, the University of Witwatersrand School of Education, and the University of Fort Hare School of Education. Participants explored a collaboration between South Africa and the United States to develop new models for the preparation and support of school leaders and managers.
This collaboration provides an opportunity for South African and U.S. researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to develop sustainable strategies to prepare school leaders for current and future educational challenges in both countries. Robert Quinn, author of Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (1996), focuses on the story of the hero's journey that involves individual transformation and change of identity. Through this transformation, Quinn says, paradigms change and the individual aligns with the surrounding environment.
This new journey, which principals in South Africa are preparing to take, is not unique to their part of the globe. It is a journey that principals in every country—including the United States—must make as they face their own rapid changes and unresolved challenges.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Kids' Science Theories
The beguiling ideas about science quoted here were gleaned from essays, exams, and classroom discussions. Most were from 5th and 6th graders. They illustrate Mark Twain's contention that the "most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop."
Q: What is one horsepower? A: One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second.
You can listen to thunder after lightening and tell how close you came.
Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand.
South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage.
Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime.
Lime is a green-tasting rock.
Some oxygen molecules help fires burn while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother.
We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation.
Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.
In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's.
I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing.
Water vapour gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does.
Thunder is a rich source of loudness.
Isotherms and isobars are even more important than their names sound.
It is so hot in some places that the people there have to live in other places.
Q: What is one horsepower? A: One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second.
You can listen to thunder after lightening and tell how close you came.
Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand.
South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage.
Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime.
Lime is a green-tasting rock.
Some oxygen molecules help fires burn while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother.
We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation.
Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.
In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's.
I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing.
Water vapour gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does.
Thunder is a rich source of loudness.
Isotherms and isobars are even more important than their names sound.
It is so hot in some places that the people there have to live in other places.
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