Eileen Bendixsen: Hi Ginny!
Ginny: Hi Eileen, My students and I really loved the program today. They drew some beautiful pictures of Coronal Mass Ejections and are finishing their drawings and notes today. Lot's of information. Even I will have to watch it a bunch of times!
Eileen Bendixsen: Did you get your tape of the program?
Ginny: Yes, I was able to tape the program. And this was good because I had two science classes back to back and so I needed the tape for the other class.
Eileen Bendixsen: Hi Marg :-)
Marg: Hi everyone out there. I just realized that I did send the wrong address from school for ON-AIR. Is there any way I can still get my students questions answered?
Eileen Bendixsen: Marg we are going to start Researcher Q&A very soon and we will have ON-AIR on April 13.
Ginny: It was a great program and I am curious how much we got when we review our notes.
Marg: Should I resubmitt my questions?
Eileen Bendixsen: Marg you can resubmit your questions, but they may have been answered. Check the FAQ for ON-AIR on the website.
Marg: Thanks Eileen. I'll check the answers. The difficult thing about today was our class schedule. I had a change in classes during the broadcast. I guess I should have just taped the program to show tomorrow but I was really pretty excited about it all
Eileen Bendixsen: Ginny - How did ON-AIR work on your end?
Ginny: The answers were great to the questions by the scientists. We were so pleased. I had to turn a lot of questions down by students because I felt we could find the answers ourselves. I was pretty discriminative, but that helped me to kick back and enjoy the program too!
Eileen Bendixsen: My students haven't seen the program, yet. I'd be anxious to hear what your students thought.
Marg: I downloaded the script yesterday and wrote out a few questions about the broadcast for the students to answer while they were watching. That seemed to involve a bit more.
Eileen Bendixsen: Geoff and Erna both talked about the amount of science that would be in the broadcast. That was why Geoff suggested students see it more than once and in small segments.
Ginny: After seeing the program I want to assign my students to draw one tool used to gather information about the Sun. They can draw spacecraft or telescopes, etc. On the website do they have pictures of each tool? My students and I haven't gotten that far yet.
Eileen Bendixsen: Some of the tools are probably there. I know more BIOGRAPHIES are being added. There may be some in the pictures.
Marg: Ginny, I like your idea about drawing the spacecraft. I know that NASA has several spacecraft models that you can download and run off for the students to make. That might be fun.
Eileen Bendixsen: When we were putting together the Teacher's Guide we asked about models of SOHO. They haven't done one yet. I think Yohkoh has one, but that is it.
Eileen Bendixsen: What did your students think of "They Might be Giants"?
Ginny: Everything about the program was great. Because I had them for one hour I won't get their feedback until tomorrow.
Marg: I am pleased that I will be able to use the program with my Physical Science students when we study electromagnetic energy. My students really enjoyed the segment with the astronomer as he opened up the telescope.
Tim McCollum: Hi all :) Sorry I'm late, dinner took priority. Hope I don't mention something that has already been discussed.
Marg: The Sun is suppose to be bright and shiny here in Idaho tomorrow so we will be able to use our solar ovens. We made the ovens out of pizza boxes and will be baking S'Mores. We will also graph the temperatures as they go up.
Ginny: Tim, I have assigned each student to make an oven over the next month. I am sure looking forward to the results. How did they turn out?
Tim McCollum: Gin - we're on break now so I'll make my assignments next week. Plan to propose a choice of several projects: solar cooker, sundial, satellite mock-up, etc. Will plan a Sun day to have them show off and test their products.
Marg: The ovens turned out well. One of the 7th grade teams had a pizza party so I was able to gather up 12 boxes.
Ginny: Marg, did you make the ovens at school?
Marg: Yes we did. I got black construction paper from school and brought in tin foil and wrap from home. The oven construction took two 45 min. class periods. The students were really involved. It is a very hands-on group.
Ginny: I love the idea of a SUN DAY - wow that could be fun! I think maybe we should have a solar party and cook up a feast! In a month we should have enough sun for the bake.
Marg: I also required my Astronomy students to put together a packet I called Sun Shine of poems, art and myths about the Sun. That's due on Friday.
Tim McCollum: All we would need would be clear skies. Could be a gala event, telescopes projecting sunspot images, kids learning from each other. After years of having them all do the same thing, I now think they enjoy the variety and learn from each other's ideas.
Ginny: Tim, I just did science fair projects with all of them doing something different. I think it helps to have some common ground. Do I sound burned out on science fair projects? haha. I really like choices for kids and the concept of them learning from each other. Can't wait to hear about your bake. Please share it on discuss.
Tim McCollum: Gin...did science fairs for 15 years. Super experience but our move to a middle school prompted a change to more "team" activities... a.k.a. PTK.
Ginny: Looking forward to chatting with you again soon. Glad to be working with you. It makes it so much nicer to "team teach" with great folks. Night night!
Eileen Bendixsen: Bye Gin!
Tim McCollum: Night Gin!
Marg: Ginny is right. For once I feel I am part of a team. Tim, I like your idea about a Sun Day. Maybe I can have my Physical Science class do things too.
Marg: I have taken pictures using a digital camera of the building process and will take more tomorrow. Do I need to get permission slips from parents before I send the pictures on to you Eileen?
Eileen Bendixsen: No you don't have to send us permission slips. I usually have them sign a form at the beginning of the year which covers me. If you like, I can send you copy of the one I use.
Marg: Tim, where did you get your sundial directions? I have the wrist watch sundials printed out. Just enlarge I guess.
Tim McCollum: Marg... don't have them yet. Will get them off the net and forward to you the URL.
Eileen Bendixsen: Marg: There are sundial directions in the Teacher's Guide. One of the student worksheets. I did them with my students and they work!
Tim McCollum: Eileen... ditto, forgot about those in the TG.
Tim McCollum: Speaking of the Sun....hey Charlie, welcome back from the sunny southwest!
Charlie Lindgren: Hi guys. And I came back to 8" of snow!
Marg: Hi Charlie. Thanks Tim. And ugh to the snow. We start break next week out here.
Charlie Lindgren: I want to second the Kitt Peak segment with the opening of the scope and setting the readings. That was great!
Marg: I think that it would be interesting to show a listing of all the places that are participating in the program so all students can see its scope. A quick look at a map with pins in the map would help make the programs more global for students. Cities or towns where PTK programs are actively being used by students and teachers. When I told my students that kids from all over the US were watching and sending in questions they wanted to know just where they all were.
Tim McCollum: Marg...great idea!
Charlie Lindgren: Of the 18 participants in my Phoenix workshop, 5 were also PTK folks!
Eileen Bendixsen: I can ask Geoff. The problem is that we don't require people to register. We could ask people on the list to send in their lat and long.
Eileen: Even just a list of states and countries would be impressive.
Marg: That's a good idea. I'm here in Idaho and you are all somewhere else. I like Tim's idea too.
Charlie Lindgren: I haven't decided how I'm going to use the video yet. Next year will be simple. As I teach segments of the Sun I'll show clips.
Tim McCollum: LOTS of content on the video. IMHO, too much for a single sitting for kids under 9th grade- better to chop into segments and use when appropriate.
Marg: The time for me to prepare dinner has arrived so I guess I better go. This has been great fun. I wish that I could join those of you that are going to NSTA in Boston. Thanks for letting me join.
Tim McCollum: Bye Marg!
Marg: Just one last thought, is there any way I can get comments about what all is said after I leave?
Eileen Bendixsen:Marg, They send me the transcripts from each of the chats. I edit them and then they go on the website.
Charlie Lindgren: Hopefully we can get a lot of action on the Vernal Equinox activity. That should give us a good representation.
Tim McCollum: Charlie: Astronomy mag lists it as 8:46 pm on the 20th. Since we're out this week, we'll do it on Monday. Hope it's still effective.
Eileen Bendixsen: Tim: I think it is close enough for about 4 or 5 days either way. If you look at one of the sites listed it gives you the curve over the course of the day.
Charlie Lindgren: Tim: Should be. It's not going to change that much in a few days.
Tim McCollum: Charlie: Any new NIH activities from the workshop that will work with the Sun? Your surface plot idea of the sunspots off the magnetogram is AWESOME!
Charlie Lindgren: Tim: Nope. There was so much stuff from that one!!! If we do Live from Mars again we're golden! Live from the Sun prepared me for Thermal Emission Spectrography. I was just on the edge of understanding most of the time. It was a truly great group of people. Everyone helped everyone else. Sheri will offer it again. Be sure to be there!!!
Charlie Lindgren: Hey listen guys, "Astronomy's Fab 6" call, and I must make a lesson, so I'm calling it a night. Clear Skies!
Tim McCollum: Back to today's video - I thought it looked great. Had some audio challenges from my end over NASA TV. Perhaps the PBS feed was more clear.
Eileen Bendixsen: I watched on webcast. Even what I saw looked great.
Tim McCollum: No serious audio problems, just some minor volume changes and sometimes a "raspy" sound. Too much treble.
Eileen Bendixsen: Tim: Did your kids watch today? They were big stars!!!
Tim McCollum: "Kids have not seen it yet - they're on break. I viewed it from an empty classroom and will cue up the segments I plan to share. I know the kids shown on the video will be excited to see themselves.
Eileen Bendixsen: I forgot you were on break. I know I thought it was excellent. The segments with the different telescopes were great. The Earth science text I used had a telescope chapter. What I saw would have been great to use.
Tim McCollum: As for the song - I liked it. Reminded me of Bill Nye and he's great.
Eileen Bendixsen: I liked it too. It sounds like you plan to show it in segments.
Tim McCollum: Really like the accent on highlighting women and minorities in science. This way we're reaching and inspiring ALL the students.
Eileen Bendixsen: I thought the scientists came across great. I thought their jobs came across really well.
Tim McCollum: We saw emotion, feelings about their work. Unlike so many unfortunate folks in the world, it was obvious that they all really enjoyed their work.
Eileen Bendixsen: I agree. Detrick was really great. I think Frank Hill is program 2. I moderated his chat and he was terrific with the kids.
Tim McCollum: My kids liked the sound of his total eclipse!
Eileen Bendixsen: Mine were fascinated with the name of his cat until a kid in my tenth period class had read his favorite book. He is the main character.
Tim McCollum: Well Eileen, guess we're on overtime now. Really enjoyed the chat and sorry I joined late. Lots to do this week while I have the time off including starting on linking the Illinois standards. Till next time!
Eileen Bendixsen: Take care Tim. Glad you could be here.
