The College Life

In a few weeks some of you will be traveling to the University of Houston to learn about engineering research and to see the campus. It will be a time of seeing new things, seeing what college campus is like, meeting some students, and going to Starbucks.

Before we do all that though, we are going to talk about what college is and what a college education does for you. We're also going to analyze ethnic patterns in college attendance at the University of Houston. You'll need some data to begin that little journey. You'll find the data below.

College Ethnicity Data UH 2000-2009

Houston Chronicle Article on College Enrollment

Nanofoods

Nanofoods could change the way you eat forever! We'll learn a lot more about it in class today, and you can tell me if you are excited or cautious about them. To do the assignment today on the NANO NUMBER LINE, just click here to get started.

What's going on here?

This is something that many of you probably deal with several times a week, and it is related to what we'll talk about this week in class. If you can guess correctly what it is, then I'll get you some gum. I'll give you a hint. This image is EXTREMELY zoomed in, and this stuff has been around for about 250 years.

Pacman Pie Chart!

Hey Fonville Techno Students!

I know that you have been working on your exploding pie charts with explanation, and I have looked through many of them though am still grading them. They are looking pretty good, and I think most of you understand what you are doing. If you DON'T feel like you understand why I am having you do this, then be ready to ask me when I come in later this week.

For now I thought you would appreciate a joke pie chart created by someone (I really don't know who invented this thing) concerning Pacman. I know that many of you with an affinity for video games will know who Pacman is. You should ask yourself these questions:

1) What does this chart have to do with Pacman?

2) Why is this pie chart funny?

Admittedly, this is a little bit of nerd humor, but there is a little bit of nerd in everyone. (I will help you find the little nerd inside of you through at least one activity this semester!)

Harry Potter's Sorting Hat!

Hey Fonville Fans!

Have you ever watched much Harry Potter? Well I don't actually need to ask you because I have a bunch of survey data that you gave me that says you don't think it's so great. Well there is one useful scene from the movie that we'll be using this week as we discuss SORTING in Microsoft Excel.

If you aren't familiar with Excel much you will be. This is what everyday engineers like me use every day, but it will allow you to be POWERFUL with any data that you are using. You'll need to download these items to begin getting the power. :-)

Some of your survey 1 data

This is where you are going to dump your exploding pies!

The Truth (about the oil spill) is Out There

"The truth is out there" is a common phrase used in movies, books, previews, and news articles to encourage people to look for the information that they seek to find. That is what I am hoping you will do on this Gulf Oil Spill newsletter, and the links below will help you, probably even better than just doing a simple Google search.

I challenge you to actually READ and UNDERSTAND what a few articles are saying. Learn something new. Don't just get the assignment done. Someday your brain will thank you.

Some Good Search Links to Find Your Articles

Science News

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

USA Today

Houston Chronicle

New Scientist

The Summer of Oil Spill

Hey Fonville! If you haven't heard anything about the BP oil spill that happened this past April, then you need to stop watching cartoons and playing video games long enough to catch a little news! :-)

This week, we'll be working on creating a pretty snazzy newsletter that informs people about different things related to the BP Gulf Oil Spill that occurred on April 20, 2010 and its aftermath. I want to be impressed by the quality of information you can find and the effectiveness of your presentation. There are two things that may help you below. One is the links to the articles online that I used for my EXAMPLE newsletter that you'll be receiving a copy of. Be sure to follow this format so that you can maximize your grade. The second thing given here is a list of topics that you can use for your newsletter. Remember that you only have to have three topics and and three sources at a minimum, though you can have more sources if you need it. I'll be checking your sources to make sure that (1) the information is actually there and (2) that you did NOT just copy and paste from the article. If you copy and paste, it is an automatic F.

What you see here is an early image of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s tracking of the spill. This was a large spill!

Four online articles that I used

1) Oil Spills into Gulf After Rig Disaster
2) Gulf Oil Spill: Experts disagree on kindest way to deal with oiled-up birds
3) US Says BP Well is Finally 'Dead'
4) New Study Sees Dissipating Oil Spill

List of Topics that You Could Choose From

What caused the spill?

Whose fault is the spill?

What will or has happened happen to the marine life? (examples: birds, fish, shrimp, sea turtles)

Can we eat fish from the Gulf of Mexico anymore?

What happened to the beaches nearby?

How can we clean up the animals?

Will there be wetlands that are damaged? Why do we need wetlands anyway?

How much money did it and will it cost to clean everything up?

The leak is stopped, but is everything ok?

Is deepwater drilling a safe thing for people?

Is deepwater drilling a safe thing for the environment?

Should the average American feel somewhat at fault because of our need for oil?

Are bacteria eating the oil?

Where is the oil going?

What happened to the fisherman near the spill?

What are “dispersants”, and how were they used to help in the spill?

Are the “dispersants” safe for the environment?

Is there any air pollution from the oil spill?

What were different ways that were used to capture the oil?

Why are oil spills bad for animal life? What actually happens to them when they get oil on them?

How was the oil leak finally stopped? What ways were tried to stop the leak that didn’t work?

How much oil actually was leaked? Is it too much?

Why was it so hard to stop the leak?

How were robots used to study and observe the leak?

Why do people drill for oil thousands of feet underwater when it can also be found on land?

Why was the oil floating on top of the water if the leak was way down at the bottom?

Ice Island? What's the big deal?

Hey Fonville Tech Apps!

Have you guys ever heard of "Global Warming" or "Climate Change" before? I wanted to pass along this video I saw the other day about a new "ice island" in Greenland that was just formed.

After you watch the video, answer the following questions to me, Mr. Howell (nlhowell@uh.edu), by email (please put "TechApps" in the email subject line), and I will give good answers a pack of gum. I will give really good answers 2 or 3 packs of gum.

1) Why are some people worried that the ice island is being formed?
2) The ice island is 260 square kilometers. How big is that in square miles, and the video says that it is 4 times bigger than another well known island. What island is that? (2 questions, the size of the ice chunk and what well known island is it 4 times bigger than?)

This is your mission should you choose to accept it.

Hello My New Fonville Students!

Howdy Fonville MS 8th Graders of Fall 2010! My name is Nathan Howell (or Mr. Howell as you'll likely call me), and I have been in graduate school for the last 4 years and am starting my 5th. One day I will graduate. Lucky for you I have not so that I can come visit your class every 1-2 weeks to try and make things a little more fun and to show you something about engineering research.

Here is a brief example of one of the activities we do which is water sampling in the bayous around Houston. These shots are all from a day of training that we did with all of the research students in July 2010. Can you figure out what is going on by the pictures?

This week I won't just be telling you about stuff that I do. I also want to know about things that YOU like and stuff that YOU know. So here are two online surveys that I need you to take when we tell you it's time. The passwords will be revealed to you in class.

Survey 1: Tell Me About You

Survey 2: Show Me What You Know

For survey 2, I'm going to give the top two students a prize!

One more thing, for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) activity that we are going to be doing in class you may find this simple example for a regular pencil helpful.

Questioning the Coogs!

Fonville 8th grade students! I hope that you have been trying your best and behaving in class so that you'll get to go on the field trip to the University of Houston this coming Friday, May 14 or Monday, May 17.

While there you will get to see an environmental research laboratory where we'll examine some pond water, a concrete testing lab, and a facility where they are researching the technologies to make very small electronics like your iPod.

I have gotten some students together that have been going to school here for awhile to answer any and all questions that you might have for them. You can ask them ANYTHING. Just ask yourself, "Is there anything about college life at the University of Houston that I would like to know and have never been able to ask before?" NOW is your chance. So go to this very brief quiz that I made for you online and submit up to five questions. If your question is a good one, we'll pick it and ask the panel what they think.

Waterborne Pathogens!

Hey Gang!

This week we will be talking about waterborne pathogens, which if you don't know what they are already you soon will. The reason is that one of the researchers you will be meeting at University of Houston studies pollution patterns in one particular type of waterborne pathogen in Houston.

Here is an example of a microscope-enhanced image of one of the pathogens that you may encounter this week. It is GIARDIA, and they can exist in untreated waters even waters that you think are clean. One example is even in cool-mountain streams, this protozoa can survive as a cyst for weeks just waiting to make ill the weary hiker.

This week we will actually be playing a game in groups. You group will face off against all of the other groups. What you'll need for the game is this spreadsheet that I've created. With it you will know as much as anybody who has a PhD in waterborne pathogens. :-)

Word Clouds

Hey Gang!

I mentioned "word clouds" to you guys about two weeks ago, but I did not get the post up on this blog for you to look at. Here is a brief definition of word clouds.

Word Cloud, noun: (From Wikipedia), a visual depiction of user-generated tags, or simply the word content of a site, typically used to describe the content of web sites. Tags are usually single words and are normally listed alphabetically, and the importance of a tag is shown with font size or color. Thus, it is possible to find a tag alphabetically and by popularity. The tags are usually hyperlinks that lead to a collection of items that are associated with a tag.

Here it mentions something about tags from a website, but word clouds are not just limited to websites. For example, I mentioned to some of you guys about the use of word clouds to represent the President's State of the Union address this past January. Here is that cloud created by Jeff Clark at Neoformix.com. Take at look at the cloud and see if you can imagine what it is the president might be saying.

Now here are some word clouds that I created at www.wordle.net of your answers to the Harry Potter GIS quiz. The three questions that were asked on the quiz were. Look at the word clouds, and see if you can match which cloud might go with which question.

1) Please explain in your own words what it was about the Marauders Map in Harry Potter that makes it so different from paper maps that we use today. What is magical about this map?

2) In your own words, please give at least two reasons why maps are valuable.

3) What was your favorite thing that we did today and why?

(a)

(b)

(c)

If you are interested in word clouds, it is very easy to create them. You can make them from your favorite book, from a website, from the lyrics in a song you like, from an email you wrote--almost anything with text in it. See what you can come up with at www.wordle.net. This is a form of communication technology.

More On Bigfoot

Well my wife, Zelda, laughed at me for even considering telling you guys about Bigfoot, but it does make for a cool map. Many of you wanted to see the original Patterson-Gimlin 1967 film of Bigfoot. This should be the only video that I know of that captures a Bigfoot "sighting". Your belief is up to you, but here are some helpful thoughts.

History Channel Examination of 1967 Video
History Channel Outlines the Legend of Bigfoot

Jane Goodall believes in Bigfoot. Should you? :-)

Starting to Create Your Own Google Earth Map

Howdy Y'all!

I had some fun things that I have been learning this week that I wanted to share, but unfortunately I did not have time to get them up. All that I had time to do was put some files up here that you'll need for class this week as you begin to create your own Google Earth files. What you'll need to begin are.

1) Spreadsheet Mapper 2.0 by Google
2) The Mysterious Creatures of the Earth Planning Spreadsheet

3) Creating Your Own Google Earth Layer Instruction Sheet

And to get your mind thinking, do you think that this picture of "Bigfoot" is real? How can you know?

Beginnings

Hello 8th Grade Technology Applications at Fonville!

You may not believe this, but I have never actually blogged before in my entire life. But I thought you might enjoy coming to see what I'm thinking about related to technology and research during the class or on your own time. I'll use this blog to show you some technology stuff that I find that I might want you to see like interesting videos, online programs, even GIS stuff that hopefully will blow your mind at least a little. Ya you might say, "Hey that's boring Mr. Howell trying to make us learn." Well that's partially true. If you don't like it, why don't you start your own blog on blogger.com and see what you can come up with. I dare you!

So for this first post, I have some links for you. The first will get you into a presentation that I created to help you on the quiz that I made for you guys about beginning your studies in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The second will actually let you take the quiz (woohoo!), and the third will let you download a file that you can use in Google Earth. It is my first attempt at creating my own Google Earth map, and it should get YOU excited about creating some of your own. Later, some of you will get to go an environmental field expedition to bring back data that the class can put in Google Earth. For right now, enjoy the map file I created!

And here is something ridiculous sutff we did in the lab this week. Can you figure out what it is that we are doing? :-)

And here is one more tidbit of interesting information about a someone using Google Earth to try and find BURIED TREASURE in Texas. Can you discover where it is on Google Earth? Use these news stories to figure it out.

Story 1
Story 2