Share your classroom ideas here

RE: Share your classroom ideas here

2017-04-27T12:12:06Z

Dear Robert!
I didn't find the book at the first bookshop, but in the second I looked for it (in the same shoping center) - there it was! I know, that in some libraries they don't have it in the shop, but they order it to the editor (some colegues are aleady in the way to read it...). I'm talking about the Portuguese version!
Yesterday I tried do buy "I, Robot" in its portuguese version and I was not so lucky - it woul take at least 15 days for the library to have it. So, I bought the english version! (Impressive, isn't it?!).
It's that I'll try to idealize a work for sutdents with the Azimov book! Not tha I like science fiction (To be true, I don't like!) - but, teachers have to do a lot of unpleasent work... (that after became nice, because of students, isn't it?)The funny thing is that Asimov was too a Chemist, and, like Oliver Sacks, with Russion origins...
Let´s see if I still have time to reead "I, Robot" until the end of the month...

RE: Share your classroom ideas here

2017-04-27T11:39:09Z

Dear Teresa, thank you so much for reading about "Uncle Tungsten" and for sharing your ideas for activities based on the book. I realise that other teachers have created new threads for their ideas, but it is best to use this thread to share and discuss the ideas for this book in particular. I am very happy to hear that you enjoyed so much reading the book and that you found it useful - I was personally not aware of the book's relationship with other literature in the field of science, but it makes sense! Was it easy for you to find the book?

RE: Share your classroom ideas here

2017-04-26T16:19:14Z

Dear Robert, hello!
Yesterday I shared my opinion about Uncle Tungsten here, but, today I saw another coleague opinion about the same book in another "table"... Everything is ok with my submission or should I paste it to the other table?
Thank you,
Teresa Paiva

RE: Share your classroom ideas here

2017-04-25T22:55:55Z

Today is holiday in Portugal – we celebrate our “Carnation Revolution”, and, I just received from a former student the link to a TV news: Thomas Pesquet, the youngest ESA Astronaut, took some pictures to Portugal from the ISS – very nice! http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2017-04-25-Astronauta-frances-fotografa-Portugal-para-assinalar-o-25-de-Abril
I spent my holiday reading “Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood.” – very nice, too!
When I started my reading, last week, I immediately realized it was a great book, and I regret I didn´t read it before! Even, because, the only long term work I’ve done before, with students, in 2011/12, based on a Portuguese science literature book, named “Haja Luz! – Uma História da Química Através de Tudo” (“Let there be light! One History of Chemistry Through Everything” – my translation…), was written by a Chemist and Art Critic, Prof. Jorge Calado. Of course, “Oncle Tungsten” has a lot of similarities with “Haja Luz!”, it’s cited often there, and, very curious, Roald Hoffmann, the Nobel Chemist 1981 Prize, who offered Oliver Sacks a piece of tungsten in 1997, had invited before, in 1982, Prof. Jorge Calado to teach at Cornell University the new topic “The Art of Science”! By the way, Roald Hoffmann wrote with Carl Djerassi, the theater play “Oxygen”, a fictional narrative about the discovery of the vital gas by Lavoisier, Priestley and Sheele.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5vdv-NJqs – a link to a Portuguese adaptation of “Oxygen”)
Only by reading the first chapter of the book, I started to do, as a teacher, a short term work: I immediately recommended it to some former students, I used to prepare for Physics and Chemistry Olympiads, and I advertised it to some colleagues at a professional Facebook groups.
With my actual students I’ll do a middle term work: I’ll start my lessons next week, about the Periodic Table, reading some texts of the book, to do some “abstracts” of the topic studied before – there’s a nice literary text, where Bohr structure of the electrons in the atom, is related with the position of the element at the Periodic Table and the reactivity of the elementary substance… and another one about the “geography” of the Table. I’ll make some of my next questions, for written tests, using little texts from all over the book. For example, there’s a very funny story about acid-base reactions, when uncle Dave makes Oliver drink salty water after mixing HCl and NaHO… But, the book is full of other great episodes about a lot of Physics and Chemistry topics… Another work could be, a more experimental one, of reproducing some of the experiments the little Oliver has done, not so common, like producing solutions with a density much higher than water where metals don’t sink!
Finally, I hope I can do a long term Project Work, with secondary students next year. In fact, according to me, the Portuguese version of the book looks like a little bit heavy for most of the students until 13 years old. To older students, I would recommend the entire book. After reading it I would suggest each group of students, to choose a Scientist to do a work about its personality, bringing some humanity to Science! Maybe, for motivation, I would recommend to the students the coming soon National Geographic episodes about Einstein Life “Genius” http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/genius/ (National Geographic pictures also inspired Oliver Sacks, the boy, for photography J). My idea is, using the profession of Oliver Sacks, and its great interest in different people, referred in the book, try to relate Physics and Chemistry with Neurosciences (the fashion research topic of the moment) and Scientists character.
Reading “Uncle Tungsten”, was a pleasure, and already a great “training course” as it touches almost all the topics I have to teach. Exploiting the book with students will bring me, for sure, “the freedom and the joy” science brought to Mendleev, so admired by Oliver Sacks.

Share your classroom ideas here

2017-04-23T08:43:48Z

Share your classroom ideas here inspired by Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks. Looking forward to hearing your ideas!