Comets and Coding

(This short video offers an introduction to the ESA's comet exploration mission.)

   
   The news a few days back that the European Space Agency (ESA) had successfully landed a scientific probe on a comet gave me pause.  The mission seemed ridiculously audacious and challenging.  It involved a spacecraft launch a decade ago that needed propulsive boosts provided by a couple of planets to reach its rendezvous location over 300 million  miles away.  The spacecraft, Rosetta, was set on a course to meet up with a comet named Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. As Rosetta came into orbit near the comet, it launched its lander, Philae, towards the comet's surface.  All this while the comet is speeding through space at upwards of 80,000 mph.  Somehow, someway, Philae landed and began to relay scientific data back to mission control.  Pretty amazing!
   I grew up and in a very specific time of space exploration. Only two countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, were involved in exploring outer space. There was a high-stakes competition between the two countries dubbed "the space race." Who first left earth's atmosphere, who first orbited earth, who first orbited the moon and who first landed on the moon mattered immensely at that time.
   It's very different now. Other nations have successfully launched spacecraft, as have consortia of nations and even private entrepreneurs.  Goals have changed as well.  A comet rendezvous mission in deep space was unthinkable 40 or 50 years ago. Today, it's a reality.
   As regards to space exploration and education, one central theme persists. During the time of the space race, there was a keen interest in how students were educated. In particular, educational professionals scrutinized science and math curricula and recommended changes to promote higher level learning.  The reason? The space race required our best and brightest minds to fully participate at the frontiers of science.
   Today, we understand the fundamental role computer science education plays in preparing students for professional lives connected to space exploration. There is an increasing awareness that, at least in the U.S., computer science programs have grown slowly.  To that end, many interested individuals and organizations have jumped at the opportunity to find ways to promote computer science learning.
   The Hour of Code program fits into this framework.  It's a program with wide support. It's designed to introduce students to programming.  And the Hour of Code organization states in its mission that it wants to see computer science as a core course offering, taking its place besides English, history, math, science and world language. In a time of on-site comet exploration, it's a curricular idea worth considering.

Photographer Matt Wang (http://www.iflscience.com/space/graphic-shows-size-rosettas-comet) compares the size of the 3-kilomoter comet to the skyline of Los Angeles. But in deep space, the comet is still a very small object.

My Favorite Site Contest - Honorable Mention Submissions

   Over the last several weeks, a contest was organized, promoted and judged, and winners were awarded prizes.  The contest asked faculty to submit favorite web sites or apps. Our Student IT volunteers, a group of nine students (grades 9-12) judged the entries and chose one winner for each of four categories: creative, education, news and technology. The winners and their submissions were reviewed in my previous post. I hope you've had a chance to take a look at the sites/apps. All four are excellent.
   Because so many submissions were outstanding, I wanted to add a list of Honorable Mentions. These are sites/apps that were near misses.  All earned justifiable praise from our reviewers. And again, all are worth a look if they are not familiar to you.
   In the creative category, a few sites merit attention. Animoto, submitted by Mary Tuohy, allows the user to quickly create videos from still images. You can add music and text to enrich the content. It's a site and app.  Prezi, submitted by Joanna Hayes, allows for the presentation of information in a particularly dynamic way. As perspectives shift, viewers are forced to consider their own perspectives on a topic.  Kristen Armstrong's recommendation, Recitethis, allows the user to add quoted text to a variety of other platforms. The results can be useful and fun, and helps viewers engage material. 
   In the education category, Elise Smith suggested an app called Subitize Tree. (Currently, it's selling for 99 cents.) This app promotes numerical literacy and number sense for younger mathematicians. Irv Taylor recommended the Code Academy site for people who'd like to "learn to code interactively,  for free."  Linda Park offered several sites that focused on language use. Forvo is unique among them because it is built around the auditory component of language acquisition.  Listen to how words and phrases sound around the world. Finally, in this category, Lynn Prosen's ChemCrafter iPad app allows you to mix chemicals and see reactions, all from the safety of an app.  I guess it's the Chemistry version of a virtual dissection in Biology.
   In the news category, There were several sites designed to bring news items of your choosing to a central location.  I submitted Zite and Mike LaBrie submitted Feedly.  Both are similar to Fred Corona's winning submission of Flipboard, though Flipboard's navigation software is especially impressive. And Larry Bostian's igHome allows the users to create a personal dashboard that might serve as an excellent home page in your browser.  With the exception of the web site igHome, these are free apps.  Some of our student judges were impressed to learn that CNN has set up a news section on their site for middle and upper school students. Joanna Hayes pointed us towards their site.  
    The technology category had only four submissions, but in addition to the winning Dropbox, Isabel; Corbin's suggestion of Diigo merits a look. It's a social media site for educators. It allows you to organize information and sites for personal use, and also to become part of larger communities sharing resources of mutual interest.  I receive a Diigo feed every day, and virtually without exception, I find information of use and interest.
   So in addition to our four winning submissions, there are quite a few others that are deserving of your attention. When you get some free time - and yes, that might be at some point in the distant future - check out our Honorable Mention submissions. They, too, are worth a look.