sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): Day 28 - DNA, Electroplating, and Magnets, Oh My!
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010/08/day-28-dna-electroplating-and-magnets.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Wednesday, August 18, 2010. Day 28 - DNA, Electroplating, and Magnets, Oh My! Today, we have scheduled a simple DNA extraction demonstration for the two sections of 10th class. There have been a few changes since I tried this in Matendla. Instead of onion, we're using a banana. The two reasons for this are as follows:. It's much much easier to mash a banana inside a ziploc bag than to find a mortar and pestle (a.k.a. a roll. Afterward, we take electroplating to the 8t...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): To the Students:
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010/09/for-students.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Friday, September 10, 2010. Now I've had more than a month to think about things since my project ended, and other education-related events have kept me thinking about it (along with, of course, the necessity of finishing my blog record of my practice). So in the end, this is the advice I'd give to the students:. The system beats creativity out of you, but always try to draw your own links and figure out how everything is connected. Place what you learn into conte...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): Day 30 - The End
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010/08/day-30-end.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Friday, August 27, 2010. Day 30 - The End. Today is our last day here. And apparently there's a bandh. Going on. Ummm.I really hope that doesn't mean school is canceled and we don't get to do all our experiments. If the TRS. Telangana Rasthra Samithi), the party agitating for a separate Telangana, gets to the school before first period, it might be. Once school starts, though, the principal won't stop it again. I do the same magnetism spiel from two days ago, but simp...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): Learning Experience
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010/09/learning-experience.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Tuesday, September 14, 2010. But they didn’t give up that easily. The idea of the bandh seemed abandoned, but they asked if instead, they could sign the students up for the TRS. Once again, Vishnu used his quiet logic on them. The students are young, but they must make that decision for themselves. But you can talk to them and tell them why you think they should join, he conceded. What of the urban schools in Hyderabad? I think that Vishnu and the teachers must have f...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): September 2010
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Tuesday, September 14, 2010. But they didn’t give up that easily. The idea of the bandh seemed abandoned, but they asked if instead, they could sign the students up for the TRS. Once again, Vishnu used his quiet logic on them. The students are young, but they must make that decision for themselves. But you can talk to them and tell them why you think they should join, he conceded. What of the urban schools in Hyderabad? I think that Vishnu and the teachers must have f...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): Campfire Stories
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010/08/campfire-stories.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Sunday, August 29, 2010. Here's another horror story about the educational system for you. This time, it's about college. One of the teachers was acting as an examiner in another college for the B.Sc Chemistry students. They were being asked to do a titration. Each would go into the chemical room and come out with a little pile of white powder. When asked the mass, they would reply that it was 23.1457 g. For the vast majority of the students, this practical exam was p...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): August 2010
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Sunday, August 29, 2010. Here's another horror story about the educational system for you. This time, it's about college. One of the teachers was acting as an examiner in another college for the B.Sc Chemistry students. They were being asked to do a titration. Each would go into the chemical room and come out with a little pile of white powder. When asked the mass, they would reply that it was 23.1457 g. For the vast majority of the students, this practical exam was p...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): Day 29 - Confusion
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010/08/day-29-confusion.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Thursday, August 26, 2010. Day 29 - Confusion. Unfortunately, nobody realized we had been told there would be school, so nobody realized they would have to tell us there wouldn't be school. So we wake up and get ready for breakfast by 8 as usual, to find the place deserted. Ah well. We have the key to the science lab. Might as well use today to test out some experiments. They skip off, not because we've told them we'll be working with them tomorrow, but because the te...
sammygpp.blogspot.com
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog): July 2010
http://sammygpp.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html
Hands-On Science (GPP Project Blog). Friday, July 30, 2010. An Ailing Educational System. I seriously want to punch the person/people who came up with the 10th class exams. The schoolkids, up to 10th, have tons of enthusiasm, are filled with questions, and can actually learn. After 10th, they turn into zombies who may eat brains but have none of their own. I might be exaggerating a little. They probably don't eat brains. They are no more than parrots, though their squawking sounds more like "DNA is trans...
