Meeting 16 • 27 February 2014
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pictures of the week
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mini-text of the week (start): "…we forgot that there might be dangers descending steep slopes covered with a smooth, slippery grass in the dark."Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, pp. 17-18 (read more) |
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•√ (10') This week's thought-bite (and also the theme of "Stars & Numbers"): expensive instruments, extreme conditions, and progressive insights into geography, climate, and species distribution. Small groups: 1) Which of the planets can be seen by the naked eye? Common binoculars? Which have you yourself seen? Whole group: Magnification (and the misconception about "power"); light-gathering; the importance of stable mountings and precise angular measurement; cost (in relation to size; then and now) Humboldt's portable instruments: a) the portrait of H&B at their research table; b) out in the field near Chimborazo. The portable telescopes of Humboldt's time: 1) superbrief history of telescope from 1608 into 21st C; 2) telescopes of the 18th C, including 3) the one that Capt. Cook used for advanced astronomical observation on his voyages; 4) telescopes of the 19th C; 5) history of the observatory; 6) stationery telescopes and their astronomers: Wilhelm / William Herschel; 7) the Paris Observatory - Humboldt would have known it well; 8) the Berlin Observatory - Humboldt would have been quite familiar with it too, especially after his travels; 9) the US Naval Observatory, the major center of American astronomy around 1800; 10) two sources of interest to us as we deal with the unavoidable and very complex issue of science and religion: the Vatican Observatory; Wikipedia: "Catholic Church and science"; 11) something to think about the next time you sing "Auld Lang Syne" at Times Square :-) Good topic for a group project: archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy – explanation; sample lesson plan for "A web-based activity exploring how different cultures have interpreted constellations". |
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•≠ (02') About geological dating - how late the scale was determined with radiometric dating back to creation of the earth / sun. Info from the Palmer geology book. |
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•√ (10') This week's mini-text about plant distribution: It's not just that the distribution of species varies with altitude, as it varies with latitude and climate; the same or similar species appear in similar zones that are separated by barriers like mountains that - once geology was mature enough to recognize this - may have arisen to isolate those species from each other. There was much effort to distinguish closely related species and to determine which were variants of ONE species and which were truly species of their own. Definition of species then was based on reproduction (the reproductive parts of the plants; the possibility of fertile mating); that principle has yielded to cladistics and classification by shared genes ). A thorny related problem: How to tell whether a newly-encountered being is a member of species X, say our own species. Small groups: put forth your own definition of "human". ("If it looks like duck, and if it waddles like a duck, and if it quacks like a duck…"). The old "featherless biped" joke. |
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•√ (10') Back to astronomy and measurement. So how did they make those telescopes and such - the actual handiwork and critical measuring? A demonstration of mirror grinding, polishing, and surface-accuracy measurement. |
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•√ (05') Species descriptions, with work samples. Important: Don't write as though you yourself were the audience, as though you were writing a biology paper, or even as though I were the ultimate audience. Picture a distinct category of learner and work from there. Hallmarks / gauges of strong species descriptions / group projects: 1) Is it about you or about sustainable environmentalism and AvH? 2) Will your audience learn ABOUT or learn TO, or both? 3) Could a teacher use your activity a) as is; b) by adding something to it? 4) Does it contribute balance to a larger effort (or is it just another take on the penguin / squid)? 5) Could you confidently present it publicly? Example: PSU Student Research Symposium. Maybe a couple of our people will present their ideas. |
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•N (05') Examples of lesson plans that can guide species descriptions and some group projects: 1) see handout for previous meeting; b) here is "ThirteenEd Online", about lesson plans (example: math). For the Bigger Picture about principles, stakeholders, etc., see PSU/Oregon "STEM+German" grant-funded project. |
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•N (05') If time (probably not): grants, jobs, résumé lines through PSU Institute for Sustainable Solutions; grants and conferences elsewhere; see earlier handouts for examples of internships. More soon about documenting your skills / achievements and the larger topic of employability. Want group feedback about how much to do this. |
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•√ (01') Coffee / snack after class? Lunch / Coffee Friday noonish? - 12:30 or 1:00 even better for lunch, or 1:30 for coffee |
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•+ (20') Humboldt's pioneering work in plant (and animal) geography: the 99% perspiration and data are combined with 1% inspiration and insight to produce the monumental, iconic "Chimborazo" graphic. That was the best they had "back then" about sustainable environmentalism: the data, the thought, the presentation in words and pictures. There was NO "Big Science": no government-sponsored science (until late in 19thC in US - Powell's fights), no corporate-financed R&D. Well, there was a little, especially for military purposes (mapping, weapons). But most science was "amateur" (gentleman and a few others), because science then was not regarded as important. Producing that engraving involved huge effort and expense, even after the data was collected. Today we'll rotate some important graphics resources among small groups so that people can look closely at them: the full-size Chimborazo engraving (with the English translation of its data columns); several centuries of maps of the Pacific Northwest; a study of effective graphic representation of quantitative data (Tufte, The Visual Representation of Quantitative Information); a study of how the familiar "time-line" graphic tool was developed over thousands of years (Rosenberg & Grafton, Cartographies of Time). –Some other "iconic" images related to science (whether as concepts or as means to deliver data effectively). –Special points: natural history collections; rarity of travel; topographic mapping (Wikipedia; Geosciences, Idaho State U) |
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•√ Some midterms returned at end. More next Tuesday. |
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• On the horizon: Soon: A last quantification activity: precise measurement of altitude / distance (demo, then do in groups). Thought questions: Are all angles and degrees created equal? Why use a barometer to measure altitude when the theodolites and trig tables are there? Margins for error in Humboldt's time and our own: latitude, longitude, altitude, temperature; news flash: PSU Building World's Biggest Barometer!! Soon: How did/do people "feel" about nature and environmentalism? (NOT expressing opinions, but rather the psychological / emotional sense, including how we can encounter their thoughts / emotions Soon: topographical mapping and iso-dimensions Looking further ahead (projects, etc.): presentation (continuation) about educational standards and their parts in the course: 1) Improving your learnign by helping others to learn - This is preparation for assignments about species description and group projects. looking ahead: presentation of project ideas (just the ideas, not finished projects) at meeting #16 Upcoming: presentation about society back then (and any time before 1800 or so), to help understand how H related to people of other classes / races (teaser: When was it that someone's ears first popped with a change in altitude?) advice about "educated citizen" reading, with a short sample What/how do we FEEL about sustainable environmentalism? Not our opinions, but rather our emotions - and also how such em |