MIT BLOSSOMS lesson provides "teachable moment" resource in face of the earthquake in Japan. Teachers worldwide are using the BLOSSOMS video lesson, “Can Earthquakes Be Predicted,” to help explain the recent natural catastrophe in Japan, as well as the recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Indonesia, Pakistan and China. This lesson focuses on the physics of earth tectonics leading to a quake and provides students with a hands-on activity for understanding these geologic events. The lesson was prepared by the organization, Teachers Without Borders, which provides emergency earthquake education through educational logistics support, content development, and teacher training and professional development. The priority of the TWB Emergency Education Program is to work with school communities on preparedness and planning to avoid crises, or to lessen their impacts. TWB has recently worked with educators in China and Haiti and looks forward soon to expanding its Emergency Education Program efforts to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran. For an additional TWB resource on earthquakes, see: Teacher's Guide to Earthquake Education (English, 中国, Español, Français, Россию, Kreyòl)
BLOSSOMS a Partner in “What If Prize – Space Science Lesson Plan Competition For Teachers” MIT BLOSSOMS is pleased to announce that it is one of three partners in an upcoming international competition to recognize excellence and creativity in space science education and to produce useful, peer-reviewed and freely available space science instructional materials for teachers worldwide. This competition is the result of a partnership between the What If Prize, Teachers Without Borders and MIT BLOSSOMS. Selected high quality entrants will be offered the opportunity to produce an educational video lesson for the MIT BLOSSOMS website. The competition will be open to teachers in the fall of 2011, with the winners to be announced early in 2012. For further information, please contact Zach Adam (zach@twb.org).
Can you suggest a BLOSSOMS topic? Is there a concept you cover in mathematics, science or engineering that you find difficult to teach to your students? Do you think creation of a BLOSSOMS video lesson around that concept would be valuable to you in your teaching? Tell us out about it at: blossoms@mit.edu.
“Social Networking: An Introduction to Dijkstra’s Algorithm”
“640 Light-Years to Alpha Orionis: Measuring Distances in the Milky Way”
Meet a BLOSSOMS
video teacher
Anne Carpenter is the director of the Imaging Platform at the Broad Institute. She has a strong background in cell biology, microscopy and computational biology. Her expertise is in developing and applying methods for extracting quantitative information from biological images, especially in a high-throughput manner. Anne leads a team of computer scientists and biologists to develop advanced methods to quantify and mine the rich information present in cellular images. Her team helps biologists to apply these methods to significant questions in the biomedical sciences. Read more about Anne’s lab and watch her MIT BLOSSOMS lesson.
“640 Light-Years to Alpha Orionis: Measuring Distances in the Milky Way”