Science, Math, D'oh!

There is funny and enlightening interview with The Simpsons Executive Producer (and Harvard math graduate) Al Jean on the Nature website. Jean describes a few inside jokes that only scientists or mathematicians are likely to get. He also provides some insight on science in pop culture. Also, make sure to click the link at the bottom which contains the top 10 science moments in Simpsons' history. Link to interview

More Videos, More Oobleck

I have previously posted (twice) about videos and demonstrations of science activities available on the web. There are more videos on YouTube of Oobleck. Check out:

- Non-Newtonian Egg Protector (Egg in a bag with oobleck)
- People in a pool of oobleck: Spanish TV ; Exploratorium

Another user, ScienceOnline, has also posted some interesting demonstrations. The lemon battery is featured on YouTube's front page right now. Enjoy!

Tech Camp Blog

Teacher Magazine has been host to a blog this summer written by an educator working at a summer camp in Chicago. The camp is an ecology and technology program for 9-14 year olds in a predominately Latino neighborhood. Amy Abeln, the author, shares some very interesting insights about kids learning science and technology outside of a traditional school setting. I particularly like her July 8 post about some of the students and their preference for science class over technology: "We love the projects... We like technology, too, ... but we get to do computers all the time in school. We're in the gifted class. But we hardly ever do science." There is so much to analyze in these statements, and Amy does a very good job.

Link to 'My Summer at Tech Camp'

Dads Influencing Daughters

Results of a longitudinal study recently released by the University of Michigan indicate that behavior of fathers has a significant impact on interest in math. Stereotypical attitudes (conscious or unconscious) lead to less supportive environments for girls, such as buying math and science toys - always more for boys than girls in the study. The impact of these attitudes is not surprising, but it is further hard evidence that helps explain the gap between academic performance and pursuit of science and math careers. Females and males perform about the same on tests of math and science ability, but men continue to outnumber women in almost every relevant field. As one of the report's authors notes, "It's as if women are saying, 'I can, but I don't want to.'"
Link to report
(Thanks to the Connect for Kids newsletter for the link.)