The Denver Museum of Nature and Science: LIVE at Central
Cambria Middle School - Written by CCMS science teacher, Mrs. Joanna Dickert
In March of 2012, Mrs. Joanna Dickert, 8th grade integrated science teacher, had the
opportunity to present a workshop at the 2012 National Science Teachers
Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.
While there she attended over a dozen other presentations and one of
those was highlighting the Denver Museum of Nature and Sciences’ distance
education program featuring live video conferencing between school classrooms
and distinguished scientists from all over the United States. Through this
innovative 45 minute program, scientists interact live with classrooms, teaching
students about a very specific scientific endeavor. Current scholarships from the Denver Museum
of Nature and Science School and Teacher Programs make these once unthinkable
opportunities a reality. Gianna
Sullivan, director of distance learning for the museum, works to coordinate
these types of programs to all parts of the United States. Ms. Sullivan states that, “We put enormous
energy, resources and current pedagogy into developing our educational
programming so we are thrilled to be able to share these high quality products
beyond the reaches of our regional audiences.”
With the professional
guidance of PC technician Tom Columbus III of InShore Technologies setting up and testing the specific equipment
needed for the students and scientists to communicate back and forth, student
inquisitiveness and excitement peaked! The students relish the humor,
intelligence and sometimes oddity of the program topics. September’s program took the students to an
excavation dig in Nebraska where the crushed bones of Mammoths, down about 3
meters in the ground, look to prove that man inhabited North America up to
30,000 years before what was once believed.
Lead archaeologist Steve Holen, has taken the simple idea that
bones fracture differently before and after death and used that knowledge to
determine whether mammoth fossils show pre-death fractures. If they do, this could possibly mean that the
mammoths were hunted and killed by their only predator, humans. By dating the bones, Dr. Holen can then
determine how long ago humans were here in North America. His studies are showing that humans were here
far earlier than expected. October’s
program was presented by Mark Widdifield and was titled “Titan: A Virtual Art
Station”. This fantastic session combined science and art in the form of
technical drawings of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Through the
eyes and hands of an artist, they learned that Titan’s mountains are frozen
water and its streams are actually liquid methane.
It is that methane that gives Titan its orange color and why we started
with orange paper. Students signed their
drawings and labeled chemical formulas to finish their individual
masterpieces.
The upcoming November
program will examine a timely subject, Extreme Weather, talking with a female
scientist who chases tornadoes and compiles hurricane data. Again, this will be a live program. Mrs. Dickert and her students are looking forward to future programs
she can bring to her classroom with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
distance learning programs.
