OUR NEXT MEETING...
...will be March 21, 2000
4:15 p.m.
Section A (K-5) meets in 111 LS
Section B (4-8) meets in 152 LS
Be sure to sign up for a presentation if you haven't
already done so!
SECTION PRESENTATIONS REFRESHMENTS
111 LS A Cynthia Southern Cynthia Southern
(K-5) Marie Wong ___________________
Joyce McCoy Joyce McCoy
Wanda Pitts Wanda Pitts
Monica Seelman Monica Seelman
152 LS B Patricia E Phillips Patricia E Phillips
(4-8) Val Williams Sally Hill
Estelvenia Sanders ___________________
Janet Sheard ___________________
SEE YOU THERE!!
AT OUR LAST MEETINGS (March 7)...
Margia Artis (Herzl School)
(handouts - The Model Plant, Can You Fool a Plant?) had placed
a set of vocabulary words on the board, related to plants: eg.
chlorophyll, petal, pollen, taproot, sap, stamen, seed,
pistil, cotyledon, etc. We each received a page called a
Bingo Grid, which divided the page into 25 squares, 5
squares on a side. And a handful of sunflower seeds.
She asked us to write the vocabulary words, at random,
onto each square of our Bing Grid. Then she read a
definition, and we were to place a seed on the square with
the word that fitted the definition. And so it went, until
someone hollered BINGO! But then that person had to read
the word and state its definition before she was accepted
as a legitimate winner. How to make a game out of learning
plant parts! We also were invited to the table to
fabricate a colorful model of a plant from various
materials. Great!
Alma White (Woodson North School)
(handout - Oatmeal Play Clay) invited us to the table where
she had flour, oatmeal, water, and some bowls, along with
vegetable dyes. Soon we were busy making oatmeal play
dough. Many of us tried to form it into the shape of a
swan, since Alma had placed a Japanese haiku on the board
and challenged us to add to it or subtract from it:
All swans in a pool (5 syllables)
As they go by they look like (7)
Bright sunny rainbows (5)
Marjorie Fields (Young Elementary)
(handout- Clock Shop) We each received a page with a clock and
minute and hour hands to cut out. Also, a paper plate and
a fastener. We colored the clock with crayons, the hands
and plate too. Then the face of the clock and hands we
mounted with the fastener (at the center) of the plate,
and we could then indicate the time to the hour and
minute. Her very young students would become involved in
hands-on learning about how to tell time, and Marjorie
provided us information to make games out of it.
Wonderful! We should have had more TIME to do these ideas
justice.
Allan Evans (Sherwood School/special ed)
handed each of us a packet of M&Ms. He explained that he
subbed, and would often come into a class where he would have to
improvise and think on his feet. So - he figured teachers
would like the M&Ms - but no eating till we're done! And
then he asked for ideas on how to use them to get students
to learn. "What can we do with them?" he asked. Before we
ran completely out of time, he had received more than a
dozen suggestions from us, among them: statistics of the
distribution of the M&M colors; median, mode, average. Use
them as a set of standard weights to weigh objects. Many
ideas in a short time!
John Scavo (Richards Career Academy) handed out copies of Albert Einstein, The Non-Nerd's Scientist of the Century. http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/albert_einstein5a.html. He pointed out some of the highlights to us: Interesting Biographical Facts/Timeline: eg. 1895 - failed an exam that could have let him study to be an electrical engineer. etc. And Time Dilation - some equations and discussion. Thanks, John!
Carl Martikean (Wallace HS, Gary)
reviewed some Weird Science with us, that appeared in one movie:
A stray planet comes by and eclipses 3 suns at once! How come? And
giant bats come out at night! Carl mentioned some movies
he thought had good science: Outbreak (about the Ebola Virus) and
Dante's Peak (about volcanoes). Thanks, Carl!
Earnest Garrison (Jones Commercial HS) (handout - Evolution: Rap It Up! ) http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/1995/evolution.html. It involves relating to students and their interests by using a CD of the rap group Salt-N-Pepa that includes their hit, None of Your Business. A set of words is provided dealing with evolution, and they are read in rap rhythm to that tune. Fun and interesting!
Porter Johnson (IIT)
presented exercises on codebreaking and construction of a regular
icosahedron. The recent book on codebreaking, Between Silk and Cyanide:
A Codemaker's War 1941-1945 by Leon Marks [ISBN 0-684-86422-3] describes
the making of codes and communications with allied agents in Nazi-held
territories. Their coordinated activities were said by General Eisenhower
to have shortened the war by 3 months. Marks was inspired by the short
story The Gold Bug by Edgar Allen Poe.
Now, here is your very own coded message.
| A 15 | B 01 | C 08 | D 13 | E 00 | F 10 |
| G 16 | H 07 | I 07 | J 33 | K 12 | L 20 |
| M 15 | N 11 | O 01 | P 22 | Q 40 | R 10 |
| S 02 | T 01 | U 13 | V 27 | W 34 | X 60 |
| Y 39 | Z 49 | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
The key to deciphering the message is the apparently meaningless phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU, which represent the twelve most common letters in English, arranged in decreasing order of occurrence. Thus, the most frequently occurring letter in a message is likely to be E, and so forth. You don't learn anything about cryptography unless you try to decode the message, but the answers are given below.
It is a good "multi-cultural exercise" to remember who said each of these things.
| x to + | e to x | z to e | t to z |
| q to t | a to q | y to a | o to y |
| j to o | i to j | w to i | n to w |
| g to n | s to g | p to s | h to p |
| v to h | r to v | f to r | d to f |
| k to d | l to k | u to l | c to u |
| m to c | b to m | + to b | ------ |
ICOSAHEDRON. An icosahedron [greek] is a solid with 20 planar faces. The regular icosahedron is one of the five Platonic Solids:
/\ /\ /\ /\ /\
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \
C/ \ C/ \ C/ \ C/ \ C/ \
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \
/________\/________\/________\/________\/________\
/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ /
C/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ /
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ /
/________\/________\/________\/________\/________\/
\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /
\ / \ / \ / \ / \ /
C \ / C\ / C\ / C\ / C\ /
\ / \ / \ / \ / \ /
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/
Future Meetings
Apr 4 A Christine Scott Ben Butler Jr
Lilla Green Kenneth Onumah
Shirley Cesair Carolyn McGee
Carolyn McGee Iona Greenfield
Ben Butler Jr
B Janet Sheard Janet Sheard
Earnie Garrison Charlene K. Smith
________________ _________________
________________ _________________
Apr 25 A Sophia Watson Sophia Watson
Virginia O'Brien
Iona Greenfield Claudette Rogers
Virginia O'Brien ___________________
Iona Greenfield ___________________
B Brian Cagle Brian Cagle
Pearline Scott Pearline Scott
Kim Baker Kim Baker
__________________ ___________________
May 8 A Barbara Baker Barbara Baker
Chandra Price Chandra Price
__________________ ___________________
__________________ ___________________
B Brian Cagle ___________________
Mikhail Siddiq ___________________
__________________ ___________________
__________________ ___________________
PAST MEETINGS
Feb 8 A Frana Allen Frana Allen
Barbara Lorde Barbara Lorde
Jean Essig Jean Essig
Earnie Garrison
B Barbara Pawela Barbara Pawela
Zoris Soderberg
John Scavo
Earnie Garrison
Feb 22 A Erma Lee Erma Lee
Shirley Hatcher Shirley Hatcher
Glenda Ellis Glenda Ellis
Beverly Merchant Beverly Merchant
Camille Gales Camille Gales
B Therese Donatello Therese Donatello
Charlene Smith Ed Scanlon
Ed Scanlon
Ernest Garrison
Mar 7 A Allen Evans Allen Evans
Winifred Malvin Winifred Malvin
Alma White Alma White
Margia Artis Margia Artis
Marjorie Fields Marjorie Fields
B Earnest Garrison Earnest Garrison
John Scavo Charlene Smith
Carl Martikean Estelvenia Sanders
Porter Johnson