Spaghetti Bridges (without sauce)

Why a spaghetti bridge? Why not?
Okay, actually it's a real thing. It's like the balsa wood bridges, but since everyone has spaghetti in their cupboard* it's easier to get started.

I've got a bit of a confession to make: I always thought I was bad at math. I always hated not being able to figure out math. I was okay with adding and subtracting. Multiplication and division came after awhile. Fractions sort of made sense. But algebra? Geometry? What was the point. "You'll use it someday," I was told. For what? I never got a decent answer.

 I failed many, many math tests. I never failed a class, but it wasn't for lack of trying. My senior year in high school, I took a class called Transitions to College Math. I took it Pass/No Credit. I got no credit.

But something interesting happened when I got older. I became interested in electricity and electronics. Just for fun (prior to grad school) I took  "Science of Acoustics" and a "Science of Electronics" classes at Columbia College here in Chicago. Algebra made sense when I looked at it as I=V/R or V=IR.

I asked Mom why math wasn't taught this way in high school. She told me it was because I wasn't learning math, I was learning physics.  It turns out I wasn't bad at math, I'm just much better at learning (and now teaching) when I'm not told that I'll use it "someday," but shown how I can use it now.

So that's the kind of teacher I am. Caleb has been asking about why we study geometry? He loves physics. So now, at the intersection of geometry and physics, we build spaghetti bridges and test how much force it takes to break them. We use geometric shapes and a lot of hot glue. We measure and weigh, and we try to be all science-y about it. It's a lot of fun...and I never tell him that we're just studying so that he can use some esoteric skill "someday."

As stage 1, he designed his bridge. You can kind of see his template in the photo below. That is Caleb wielding the hot glue gun. We only incurred minor injuries

Stage 2: begin construction

Trusses for bridge complete!

Stage 3: Bridge top and bottom complete



The proud bridge-builder

When this is all complete, do not--I REPEAT DO NOT LEAVE THE BRIDGE WHERE THE CATS CAN GET IT. YOU WILL REGRET IT. Cats apparently love to destroy spaghetti bridges. We learned this the hard way.

After the cats...

Part II of our bridge saga, coming soon.


**note: this will NOT work with linguine, fettuccini, manicotti, gnocchi, penne, or any kind of pasta other than spaghetti.

Game Face

"So, tell me how you scored the goal that won the soccer game Caleb."

Okay, but you have to understand that everything in life--everything in the universe is connected to science, Mom. So I want you to think about physics.

"Physics?"

Yes. Physics. You know that kicking a soccer ball requires a lot of different physics rules and laws to come together. There's a lot of transferring of energy. Like there's potential energy in my foot. And I have to transfer that to the ball. And then it's kinetic energy. And it has to overcome inertia and gain um....something with an 'm'....

"Mass? Matter? Muscle? Monkeys?"

I'm serious, Mom. It means like, speed.

"Momentum?"

That's it!

"I just want to know about the goal, Cay."

Im tellilng you about the goal if you'd just listen.

"Okay. Go on then."

Where was I? Oh yeah. You want to transefer the energy and overcome the interia, right? So, then you have to think about the angle of the kick. And how the goalie could block it. Like if it's this high. Or maybe you could make it sink.

Or get it over his head. But that means that you have to kick it harder to overcome gravity.

And then you score! And it's all by science! By physics! Everything is physics! Isn't that great? Soccer is all physics!

"You know what, Caleb? You're right. I'm really proud of you. You did great. I wish I could have been there, but it sounds great."

Thanks, Mom...hey...

...why do you keep moving your phone around. Are you taking my picture?

"Um...maybe."

This is my child.**

He scored the only goal of the final game of the soccer season--the game winning goal of the ONLY game his team won, but all he could talk about was physics. I don't know it this is normal, but it sure is fun to listen to. We are planning a field trip to the planetarium soon because he wants to discuss this theories about photons and mass and the Higgs-Boson with real scientists. I'm torn between encouraging him and explaining that he should learn his eight and nine multiplication tables before he formulates theories about physics.

What the heck. I think I'll encourage him...but I'm keeping the camera handy.

**If I hadn't been there for his birth, I don't know if I'd believe he was really mine.

Talking in My Sleep

Lying in bed on Sunday morning after a long, NATO night, the bed shakes slightly indicating that someone has crawled in with me. I can't even open my eyes, I'm so tired. I'm having a dream of Mad Men, (which I've never seen) that takes place in a model train layout, acted out by Barbie dolls. I don't want it to end. I know that it's absurd, and I'm enjoying it.

"I really like science, Mom."

"Mmm."

"I want to talk about why I like science. I think I'm going to be a scientist."

This is obviously important. I need to make an effort to be a good Mom and listen. "Hnh," is the best I can do.

"I like thinking about things. Science is a lot of thinking. You know, sometimes when I'm alone, or people think I'm not doing anything, I'm really thinking. I think about a lot of things, and science always gives you new things to think about."

"Srr...argle...mulfta."

"I'm going to be an astronomer. I know it's a lot of school and stuff, but school isn't bad when you study what you want to learn. I know I have to work on math. I'll need a lot of math. I'm not fast at math yet, but I will be, and then I'm going to be an astronomer. I think that's a lot of years of school."

"Ya...gompra...habbuti."

"I know that I might not be famous being a scientist, but I'll be doing important work. I think it's important to do work that's important. That might help people. I don't know what kind of astronomer I want to be yet. Maybe study gamma rays. You know a gamma ray burst can destroy a whole planet? I want to make sure that people are safe. I don't think I want to travel in space though. I'd miss you. I'd miss Earth."

"Me too."

"Okay. I just wanted to let you know." Pause. He's too old to kiss me unprompted most of the time, but this is normally where I would prompt him.

"I miss talking to you," I tell him.

"Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you too." He slips out of bed and I lay there, wondering if I just agreed to pay for twelve years of graduate studies. Then I fall asleep. Two more days of NATO ahead.

Wednesday afternoon we are driving to Hannah's dance class. Caleb picks up a thread of conversation where he left off several days earlier. "Mom, how do scientists get paid?"

I don't know what to answer. I think I tell him that he should affiliate himself with a research institution and apply for lots and lots of grants. Then I remember that I'm a teacher. I plug my specialty: "You could write articles and books."

He sighs. "That's what I was afraid of. Well, I guess I might have fun anyhow. I'll try."

The scientist with his circuit. It makes noise, and is light activated. Hence the darkened room.

Membership Has its Privileges

First, let me say that I am happy to report that my children fear nothing. By nothing I mean dead animals and live bugs (unless said bugs are arthropods that begin with a 'centi'- and end with a 'pede.' They also fear tornadoes, but that's another blog.) 

Cadaver beetles eating a dead bird.

Caleb and a dead bird.

We went to the Field Museum member night this past weekend. The member nights alone are worth the price of membership, and whenever we are members we try to stop in for one of the nights that they open the back rooms to we curious and intrepid explorers who want to know more and see more than there is room to display in the museum. So Friday night we headed downtown.

Hannah and a dead bird.

I learned a lot in our hours exploring the museum. I learned that Hannah's shoes don't fit any more. She complained about it quite a bit. This is important because we just bought her new shoes and I am not pleased. Her feet hurt by the end of the night, and so did mine, but my shoes fit just fine.

I also learned that Caleb's hair is long enough to put into a ponytail. This coupled with his purple shirt had several people address him as "little girl." He got a kick out of it. "Little, eh. Maybe," he told me. "Girl, no way!"
"Get used to it," George griped.

The back of Caleb's head. Note the ponytail.

The kids got to hold a live tarantula and a hissing cockroach. I was busy in the anthropology department learning about X-ray spectrography and Girl's Day in Japan. I'd rather look at dead people than hold a tarantula. However because of this hangup, I didn't get any photos. There are some on George's phone because he likes bugs a lot more than I do.

Because one of the big draws right now is the Genghis Khan exhibit, they had Mongolian dancers. It was very cool, but Hannah and Caleb were not as entranced by the music as wereGeorge and myself. It was a great moment to talk about different tonal scales and how different cultures have more limited musical tonality than western cultures. I think they got it. In any case, George and I liked the music. We all liked the dancers.

Three dancers (not yet performing)and curious onlookers

Mongolian dancer. Skulls on her head and three eyes. Very cool.

I didn't discover this, but I was reminded that this is a pretty cool place to live.

Unexpected Bright Spots in the Universe

Our weekly field trip was to the Adler Planetarium. Because my phone was very, very low on batteries, I only got to take two photos. Both were of us eating in the cafeteria. Exciting, huh? Luckily that wasn't the high point of our day.

The Planetarium has always been an odd museum. It has always seemed to be a little bit disorganized, out of date, small, and staffed by the biggest geeks you can imagine. Of course the last time I went there was probably before I was in High School, so there was a lot of time to improve.

Well, it's still a bit disorganized, although they have a great staff who will direct you anywhere you might want to go. As far as out of date, that's been taken care of. Once you can find your way around they have some pretty good displays on telescopes through history, mapping the galaxy, the early space program, and they now have three different theaters (one 3D) in which you can watch incredible sky shows. Even the non-3D theaters look 3D. I had to close my eyes on more than one occasion because I felt like I was falling through a hole in the sky.

I can happily say that the museum is still staffed by huge geeks. This is not a disadvantage in any way. One of the great things that they have added to the museum is a visualization lab where, several times a day, you can talk to actual astronomers and artists who create ways for us common folk to visualize the universe. We spent an hour there. The astronomer sat the kids down to interact with  a video array of views from one of the Mars Rovers. That is when the questions began.

George: "Wow. So, which Rover is this?"
Astronomer: "Spirit, I believe."
Caleb: "There are a lot of rocks here. It looks like erosion. Is that from wind or water?"
Astronomer: "It is erosion. From here it looks like it was caused by water mostly. But what's really interesting is that those are volcanic rocks."
Caleb: "Volcanic? How long ago was Mars volcanically active?"
Astronomer: "Probably about a hundred million years ago."
Caleb: "So is the water more recent?"

Hannah: "Do you do this illustration? Is it all by computers or do you draw it?"
Astronomer: "It's all done on computer. If you take these 3D glasses, you can see how cosmic rays and gamma rays collide with the atmosphere and shatter..."
Hannah: "So the rays split? Is that dangerous?"
Astronomer: "The atmosphere of the earth protects us, but some of the rays can get through."
Hannah: "What happens when they do? Can it cause sicknesses?"
Astronomer: "Well, some of the radiation, if you are exposed in large amounts, can cause a bad disease that starts with a 'c.' "
Hannah: "Yes, cancer. But are we in danger right now?"
Astronomer: "Only a small amount of gamma rays get through the atmosphere. Chances are, you won't be hit by any."
Hannah: "But if I am, will I get cancer and die?"
Astronomer: "No. Maybe one of your cells might die. That's one of billions that are in your body. I don't think you're in danger."
Hannah: "Okay. But if I get hit a lot..."
Me: "You won't."

Astronomer: "This is a map of the Milky Way Galaxy. Right at the center you can see a super massive black hole..."
Caleb: "Oh yeah. You know, I've always wanted to study those."
Astronomer: "Always...? Well, super massive black holes shoot out gamma rays. That's what I study. In my model you can see that some cosmic rays shatter, but gamma rays don't. I study the charged particles that make it through the atmosphere."
Caleb: "So you just study parts of the atoms? The charged parts? Do they get charged before they hit the atmosphere? Is that why they break up? What do they hit? Can we make electricity with the charges?"

Astronomer: "We are constantly being bombarded with particles from space. Right now there are particles shooting through your body...."
Hannah: "Are you talking about neutrinos?"
Caleb: "I was just going to say that."
Astronomer: "You know about neutrinos too!??"

Yes, my kids were able to out-geek the geeks. The other astronomer in the lab took me aside and said. "I don't think we've had this much fun in months. Not everyone feels comfortable asking questions."

I'm not going to take credit for my kids being smart. I think that's just something that they were born with. I will give myself a pat on the back, however, because they know it's okay to ask questions, and they aren't afraid to ask. Sometimes, when we are so busy shushing and quieting the kids and getting annoyed at the questions that they ask, we forget that this is how they learn. They ask because they REALLY WANT TO KNOW. They don't ask to annoy you, or to try to show you up, or to stump you. They are genuinely curious and so they ask. I hope that they never stop asking. I hope that they will always be surrounded by patient people (like Mr. Astronomer) who take the time to answer their questions. I hope that questions will always lead to more questions. I hope that they are never scared or worried about asking.

I think that we will go back to the Planetarium, just to visit with smart people who like answering questions. It was also the most fun I've had in months.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, we stopped by the Atwood Sphere. It was built in 1913 and it's the oldest "planetarium" in the western hemisphere. We got to go inside and learn about the constellations as they would appear over the city if we could see them. I can't explain it adequately, but if you ever have the opportunity, go and see it. I'm not sure if this will work, but here's a link I found with pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/adlerplanetarium/3351681947/

 I was, once again surprised at what my kids knew, and the questions that they weren't afraid to ask. Hannah wanted to know if the Pleiades and the Hyades had the same origin (etymologically or astronomically) and Caleb was curious about the zodiac constellations and was interested that they were also known as ecliptic constellations...so was I as a matter of fact. So, we all learned a lot. We all asked a lot of questions. It was a good time.

And here is one final picture of the cafeteria with a great view of the skyline (in spite of the rain.) Yet another improvement they made to this great, quiet, sciencey museum. The pizza wasn't bad either, which is a good thing, because it's featured here, in one of the only pictures I managed to take.

Reality as advertised

The weather was so nice a couple of weeks ago that we went out to the Morton Arboretum. The plan was to map out the maze garden. Do you know how hard that is? I mean mazes...who knew?

Instead we went out to "Big Rock." We had about a half mile hike to our destination. The sun was going down, it was getting cold...the kids were only wearing sweatshirts and weren't thrilled about the whole experience while we were walking through the slowly darkening woods. When we got there, however, it was hard to pull them away. Both were thrilled to have something to climb on. And there was mud. Who could ask for anything more?

Isn't it nice when you discover that your destination is exactly as advertised? Our destination was a big rock. It's not "giant rock," or "immense rock" (although in Starbucks world, this would actually be "Tall Rock.") It's a big rock at the edge of some old farm land.

Now to those of you who live in more geographically interesting climes, let me simply say this: in northern Illinois we don't get many rocks this big. Impressive? Maybe not. But it sure is interesting. It's also granite, which we also don't often get in these parts. Apparently Big Rock was dropped by a big glacier a long time ago.

Big deal? Well, when mapping out mazes is too difficult on a chilly day, discussing the evidence of ice age glaciation in our (figurative) backyard made for a good day of learning. Mission accomplished--even if it wasn't the mission we set out to do.

Big Mud too.

Shocking revelations!

One of the reasons I wanted to start home-schooling was the lack of science and math at our school. We were doing okay by the Chicago standards...but I was in grad school way too long to believe that the Chicago standards aren't nearly as rotten as our politics. I've had few worries about reading. My kids take to reading like ducks to water. We have to fine tune the grammar, and getting Hannah to write anything rather than draw it is like pulling teeth, but we're working on it. Spelling is a bit of a struggle--like grammar it's hard to make it fun. I've also never been good at spelling. Thank God for spell-check. History is a trip...and that's a good thing as we have been traveling like gypsies this year.

I've gotten better at math through the years, and I'm pretty confident that I've got a better grasp of at least the basics than some of the teachers the kids have had. I'm not so insecure, nor so secure in my math knowledge that I am worried about experimenting and trying new ways to solve problems. As I've gotten older I also find that I like math more and more because there is always a RIGHT answer. When you're analyzing a poem or writing a paper there's not always that distinction.

But my favorite subject turns out to be science. What I like most about science is that we can have fun with it. A lot of fun.

Hair raising fun!

Super-charged fun!

We used lots of fun equipment today. Batteries. Wires. Lights... We're studying electrical currents. We did experiments with static and batteries today with a short digression into what makes good conductors vs. insulators.






 Looking at this photo, I'm afraid that I might get shut down mistakenly as a bomb-making lab, but I swear, nothing exploded (apart from a balloon in a demonstration of what happens when you attach a 1.5V bulb to a 6V battery.)

I think the kids are having a good time. Not surprisingly, I think I'm the one having the best time.