The Secret Science of Happiness— It makes you smarter! September 29, 2012

Our society often measures our worth by success, getting the better job, going to the better school, getting the better car, but after you get those things (or you don’t) the goal posts are moved (AGAIN) and your mind tricks you into not being happy and as result that may make you less able to get to your goals .  Neuroscience is a field of science that is exploding with the use of the MRI and the analysis of Neuroimaging.  I invite you to listen to this TED talk and find a simple daily practice that will create lasting change.  After just 21 days of this practice, not only did people feel happier and less anxious and depressed, they found they were 31% more productive in the workplace and the classroom.

It’s called the happiness advantage.

So if you want to be more successful, be happy.

Here’s the list on what you have to do:

THINK (or better yet journal)  3 Gratitudes

JOURNAL ABOUT ONE POSITIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS

EXERCISE

MEDITATE

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Go to Sleep

If you are in my class, you need about nine hours of sleep a night..  That means to get to school on time you need to go to bed around 9:30pm.   Not getting enough sleep can lead to difficulty in learning, increased weight gain, increase in depression and general crankiness.

Scientific Literacy September 26, 2012

The importance of Literacy is central to education, so much of learning comes from reading and the pleasures abound once mastery of fluency and comprehension is achieved.

Having a basic knowledge of scientific principles is no longer a luxury but, in today’s complex world, a necessity.  The good news is that scientific literacy is on the rise.  American adults currently qualify as scientifically literate, an increase from around 10 percent in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to research done at Michigan State.

A quiz was created by the  Christian Science Monitor to test your own scientific literacy.  Since science encompasses so many areas, understanding the basics is important.  I know that I am constantly trying to understand new concepts and terminology.  There is no shame is not understanding what a nanometer is or what types of dinosaurs roamed in the Jurassic period, science is a life long pursuit but it helps to know what you don’t know.

Click below to take the quiz:  If you don’t know it, remember to take your best educated guess.

Take the Quiz:  Scientific Literacy

Endeavour is here to stay September 22, 2012

The Endeavor was built in 1987 the tragic crash of the Challenger.  I remember it well.

Space Shuttle Endeavour (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105) is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States.^[1] Endeavour was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger. Endeavour first flew in May 1992 on mission STS-49 and its last mission STS-134 was in May 2011.^[2][3] The orbiter is named after the British HMS Endeavour, the ship which took Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery (1768–1771).^{[5]  >>>source wikapedia}

So join me and thousands of Angelenos at the Los Angeles Science Center on October 30.

Imagination and the garden of your mind September 20, 2012

Those of us who grew up with Mr. Rogers will always have a soft spot in our hearts for our guide to the neighborhood.

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, author, and television host. Rogers was most famous for creating and hosting Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968–2001), which featured his gentle, soft-spoken personality and directness to his audiences.^{[1]  >>> source wikapedia}

Measuring Density September 19, 2012

Today we will had a demo in physical science about buoyancy and how to calculate mass.   To help us remember the formula at YOKA, we talk about Density as the Equation of Love, D= M/V  >>>  see photo

By definition, density is mass divided by volume, and density tells how heavy an object is. Find out how to measure mass and volume, so that density can be calculated with help from a science teacher in this video on calculating density.   Click here to see a 3 minute video on bow :    Calculating Density

We also made prediction about what we thought would sink or float.  A series of objects were put in water and you guessed it, we found out who was right and who just sunk.  The demo was pretty surprising to a few and then we jumped into serious calculations that are at the high school level to prepare students for high school level classes.

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Wow, plate tectonics can be cool!

I love to hike and I just found out that there will soon be a 10,000 mile trail that will connect the Appalachian trail that I have always wanted to explore since I grew up in Tennessee where the trail passes through.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.^[1] It is approximately 2,184 miles (3,515 km)^[a] long. The majority of the trail is in wilderness, although some portions traverse towns, roads and cross rivers.  >>> source Wikapedia.

But this trail is born out of the same plate tectonics of similar trails and mountains in Europe, Africa, Newfoundland  and the North Atlantic.  Listen to the story on The World about this road less traveled.

“The Appalachian Mountains, and of the course the Caledonians, and Anti-Atlas in Morocco were all formed around the same time when the plates collided to form a supercontinent Pangea the North American, Eurasian, and African plates collided about 250 million years ago, so those mountains have a common geological heritage,” says Paul Wylezol from the International Appalachian Trail Newfoundland and Labrador.”

 

Your Brain on One Direction, Beatles and Beethoven September 14, 2012

I see their pictures at YOKA on lockers, notebooks and backpacks. Harry, Niles, Zane  New Direction is all the rage and I really can’t say I get it is any different from my love of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, James Taylor ,Micheal Jackson, The Black Eyed Peas and Jorge Drexler.  This just in…. science tells us that our brains do something pretty groovy and pleasurable when we listen to music.  It turns out when a teenage girl gets a popular song stuck in her head, it really does, quite literally, get stuck in her head. The songs trigger her developing brain to release dopamine, the same neurotransmitter involved in pleasure and addiction.

 

I told my students I would tell them my favorite Beatle Song and that is kind of impossible… A day in the Life, Elenor Rigby, I’m So Tired all speak to me but if you want swoon like the girls swoon today for Beiber or One Direction, you have to listen to this compilation of love songs by the ultimate BOY BAND.

Expand your mind with a GOOD book — My top science picks! September 12, 2012

One of my students today told me that one of her favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird was banned at YOKA.  Well, she was wrong about that, she probably just saw a wonderful display of important books put together by our amazing  librarian, Ms. Duff,  that at one time or another were banned in the United States.  This book is probably one of my all time favorite novels and was the one and only book written by the reclusive Harper Lee.  It opens a whole world of important topics like Justice, Racism, Mob Mentality, coming of age along with a whole host of other ideas.

I think that reading a variety of books including fiction, non-fiction will give you an idea on something you find amazing and for me one thing I think is so cool is SCIENCE.  Here are a few books I have read that make me think about science in a way no classes or school work ever did.  When you read a book, it is just you and the author having a conversation.  I have really gotten into reading books on tape, listening to them while I am in the car or on my headphones while I multi-task like walking my two crazy dogs (for another post) or take a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains.

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Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite books, I love to read and not just about science.  The Hunger Games Series was a current obsession even though I kind of I just hate President Snow and the Capital people.  Tell me what you are hooked on.

Cow Eye Dissection September 11, 2012

Why did the cow cross the road?  To get to the udder side.  How did the farmer count his cows?  He used a COWcalalater  Where do bored cows go?  They go to MOOOOvies.   Ok, so those jokes are not that funny, but today in Life Sciences, YOKA 7th grade girls did not squeal even once and this is no joke.  They took a cow’s eye and eagerly took it apart to find the cornea, the lens, the iris, the optic nerve, the retina and even that shiny thing (the tapetem) in the back of the eye that makes you think that cows, cats and dogs might be from outer space (since their eyes kind of glow in the dark).

Click on the following link and you can find the steps to dissect a cow’s eye which is kind of huge.

CowEyeDissection

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