Fall Equinox 2018

Thursday, September 22nd of this year will be the Autumnal Equinox.  It is the time of year when the imaginary plane that might pass through the Earth's Equator would also travel through the center of the Sun.  At this auspicious moment the number of sunlight hours and night time hours are about the same all over the Earth.  In the Northern Hemisphere we move into the Fall season.
We love the seasons and  Ecliptic animation from the Magic of Physics site.  Below is a screen shot of the applet. By clicking on the link, a new window will open and students, or the teacher using a projector, can change the position of the person on the globe and other variables to enjoy a discussion of this auspicious moment.

Seasons_and_Ecliptic_Simulator

Click on this image to go to the Magic of Physics Ecliptic and Seasons Simulator

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Does it pay to get educated?

Updated!

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Why should students do well in school, graduate high school, or go on to college?  In this activity median earnings by various education levels are explored.  Students compare the earnings of a non-high school grad with workers who graduated high school and went on to complete higher education degrees.  Hopefully, after completing this lesson, students will have a little more motivation to do well this school year and in the future.

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Talk like a pirate day – viral growth

Talk like a pirate day is September 19th.

Bring some humor and marketing understanding into your class with this activity about a silly holiday that has had viral growth.

What happens when you tell 5 people and then each of those people tell 5 more people ... ?

If you share this post with one of our Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, or in any way, maybe we can make it go viral.

The activity: Talk-like-a-pirate-day.pdf

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Hurricanes

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The official Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1 and doesn’t end until November 30th. Now Hurricane Florence is approaching North and South Carolina.

Encourage your students to join the conversation, knowledgeably, by using our activity.  Students read about hurricane classfications and calculate the possible increases in destruction from various scaled events.  Estimation, data analysis with graphs to study trends, damage expense, average frequency, and histogram are all part of this lesson.

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Nike’s latest bet

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Nike has just chosen a surprising person to represent the 30th anniversary of their slogan, "Just Do It".  Colin Kaepernick, past quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, has been a subject of controversy since 2016 when he "took a knee" during the National Anthem at the start of his NFL games. Colin was protesting racial injustice in the United States.

In an attempt to dscover how this controversial choice might affect Nike's business, Darren Rovelle, a sports business analyst, hosted a Twitter poll.

This activity is about the viability of that poll.  What is required to produce a meaningful poll?

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Monarchs are flying south again

In mid-August and early September, the Monarch butterflies begin their annual migration south to more moderate climates to hibernate and overwinter.  It is an incredibly long migration and fascinating to observe.  But, the populations data on Monarchs has seriously changed and apparently students and conservation groups can help the butterflies to be successful in their journey.

In this activity students read charts, do a little research, and make observations about the decline and resurgence of Monarchs.

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