SIZING IT UP: Right out of the gate this a.m. I read a Reuters story about a U.S. Department of Education "Naton's Report Card" that half of the nation's fourth graders knew the correct descending order of size: North America, the U.S., California and Los Angeles.In fact, less than one-third of elementary and high school students showed proficiency in geography, the Education Department said. According to Roger M. Downs, a Pennsylvania State University geography professor, students aren’t learning subjects such as geography and history as teachers spend more time on math and reading to accommodate standardized tests.
Naturally, I couldn't wait to put CeeJ and Bee to the test. I listed the four places on a white board in no particular order and asked them to rank them largest to smallest. It took Bee all of 5 seconds to finish the task with 100 percent accuracy.
CJ took a bit longer, as he wasn't sure how to rank Los Angeles and California. He thought they were both states. :/ I was glad he at least got the continent-country-state hierarchy. I gave him a slightly different menu to choose from (subbing Seattle and Washington for LA and California). When I did that, he nailed it.
REST IN PEACE: My inbox fills with news from NASA each day, and while this isn't the artsiest shot ever, I think it noteworthy. 
Image: NASA/Kyle HerringIt shows where workers marked in bright red "MLG" at the spot where space shuttle Atlantis' main landing gear came to rest after the vehicle's final return from space. The end.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: I tuned into NASA TV this afternoon half afraid I'd find it had become something else like "Real Housewives of the Space Coast." ;) I was SO happy to find it was a press conference about the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity which will launch later this year and arrive on Mars in August of 2012. That's right, NASA will not go quietly into the night!!!! A NASA spokesperson closed out the press conference by saying, "When it comes to tomorrow, science never sleeps." AMEN! :)
During the press conference, there was an amazing animation of Curiousity flying to and landing on Mars. It involved a capsule, which then opens, revealing a jet-propelled vehicle that carries the rover to near the surface before lowering it by cables, disconnecting the cables and then flying off away from the rover's landing area. My mind is boggled at how these designers are able to pull stuff like this off. Just the selection process that went into narrowing down candidate landing sites is something to behold.
The big news at today's presser was that Gale Crater has been selected as the Curiosity's landing site. The crater is named for Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale.
But sometimes, Scientists sleep ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe "robotic" missions are interesting or even fascinating at times but not riveting as the manned missions are. I hope the private programs work.