Category: 2018
As our senior software engineer Kirk Swenson said in a recent @Concord article, the Concord Consortium is all about impact: getting more students in more places doing STEM inquiry. Since only about 5% of the Earth’s population speaks English as a first language, it makes sense to reach beyond English to make our free resources […]
How do students learn to think like scientists so they can uncover the natural world’s secrets? Scientific experimentation allows students to discover some of nature’s secrets. However, it is not simply about collecting data through the use of various apparatus, whether it’s a conventional microscope or advanced computer technologies. Scientific experimentation requires students to engage […]
Fig. 1A goal of the SmartIR app is to provide basic instructional support directly in the app so that students, citizen scientists, professionals, and other users can learn what they can do with the incredible power of thermal vision beyond its convent…
I am pleased to announce Project Snake Eyes. This ambitious project aims to combine image analysis and infrared imaging to create biomimetic thermal vision — computer vision that simulates the ability of some animals such as snakes to see in darkness….
In the midst of the data deluge, data seem to be everywhere. With the advent of ubiquitous Internet of Things sensors, data now seem to be a part of the natural world around us, too. And along with this idea that data exist everywhere, we often say that scientists collect data (think: collecting blueberries, in […]
Design thinking and engineering design is often taught as a linear, structured approach, but with Paper Mechatronics, tinkering is key. During two different July workshops a group of teachers and some young girls explored a more creative approach to learning design: blending crafts with electronics, coding, and mechanisms. Infosys Foundation USA Pathfinders Summer Institute 2018 […]
Fig. 1: The paper-on-cup experiment with SmartIRSmartIR is a smartphone app that I am developing to support infrared (IR) thermal imaging applications, primarily in the field of science and engineering, based on the FLIR ONE SDK. The development offici…
The cover article of the August issue of The Science Teacher features an intriguing shiver of sharks, data about those sharks and other marine animals, plus the perfect way to get your feet wet with data analysis: Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP) and Ocean Tracks. Bill Finzer, one of the authors of the Science […]
Everyone lives in a watershed, regardless of whether you reside where it’s hot and dry or wet and rainy. As the U.S. Geological Survey says, if you’re standing on land, look down, you’re in a watershed. The 23 teachers, staff developers, and center directors who met this summer at the Concord Consortium offices in Massachusetts […]
Can children as young as kindergarten understand what makes a solid become a liquid, or a gas? Can they comprehend the dynamics of particle motion? Our Sensing Science through Modeling Matter project believes they can, with the help of playful, animated stories and an online app that is now available in the App Store. Sensing […]