World Science Festival 2010

First thing we did was pick up tickets for Astronaut Diary: Living in Space. The presentation didn't start till 1130, so we had time to check out the World Science Festival Street Fair beforehand. Our first stop was the Rutgers Dynamic Physics Demonstrations. (See video I'll post separately as soon as Blogger video uploading decides to work for me, sigh...) We learned about Prehensile-tailed Skinks from the Philadelphia Zoo. Then we went to NASA's outside area and enjoyed looking at some space equipment, and playing NASA Mythbusters, a quiz game.









Then it was time to head over to see astronauts Sandra Magnus and Leland Melvin (and a video message from astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who is currently aboard the International Space Station), as well as space suit designer Dava Newman and her prototype Bio Suit, which is intended to replace the current bulky and cumbersome suits with something far more flexible.











After the show, we wandered the street fair some more and enjoyed some of the many performances going on. At Billy B's science and nature songs concert, Mikro was one of the kids who wound up onstage dancing to the dragonfly song. He really enjoyed Galileo: The Starry Messenger (and wound up on stage again. Sense a pattern here?)



Then we checked out the robotics demos.



And ran to Battery Park to see the full size model of the Hubble's upcoming successor, the James Webb Space Telescope.



And ran some more to 41 Broad Street, to check out Astronomy's New Messengers:The Exhibit, about Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which works not with light, but with gravitational waves.



Then we wandered the Wall Street area a bit, taking in such sights as the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall (where George Washington took the Innaugural Oath and became our first President), and the Trinity Church Graveyard.

Then, totally exhausted, we limped home...

The Gift of Edu-Speak

There's an article in the NY Times about new standards for math and English developed by the nation's governors and school honchos, which links to a couple of pdfs with the new proposed standards. I've glanced at them and realized they are kind of useful for coming up with edu-speak for drafting my IHIP next year, and thought I would pass them along, for what they're worth. They haven't been adopted yet, as I understand it, but I think they're an interesting look at what the government thinks is appropriate grade level material... not that I particularly care what they think (and frankly, I'm not at all happy with the concept of a nationalized curriculum), but like the World Book lists, it's interesting, and may be some guidance...

Anyway, links here:

NY Times Article

Math

English/Language Arts

Animals & Acrobats at Van Cortlandt Manor

Our local historic house, Van Cortlandt Manor, hosts a wonderful annual event called Animals & Acrobats, which simulates a traveling circus of 200 years ago. There are storytellers, musicians, acrobats, jugglers, a slackrope walker, a fortune teller, a mime, a replica of a mammoth skeleton billed as "The Behemoth", and lots of animals, including a bird of prey show, a petting zoo with much more than just the usual farm animals, and a wolf.

Mikro got to hold an alligator! And wear a bearded dragon on his shirt. And learn about reptiles, birds of prey and wolves in very cool educational presentations. Jennifer Pena and her birds from the Flight of the Raptor show, the folks from Two by Two Zoo, and Atka and human friends from the Wolf Conservation Center rock! As did all the skillful and funny performers who amazed and entertained us! This is always a fun event, and I think Mikro was the perfect age to really appreciate all of it this year.