The Gender Factor: Girls in STEM education

If Unique Perceptions and VASS were to partner up for something, I feel like this would be the result. 
 image

And while I may not be an expert on the services that Unique Perceptions provides, I definitely know VASS. VASS is definitely trying to push the growth of STEM opportunities in our schools in Virginia. 

PS for more on Unique Perceptions Services check out http://aortathence.tumblr.com 

Source: engineeringdegree.net

Teller Reveals His Secrets

Magic is a science…? That’s one interesting way to look at the field of science. 

What kind of demonstrations pull you in to the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)?


jtotheizzoe:

Have magicians been inadvertently studying neuroscience for ages? Teller, of Penn & Teller, weighs in:

“Magic is an art, as capable of beauty as music, painting or poetry. But the core of every trick is a cold, cognitive experiment in perception: Does the trick fool the audience? A magician’s data sample spans centuries, and his experiments have been replicated often enough to constitute near-certainty. Neuroscientists—well intentioned as they are—are gathering soil samples from the foot of a mountain that magicians have mapped and mined for centuries.”

The science of tickling

Today’s random topic that has to do with the basics of STEM education: Behind everything in life, science or math is there in some way. 

This article isn’t as much related to CreateAthon as it is to the field of science within STEM education. The interesting things that are out there to learn… 

Tickling and being ticklish is actually way more interesting than I expected. The reason is because scientists have discovered that not only is it a neurological response to some forms of touch, but it can also be a learned behavior. One thing is for sure, a lot of information about tickling can be found in our evolutionary past.

According to Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist and author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, tickling is a “mechanism for social bonding between close companions. It helps forge relationships between family members, friends and lovers.” I read a very interesting article on Popsci about the topic this week called FYI: What Is the Evolutionary Purpose of Tickling. That article highlighted many interesting aspects about tickling including:

  • You cannot tickle yourself
  • Tickling could be where the origin of laughter begins
  • In children, tickling can hone reflexes and self-defense skills
  • Your brain tells you that it is inappropriate to tickle a stranger
  • Laughter in response to tickling is learned in the first few months of life
  • At about age 40, we stop tickling and typically lose interest in that activity
  • The face-to-face activity during tickling opens the door for other forms of interaction
  • The most ticklish parts of the body are the most vulnerable during combat (feet, chest, neck, armpits)

Some people who are very sensitive to touch might react differently to tickling than someone who is not as sensitive. This is just the same as some people might hear or taste things differently than others. For some people, tickling and laughter are learned defense mechanisms used in certain situations if they feel uncomfortable. It often lightens the mood. If you close your eyes and concentrate during a tickle attack, you actually have the power to dull the sensation itself. Fascinating, isn’t it?

tidbits

The U.S. Bureau of Statistics projects that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs will increase by over 20 percent in the next five years alone, but the U.S. is now finding a lack of young adults interested in science careers, further deteriorating the country’s global competitive edge.

I’m thinking that, as well as posting about CreateAthon, I’m going to make daily posts about the fields of STEM (a different topic within that field each day of course). 

  • so be on the lookout for things you didn’t know or even interesting little things that go along with the areas involved with STEM, the first day for this is tomorrow, I hope you’re ready!!

What does your client look, sound, and feel like?

I really don’t want to bad-mouth my client, since this question is asking what VASS currently looks, sounds, and feels like?

So the simple answer to this question, in all senses of the question, is dry.

Many of the current deliverables have a dry feel to them

  • Their website is dry, and very hard to navigate
  • Their brochure is very dry, and practically monotone in how it speaks to the public
  • They have informative powerpoints that, while informative, are very hard to grasp the information, as well as the point of the information

I feel bad if I keep going on and on about this, so I’m going to stop. If you want to see examples of what I am talking about though, check here.

Now, the real question.



What do I think my client should look, sound, and feel like?

  • exciting
  • encouraging
  • informative (as always, but in a very catchy way that leads you to wanting to know more)

I think that one of the biggest problems that I’m foreseeing with VASS, is that I’m trying to take a brand, and completely change their image.

Not change what they do, but making their image clear and powerful so that the audience can clearly grasp what it is that they do, and yet at the same time, want to know more. 

Currently, their brand feels very 90s corporate. 

image

So here is where you ask, “what does 90s corporate feel like?”

90s corporate:

  • old-fashioned, speaking to a much older audience
  • strict, almost throat-constricting, neck-strangling strict
  • organized, but in the sense of organization that is almost like data-entry
  • and the worst part of this, boring

ah yes, so very intriguing....

    Organization doesn’t have to be constricting. The same goes with being informative.

    The audience shouldn’t have to dread finding out information about VASS, thinking that it’s going to be long and going on forever. Finding out what education can do for the audience shouldn’t be boring in any way. 

    I think that main thing we need to do here, is change the image of what VASS provides. Going deeper into that, what education provides, whether it is jobs, or even future  opportunities. 


    Science is cool!! 
    Science isn’t as boring as reading textbooks might make it seem. Interactive demonstrations showing the cool things that you can do with science, such as in this video shown here, could really help students in the education system nowadays become more involved.

    Where there any demonstrations that your science teachers did for you when you were in school?

    Everyone knows of liquid nitrogen, and the cool things that can be done with that, but did you know that there’s cool things to learn out there. 

    • What if we could see a particle of household dust magnified times 22-million.

    or

    • What if we could do “Harry Potter”-like magic? (this question may seem irrelevant to the topic of science, but if you’ve ever played around with chemicals, you might know that it’s not)

    or 

    • What if we could look further into what causes different things, such as physical or mental attraction, within the human body? 

    All of these are valid questions when it comes to the topic of science. 

    All that one has to do, is just ask!

    Everything begins with a question.


    thekidshouldseethis    :

    It’s not magic, kiddo. It’s science! 

    Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a colorless, odorless gas that is more dense than air at 6.12 g/L (at sea level). This density is why you can pour it into a glass container and float a light-weight aluminum “boat” on its gas “sea.” Watch this demonstration at the Physikshow of the University of Bonn!

    via Quora.

    (via sugaratoms)

    Source: thekidshouldseethis