Science For Kids That Is Made Fun and Enjoyable

Science is a difficult subject to be studied if you will look at it closely. Everything in this life, in this world, in this solar system, in this galaxy and in this universe has an element of Science to it. Simply put, Science is inseparable to life.

This is the main reason why Science is one of the major subjects in formal schooling. Often times, this subjected is either dreaded or hated or ignored by a lot of school children, especially kids. The challenge now for curriculum advisers, teachers and even parents is to make Science attractive, fun and informative for kids.

How do you exactly make Science fun but still informative for your kids? Here are some of the tips that you can follow as your guide even if you are the teacher or the parent.

Supplement the lecture with hands- on experience. This generation is lucky because the society is recognizing their need for other learning tools. Lectures no longer stand alone. This should be followed- up with experiential learning.

A lot of tools are very much available for you to use for your kids. There is the science kit that is complete in itself. These are readily bought in bookstores and school needs stores. They are usually replicas of a certain subject in Science. You kid will surely appreciate the Science kit.

In addition, a lot of e- resources are available for free for your students. There is interactive software like games which are designed to teach your children and at the same time provide entertainment. There are also DVDs that are educational. Have your computer installed with these software and programs.

Create/ Join unique Science activities. You can create activities that your kid will surely enjoy, but will still give him or her lessons about Science. You can have the Supermarket Science day where you will bring your kids to the Supermarket and teach them about proper nutrition by teaching them to select good foods for the body. You can create Saturday picnics in a nature spot and have a subtle lesson about taking care of the environment. You can also enroll your child in kid's science camps that are usually offered by schools and other organizations.

Be involved. Learning Science is easier for your kid if you will get involved too. Always make it a point that you check on your kid's homework. Ask him or her about their day in school, what they learned and what was difficult to understand. If your kid has take home science project be visible while he or she is working on it. Show your interest in what he or she is doing. Ask questions. If your kid has questions prioritize giving answers to his or her question. This is possible if you are willing to be involved and learn too.

These are just some tips on what you can do to help your kid appreciate Science. It is good to establish it this early so that they have a good foundation for their schooling, later in life.

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Making Science the New Gym Class

Ask any middle or high school student their favorite class in school, and 9 out of 10 will say gym. Or lunch. Or some may branch out and say history. But how many students would actually say science? Maybe 2-5 in an entire school? And these are probably the students who were pushed by their parents or some external source to do so and were born to end up in science-related fields. So how do we appeal to the other 400 students to at least consider science for their future? The easy answer: liven science class up!

So why is science class so boring? The easy answer would be to point to standardized testing and high school curriculum that put pressure on teachers to develop classes that emphasize facts and laws. But science isn't about about facts and laws. In fact, most science "laws" that have been developed over the past several centuries have since been altered or even proved incorrect altogether. Do you think any high school students would know this? And why shouldn't they?

So how can we make kids actually like science? We all know that telling them that science is cool will only make the problem worse. Maybe we should tell them we hate science ourselves, and their rebellion will push them towards science? Well, probably not. But, one feasible way would be to teach not just the theories and facts, but instead put them in historical context. Think about it - how were all of the discoveries that we take for granted actually made? How did Copernicus decide that the sun, not the Earth, is actually at the center of our universe? Was he the only person who thought this way? And what was the response to his theories? Was he widely accepted right away, or did his contemporaries consider him to be crazy? Putting scientific discoveries in an historical context adds a new dimension to the straight facts and laws we are all taught, and allows for students to put a face to these faceless names of science. Putting a face to famous scientists is just one way to liven up science education in our schools.

An even better way of getting science to stick with high school students is to teach it in the way it is actually practiced. Science is the ultimate exploratory class, and should taught as such. Sure, it is important to know the facts before we can further science along, but why can't students explore science in the way it was learned. Teachers should be setting up their students to make scientific discoveries on their own through innovative experiments. Why not setup Millikan's famous oil drop experiment to discover what electric charge is instead of learning the formula for it? Well, maybe setting up a uniform electric field might be a bit difficult for cash-strapped public schools, but the idea is the same. Setting up a creative and exploratory environment for science class can only lead to more interest in the subject.

For the United States to maintain its place among the superpowers in education, our educational system needs to adapt. This can only be achieved by the current scientific community reaching out to younger, impressionable students that represent the future of scientific research in this country. I myself am a PhD student in biomedical engineering at the University of Minnesota, and have been tutoring middle school and high school students for the past 5 years. My favorite part of helping these students is not reiterating the same boring facts they can read for themselves in books; it is instead in relating my current work (or that of my academic peers) to what they are learning and explaining how scientific discoveries are made.

With this in mind, I have started a tutoring company in the Minneapolis metro area called Collegiate Tutors ( http://www.collegiate-tutors.com ) that matches young students with current PhD students to act as tutors and scientific mentors to them. It is my hope with this company that we can play a small role in developing the next generation of scientific researchers.

And hopefully we'll raise the number of students who love science to double digits.

Advanced Technologies in Relation to the Renewable Energy

Advanced technologies in relation to the renewable energy

Someday, technological innovations will be available to anyone. These technologies will aid in reducing biological hazards and environmental dangers. Someday, those technologies may even be found unthinkable as creations but they will be successfully utilized.

This is true in connection to the renewable energy technologies.

Today, technicians and engineers are constantly hard at work trying to create world-class technologies. Day by day, news and reports are announced to inform the general public about the various inventions that are safe, Eco-friendly and important to mankind. Through research, one can discover that countries are creating their very own renewable energy technology to help save the planet from destruction brought about by the accumulation of pollution, specifically man-made pollution.

The environmental pollution has meet its match

The world is going green to safeguard the Earth from total obliteration.

At present, the technological innovations are centered on creating environments that uphold human health and other living thing's safety. In this manner, pollution can be halted and possibly even restore the cleanliness of the surroundings.

Mentioned below are few of the highly valued inventions created to this date:

In Europe for example, research on making algae as a source of energy is ongoing. Algae are available all throughout the shores of every country making it highly commendable for energy usage. This type of energy is known as Energetic Algae. Since it is widely accessible various organizations are convinced that a sustainable energy can be produced using it.

In South West England the creation of a new technology commonly called the Wave Hub is in the process. Despite being a country known to have lesser technologies available for renewable energy as compared to others, it has still pioneered the conversion of wave energy to sustainable electricity.

Another promising development is the creation of Atlantis Resources Corporation's AK1000. This is expected to be installed this year at the European Marine Energy Center. The AK1000 is expected to be the largest and most powerful tidal turbine ever made, it can provide electricity up to 1 Megawatt. Aside from the vast energy it can offer to residences it boosts faith in renewable energy that cannot jeopardize the environment.

Lastly the High Concentration Photo Voltaic solar technology is a type of solar power that exceeds the 40% efficiency barrier. In relation to the usual solar energy panels that only reaches 15% efficiency barrier. High Concentration Photo Voltaic technology provides three times of economic revenues. This allows more energy yields at a lower cost. Recently the Renewable Energy Institute a company that has innovated the renewable energy technology have partnered with a United States based engineering company that has been searching for locations at the southwest part of the United States of America to place the said invention.

The good things about renewable energy technologies

With so many environmental problems countries are facing these years, it is vital that the attention must be refocused on saving nature since there is only one Earth. Since the development of various technologies is very relevant in providing renewable energy, it can be guaranteed that environmental hazards will soon decrease, or even disappear.

The benefits of these technologies include halting the global warming, cleaning of the air, lessening of the carbon emissions, and saving of the plants and animals. In general, technologies aimed at renewable energy help on the salvaging of the ecosystem and regaining its normal fauna and flora.

In addition man kind can fully enjoy every daily task without causing risks through the aid of the renewable energy inventions. The High Concentration Photo Voltaic solar technology lessens monthly electric bills, the AK1000 and Energetic Algae supply alternative forms of sustainable electricity and of course the wave hub decreases destruction of the ecosystem.

Probably many people might be wondering how ambitious most inventions are, yet such researches greatly save the environment from total destruction. It is today that men need to consider the use of the renewable energy technology not just to halt the massive damage but to save the Earth for the future use of the next of generations.

With the environmental pollution as a problem and with renewable energy technology as a solution, an action today is important; tomorrow is not even an option.

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All About Bluetooth Technology

Bluetooth is a type of wireless technology which eliminates the need for inconvenient devices and cables that are usually required for connecting computers, digital cameras, handheld devices, mobile phones and sundry other new-age digital appliances. In short, Bluetooth makes communication easier, sans cables.

Following are some of the key features of Bluetooth technology.

It uses radio waves to communicate in a 2.4 GHz spectrum.

It supports multi-point communication and not merely the point to point variety.

It usually works within a radius of 10-15 meters and offers speed of up to 2 GHz.

Bluetooth chipsets are less costly but more expensive than IrDA.

The Bluetooth technology, which even cheap mobile phones of today boast of, supports data speeds of up to 720 kpbs and three voice channels. The chip could either be built onto the cheap mobile phone or could be attached separately. In a computer, it can be attached to the USB port. Each Bluetooth device comprises a 48-bit address conforming to the IEEE 802 standards. Unlike the infrared system, Bluetooth devices don't require a line of sight placement between the connecting units. The technology is a modified form of the present wireless LAN technology and hence more acceptable because of the relatively small size and minimal cost.

A Bluetooth device is protected from any external interference as it changes its frequency up to 1,600 times each second. Its radio technology provides a bridge between existing data networks. Besides, the technology guarantees bit-level security in both expensive and cheap mobile phones as the authentication is controlled by the end-user via a 128-bit key. An interesting facet of the technology is that it immediately builds a network whenever multiple devices, including laptops and cheap mobile phones, come in a close range. For instance, several Bluetooth devices like a mobile phone, digital camera, laptop, printer etc. can form a network. In this way, one can send emails between the phone and the laptop sans any physical connection between the two. Even a print request can be sent across to the printer remotely.

The Bluetooth technology is an easy choice of communication with a short and wire-free range. It's a globally accepted standard to connect devices like digital cameras, MP3 players, stereo headsets, computers and even cheap mobile phones. The technology doesn't require installation of any drivers. The key benefits of this wireless technology are its low-cost, robustness, built-in security and the ad-hoc networking capabilities.

The technology is available all over the world. Numerous manufacturers from various countries are incorporating the technology into their products. The best part is that the technology is available free of charge. Today, mobile phone companies are including the technology even in a cheap mobile phone. This has enabled the technology to reach even the common man. Moreover, low costs, low power consumption and the wireless feature have made the technology vastly popular.

The cost of the Bluetooth technology is expected to come down further in the coming days and more gadgets are likely to sport such a device

Mindsets and Sociological Components of Online Higher Education

There are multiple hurdles to be overcome in order for society to fully embrace the concept of online higher education. There is natural resistance to the concept because in many people's minds there are significant questions that are unanswered. How will students be assessed? Who will be admitted? How can we be sure that students are honest? Will online degrees be of the same quality of the traditional degrees? How will top universities react to this trend? Time will eventually answer these and other questions regarding online education. What is certain is that demand for online education is beginning to boom and traditional universities will have to develop their own propositions or miss out on the opportunity to maintain their leadership in the education and development arena.

Universities and Society have much at stake when it comes to higher education. Enabled by the technological developments in communications, IT and networking, societies around the world are becoming ever more dynamic and competitive. Expectation for timescales are constantly being reduced and demand for immediacy in most areas drives many changes in our world today. As these changes happen, and as society begins to embrace these new technologies to satisfy traditional demand for goods and services, it is important that educational institutions develop the ability and systems to keep up.

Online education should be one of the most viable applications of the web. Only the appropriate systems, accreditations and assessments would need to be developed in order to achieve the quality standards that the traditional universities are renowned for. However, traditional universities tend to be conservative in their approach; they have lagged behind other for-profit organizations like the University of Phoenix that currently captures over $300 million in annual revenue. It is this type of organizations that has taken the lead in delivering online education, in spite of its questionable academic rigor and accreditation.

Demand is growing for education amongst many people that traditionally had little access to higher education. The "Baby Boomer" generation has been a big market driver for online education. Also the upcoming generations of young people see online delivery of products and services as something natural, so online education for them does not seem alien.

So far, online education has been steadily growing at rates that most studies show at 30 or 40 percent, which is 15 to 20 times faster than traditional university education growth.

Trends in Online Offerings
The uptake of more traditional degrees like BA/BS in Arts and Sciences has been less than enthusiastic. The reason for this is that most of the students willing to undertake a BA or BS level degree will probably be of an age more suitable for traditional education, and this lack of demand reflects the lack of offerings in this area. Another issue to be considered has to do with the practicalities of coordinating the different disciplines and departments required for these courses, which are difficult enough off-line. Successful online propositions for these courses will have to be extremely committed to resolving these issues and have the support of what could be considered the most tradition-bound faculty.

Admission Criteria
Universities will have to address the stigma that often accompanies admission opportunities for individuals. The online experience allows non-traditional students to learn at different paces and have different background than what it would be required for a classroom lecture. The web provides an exceptional opportunity to deliver higher education to all qualified students opening up an untapped market of intelligent people that do not have the access through the normal admission channels.

Name and Reputation
In a survey delivered to HR professionals, more than 50% preferred selecting a candidate with an online degree from a traditional institution over one with a degree from a less reputable school. Current data suggests that the real explosion in demand and market growth will occur once top name universities start supplying online education opportunities. These institutions have a trust factor built into their brand names that new coming institutions lack. The latter universities and online education propositions do not have a recognized expertise of having educated millions of students. Their programs can be perceived as lacking academic rigor and taught by faculty of questionable accreditation.

Some experts argue that name and reputation are even more important than the medium of delivery. Universities that wish to maintain their reputation will have to make sure that the standards that apply for normal students are also applied to online students, to the extent that the final result is undistinguishable. This is a significant challenge and there is still debate around this issue. One can question if the online proposition can really deliver the same results as the traditional approach does.

The requirement for quality and the backing of the name of a reputable university create new challenges for online education providers. These institutions that can provide high quality online education will need to implement methods to achieve a consistency between the online proposition and the traditional one.

Accreditation and Certification
The new paradigm creates great opportunities for both educators and learners in terms of accessibility, flexibility, and in some cases, cost. However, it also creates significant challenges for quality assurance and accreditation. A survey amongst online learners revealed that 44 percent value quality and accreditation when choosing an online education provider. Another 22 percent deemed rich student experience as paramount importance. Interestingly most people do not know what "accreditation" really is. Different accreditation agencies like the AACSB offer membership and also accreditation status. Membership is open to all institutions and sometimes this is illegitimately "confused" with accreditation. Accrediting bodies have the challenge to educate about their standards to the different involved parties like government, corporations and the general public in order to minimize this confusion.

Online education is two-way and delivered via mentoring and direct assessment. This is why traditional classroom standards need to be modified to fit with the new delivery method and be consistent with the bidirectional approach online education delivers. Once accreditation agencies develop credible methodologies to certify online education courses, there would be strong incentives to improve the quality of the programs.

Learning Styles and Assessment
Without proper examinations and student assessments, there would be no way to certify that the learning outcomes have been properly delivered to the students. The online approach gives the exceptional opportunity to assess many different types of learning styles and motivation levels. The online experience allows setting up automatic diagnostic tools that would seamlessly reinforce weak areas until the student is deemed to be competent in the subjects. Taken to an extreme, the online delivery could integrate the learning and the examination simultaneously.

Interaction with Faculty and Fellow Students
Often students rate the possibility of interacting with peers or faculty as an important part of the learning experience. Universities must make sure that their online proposition encourages and facilitates student-student and student-faculty interaction in order to maximize the network benefit. There are no technological impediments for this too, as instant messaging and web cams are easily accessible. This issue places constraints in the sizes of the online student body if the university is to maintain its quality standards in the education delivery.

Roger Achkar is a renowned Lebanese award-winning author and business thinker. He has appeared on most TV stations in the Middle East.

Roger is currently the CEO of 'Sharp Minds', a Lebanese management consulting firm. Formerly, Roger held many senior and managerial positions at multinational and regional organizations and held a track record of business success across multiple industries like Management and E-Business Consulting, Power generation, HVAC and Water technologies, Telecom, and Wholesale and Distribution.

Roger holds a Masters in Electromechanical Engineering from Saint Joseph University in Lebanon, a Bachelor of Law from the Lebanese University, a Masters in Systems Management and Engineering from Supelec University in France and an MBA from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. He is also a doctorate student in Social Sciences at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Diabetes Education - How Much Would You Be Willing To Pay? What Is It Really Worth?

How much would you be willing to pay for Diabetes classes? Let me rephrase that. How much is diabetes education worth?

How about forty thousand dollars? Not too many years ago that was considered about the going rate for open-heart surgery. Fortunately, your health insurance would usually pay for a good chunk of that. But really, think about it, if your insurance wouldn't pay for it, and your quality of life was starting to go downhill, fast, and you couldn't walk from the living room to the bathroom without getting out of breath or experiencing chest pain, would you have the surgery, even if you knew you had no way to pay for it?

What if the doctor told you that the open heart surgery was necessary to save your life, that without it the quality of your life would continue to deteriorate until eventually you would be bed ridden and then soon after die of heart failure? Would you elect to have this bank breaking open-heart procedure? I'm thinking yeh, you probably would. Even though it might cost close to $100,000.00 by the time all the medical bills are paid I'm thinking most people would. I know I would, or I think I would.

So again how much money should it cost you for 10 hours of diabetes education? Keep in mind it is not surgery and requires no hospital stay. (Well, at least not early on, for most people anyway) In fact highly educated doctors are not even the teachers. In many cases, if you are lucky, a highly trained certified diabetes educator will provide the education.

Several years ago my mom developed lung cancer. The surgeon came in her room and asked her what she wanted to do? Before he had a chance to completely explain her options she responded, " Take it out. I want this out of me as soon as possible."

"So you want me to operate and remove the affected part of your lung," the doctor asked.
"Yes, as soon as you can, the sooner the better," she told him. My mom was 81.
She had the surgery and is doing well. The total cost of the surgery, including the hospital and doctor bill came to about $50,000.00. Without the surgery my mom might not be here now.

You know frequently, when first diagnosed with diabetes, a lot of people don't even feel badly, yet, you know the first year or so, before the onset of complications like heart disease (Two out of three people with diabetes develop heart disease), nerve disease (Diabetes is the leading cause of non-traumatic amputations), eye disease (Diabetes can impair vision and lead to blindness), and kidney disease (Diabetes is a leading cause of kidney dialysis).

Recently I had two suspicious moles frozen. After they were frozen, they swelled up, dried up and fell off. The doctor didn't really think either amounted to much but said he could get rid of them if they bothered me. It cost about $200.00. The thing about it is that unlike the open-heart surgery and lung surgery... AND diabetes education, if I hadn't had my two moles removed I would have been none the worse.

Just in case you haven't figured it out by now receiving diabetes education soon after diagnosis is of the utmost importance. I tell people in class that I cannot imagine successfully managing diabetes without attending a comprehensive diabetes class. (The American Diabetes Association recommends all newly diagnosed patients with diabetes receive 10 hours of comprehensive education soon after diagnosis). By the way, insurance usually will cover 10 ours of diabetes education within the first twelve months of being diagnosed.

I can assure you that mismanaged or ignored diabetes will eventually lead to some life changing problems, problems that you want no part of. Diabetes education is as much a lifesaver as open heart surgery and cancer treatment. (And much less expensive at only a fraction of the cost!) However, sadly, there are far too many people with diabetes that fail to see the value of education.

Over the last fifteen or so years this has led to most hospital based diabetes education programs closing their doors, as education programs could not support themselves. Now most of the hospital based diabetes education programs that still exist are outpatient programs, many of which struggle to survive as patients are reluctant to pay more than a small co-payment or their deductible for education they feel is not worth the price.

Twenty-six million people have diabetes, 336 million worldwide. Another seventy-two million people nationwide have prediabetes. Although not curable type 2 diabetes is highly treatable, if you know what to do.

I used to think that doctors were the only ones that could save lives. I have learned over the years that diabetes educators and the education they provide can save lives as well. It would seem as though there are two parts to diabetes education; part 1- getting the person with diabetes to realize how important diabetes education really is, and part 2- educating the person with diabetes about diabetes. Right now diabetes educators may need to focus on part-1so we can continue part 2.

Yes, diabetes education is right up there with heart surgery, cancer treatment and substance abuse rehab. when it comes to saving lives. Concentrated efforts by informed professionals in the healthcare and insurance industry need to be made to affect a change in the public perception of the role comprehensive diabetes education plays in the lives of those with diabetes.

Milt Bedingfield is a certified diabetes educator and exercise physiologist. Milt has been teaching people with diabetes about the disease and how to care for it for the last 18 years. Milt is the author of a new book entitled: Prescription For Type 2 Diabetes: Exercise. This book is very informative and easy to understand. Milt has a website at: [http://www.TheExerciseDiabetesLink.com]. and Twitter account. His user name is: IKnosugar. Milt's email address is: MBedingfield@yahoo.com

The Science Behind the Mystery

The conflict between Science and Religion, raging for centuries, has taken a surprising turn over the past few decades. In this new age of spiritually and in the labs of enlightened scientists, the spark of attraction between the two, the esoteric and the practical, is stimulating exciting new ideas. In some circles, they're practically dating.

So in taking a glimpse into some of these scientific theories, let's define "THE Mystery" as not being just any old mystery but rather THE Mystery of the universe, of life and death and afterlife, of the nature of our consciousness, of creation, and the existence of some greater life force. Some might call this universal life force God, others might say it is an interconnected field of energy to which we are all part of the greater sum. Regardless, I think we can all agree that this is the mother of all mysteries.

It's also noteworthy that the title says the science 'behind' The Mystery, not that science has "solved" it. In fact, it might be more relevant to this discussion to say that science today is "enhancing" or "expanding" The Mystery, giving it more colour and depth than ever.

It wasn't very long ago that many thought they knew the answers. The laws of Classical, or Newtonian, Physics explained how our physical world worked in deterministic, predictable ways. Our religious institutions turned a blind eye to science as they already had the meaning of life, death, and creation explained. Darwin's theories exploded onto this scene to mess with their creation stories but from a scientific perspective, the evolution of species did appear to connect the dots.

But in the dawn of the twentieth century, brilliant scientists revealed new depths to our understanding of science. They discovered Quantum Physics, which explained how the very smallest bits of matter behaved (of which everything, even our bodies, are comprised) and then General Relativity which explained how very large objects and spacetime behaved. And yet, neither of these new areas of science jived with the laws of Classical Physics, nor with one another.

So now the brilliant scientists are searching for a unified theory which will explain how these branches of physics inter-relate.

And meanwhile, the subatomic world of quantum mechanics has demonstrated some astounding properties. One established behaviour (Heisenberg uncertainty principle) identified that particles are constantly in motion, in a state of superposition (many places at once) which is seemingly affected by observation. If one attempts to measure the position of a particle, then it collapses down into one place but it becomes impossible to measure its speed, and vice versa.

As Dr. Stephen Hawking stated in his book "A Brief History of Time", "The uncertainty principle had profound implications for the way in which we view the world."... and it is "not fully appreciated by philosophers and still the subject of much controversy."

Even more bizarre are the properties of entanglement and nonlocality which state two particles can have interconnected states even if spatially separated by extreme distances. Once in contact, they remain in contact throughout spacetime.

The implications of this are summarized In "The Field" by Lynn McTaggart: "Nonlocality shattered the very foundations of physics. Matter could no longer be considered separate. Actions did not have to have an observable cause over an observable space. Einstein's most fundamental axiom wasn't correct: at a certain level of matter, things could travel faster than the speed of light. Subatomic particles had no meaning in isolation but could only be understood in their relationships... "

In the search for the "theory of everything", quantum field theory is a framework which relates laws of relativity and quantum mechanics. The zero point field, postulated as a future unlimited source of energy in science fiction and now by real scientists, is a field of energy that underlies and interconnects everything in the universe. When you try to wrap your brain around this, that our brains, our bodies, our thoughts, the room we're in, the trees, our planet, the sun and everything in the universe are all part of a quantum web of interconnected energy, you must be struck by the enormity of the possibilities.

In the words of Dr. Hal Puthoff, this means that "so called empty space is not really empty at all, it's actually full of energy." What we do know is that this sea of energy is electromagnetic in nature and vast beyond our imagination. If we could find a way to tap into this source, our energy troubles might be over.

While some 'nay-sayer' scientists or strict religious leaders, committed to their dogma, may scoff at how far imagination and speculation might be going with quantum theories of consciousness, these possibilities take concepts of human spirituality and our place in the universe to a new level.