Encyclopedia of Life is Online

The Encyclopedia of Life, intended to become an online catalog of all species on Earth, began its alpha test of 30,000 pages yesterday. There are placeholders for 1 million species. (FYI, there are estimated to be 1.8 million known species on Earth, and of course more that have yet to be identified.)

This project is notable not just on its face as a remarkable collection of information, contributed by top scientists. It is also remarkable because it opens vast new amounts of information to everyone in an easily accessed way. It also shows the power of collaboration. This is not exactly citizen science, since the contributions will come from experts. However, it will take a large community of experts to make the Encyclopedia a reality. As the site grows, it should give readers a view of the inner workings of science, since there will certainly be disagreements about what species goes where, what the implications of certain connections are, etc. E.O. Wilson, the eminent Harvard biologist who inspired the site and has led its development, observes, "This great effort promises to lay out new directions for research in every branch of biology."

By making this valuable information accessible to everyone, the EOL project should inspire many years of learning opportunities at all levels.

Link to Encyclopedia of Life
Link to Tree of Life (A related site that is also great)

Legos Teach Fairness

I came across this article (via Digg) from a 2006 Rethinking Schools journal. The authors lead a before- and after-school program, and their story is about a teachable moment regarding ownership and society. The classroom Lego collection became a battleground as some kids claimed ownership of certain pieces, so the teachers developed a set of exercises and discussion opportunities to help resolve the issue. Over time, this evolved into a better understanding of how rules are formed and how societies function.

I think out-of-school programs play a critical role in helping young people understand society. Because there is less formal structure, there is some room to let the kids form the rules. There is also time to reflect on how changes in those rules affect everyone. Open discussion and free choice cannot go as far in the classroom because there is a necessary structure there. (Of course, there are your "Dead Poet Society" exceptions, but how would those kids have done on their standardized tests??)

One could read the Rethinking Schools article and worry that these teachers are preaching a form of communism - see James Clavell's The Children's Story for a fictional account. However, it is exercises in free thought and debate that allow the students to grow into adults who can appreciate the value of the world they live in without forgetting that it is imperfect.

On a related note, the Afterschool Math PLUS curriculum includes a unit on the built environment which includes a design charette similar to the activity described in the article (building Pike Place Market from Legos). However, the kids using Math PLUS probably have instructors who are promoting cooperation and fair play more directly, since this is a deliberate part of this curriculum. The results that I have seen are great - the kids design wonderful communities (to scale - it is math after all!) and most have social justice built in. So, here is food for thought: is it better to deliberately teach our kids to be fair or better to conduct exercises that let them discover fairness on their own?

Dangerous Things Your Kids Should Do

There is just too much cool stuff on the Internet! I have just discovered TED, a conference (and more!) that began as a change to gather people from "Technology, Entertainment, and Design" to share ideas. I think there best idea may be to limit presentations to 18 minutes. Seriously - can you imagine how much better most of the lectures you have attended lately would be if so edited?

Here is an example of TED that is buzzing around the 'net today and is about a technology/design program for kids. Gever Tulley of the Tinkering School talks about "5 dangerous things you should let your kids do."

Science Center Business Models

For those in the museum business, there is an interesting discussion at ExhibiTricks about the recent closing of COSI Toledo. The fact that this hand-on science center, a branch of on an existing successful center in Columbus, OH, was not able to sustain itself presents an interesting case study. I posted a long response to the story, but the short version is - science needs to be where the kids are first. We should be reaching them in their schools, community centers, and even at home.

What Happened to Chemistry Sets?

Wired Science from KCET PBS has a great story about the old-school chemistry set. Liability, and presumably some common sense, has removed from the toy store shelves such oxymoronic projects as "preparing a safe explosive". This story shows some of those old sets, and demonstrates the interesting and exciting world of chemistry that is available in a safe and controlled environment. Yet another reason to incorporate science into informal learning - it can be fun, but it may also need to be supervised.



Get more Wired Science at their website - I could really post dozens of their stories here. They are great!