I know I am a few days late, as the Women’s Day was on March 8, yet it is an interesting link from NSERC… Click here. A recent study by the UBC Faculty Association shows that the issue has not been resolved yet and it is far from being resolved… Lots of problems are still […]

Like many of us, I am trying to follow up on what is happening in Japan. I am so sorry for the people in Japan. What a disaster! It is amazing how well Japan is prepared for it, yet, the forces of nature are unbelievably strong. I have never seen anything as powerful as this […]

On Saturday, March 11, two UBC departments in two different Faculties: Physics and Astronomy (Faculty of Science) and Curriculum and Pedagogy (Faculty of Education) collaborated to host the 33rd UBC Physics Olympics. More than 350 students from 55 schools all across British Columbia took part in the event – some of them came by ferry, […]

As a devastating earthquake hit Japan (8.9 on the Richter scale), I would like to express my heartfelt sorrow and concern for the people in affected regions. Many students in Vancouver and all over the world will be affected by it either directly or indirectly. As much as this event is extremely scary (and many […]

Yesterday I had an opportunity to observe a secondary school science lesson in an ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom. Most of the students in that class speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean or Japanese as their first language. The majority arrived to Canada last year. A student-teacher I was observing was working with them to […]

Tomorrow my students and I will be discussing science field trips for elementary school students. I have been thinking of a field trip I would like to share with my students that would be something they might have not thought of. I think I found it – a Field Trip to Iona Island in Richmond. […]

For the past few month I have been a Faculty Adviser to Teacher-Candidates (pre-service secondary science teachers). As part of my responsibility I had to observe their teaching and provide them with useful feedback. It was my first time to do practicum supervision and being a new person to the system, I noticed a few […]

Last night I have a very special opportunity to meet a colleague from Japan Prof. Dr. Masaki Matsukawa. Prof. Matsukawa is an Earth Scientist who is now involved in creating Science Education Opportunities for Japanese Science Teachers. From my short interaction with Prof. Matsukawa, I learned a lot of interesting things about Japanese teachers. For […]

If you are like me, for you one picture will be worth thousands words. Visualization helps me a lot to grasp and idea or a concept. It also helps me see a bigger picture. That is where Wordle might be handy. Wordle helps you visualize text by generating “Word clouds” from the text that you […]

I visited a local elementary school today and we were able to recreate “an original air pressure experiment” performed by Otto von Guericke in Magdeburg in 1650. We used Pressure Pullers from Educational Innovations. It is interesting, how quickly the tools people invent open possibilities for exploration. Von Guericke invented an air pump and he […]