A dark curse and a fond final farewell

Clidemia hirta, known in English as Koster's curse, and locally named riahpen rot (dark curse) continues to spread in the forest across the road from the college. This term the SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany class Clidemia hirta pull was optional due to a memorial service.

Six students chose to join the hike into the dark, wet, muddy forest on a rainy day that had heard thunder earlier in the afternoon. The class first visited the Palikir Ethnobotanical Learning garden to learn to distinguish the native Melastoma malabathicum var. marianum (pisetikimei) from Clidemia hirta.

Megan and Nixon get started in a patch of Clidemia hirta.

Sepebriana pulling Clidemia hirta.

Kasinta.

Deisleen.

The instructor pulling from inside a clump of Clidemia.

Megan and Nixon.

And the Clidemia was hung from the Hibiscus with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas would soon be there...

Heading back in from the forest - Deisleen, Kasinta, and Megan.

After showering, I headed down to the memorial service, catching the last third.

I slipped in at the back and sat along the back wall of the practice gym, feeling a deep sense of loss and sadness at having lost such a wonderful colleague and friend. 

I rather expected to see a few more students, but only Dayne was actually at the memorial service. Attending the service was not required, and the class was indeed optional.

Still, I felt a sense of disappointment that more students who had opted out of the class had not absorbed the implicit cultural imperative to then attend the memorial service. The class is centered both on the natural and social science of plants and people. The class just finished a unit that included concepts such the germinant corpse and role of sakau in mourning the loss of those we love.

The class was not an intentional test, yet the concept of respect for elders and culture were implicitly tested by the day. I had suggested the week before, at the sakau ceremony, that those who chose not to pull Clidemia hirta could attend the service on my behalf as I wanted to attend the service but felt educating students about this most invasive and destructive plant, a fairly new arrival, was important. And the term is out of days on which to reschedule.

At my age I am nominally an elder, at the very least I am older than my students. Thus in their decision to not pull Clidemia and not attend the service, but rather to skip both, there is an undercurrent of disrespect. And respect is a core cultural value, something emphasized in the material culture lecture. Put the other way around, I was honored by those who joined in the field and those who were at the service.

Green Steps 5k Fun Walk

The Federated States of Micronesia National Olmpic Committee, with the support of the Olympic Solidarity Sport and Environment Commission and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, organized the Green Steps 5k Fun Walk 2010. The fun walk included tree planting, a clean-up the streets 5k walk, and runners.

A newly planted tree along the perimeter of Dainy ball field.

Gibson prepares for the next seedling.

Future Olympic swimmers...

... and their coach Debra.

Bernice and Tamae out along the clean-up route. Both are students at the national campus of the College of Micronesia-FSM, one from the westernmost island of Yap, the other from the easternmost island of Kosrae. The national campus remains the single largest gathering of young adults from across the FSM - a builder of inter-island personal relationships and unity.

More walkers along the route! Clean-up walks were also held in the states of Kosrae and Yap.

Index of refraction for glass

Laboratory 14 is a practical laboratory. The students were given four organizing questions, provided whatever equipment they requested, but given no further guidance other than a reminder that they had determined the index of refraction of water in laboratory ten.

1. What is the experimental index of refraction for glass?
2. What is the theoretic index of refraction of glass?
3. What is the percentage difference for your data versus the theoretic value?
4. How strong is the agreement between your data and the theoretic value?

Iumileen, Lupe, and Carlyne consider their set-up.

 Annabelle and Leilani plot initial results.

 Ceasar and Nena make measurements.

 Adam tries putting half of the penny under the glass, half not under the glass. Yvonne looks on.

Ethnobotany cultural ceremony

The SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany course this term visited a nahs in Palikir, Pohnpei, to learn about the sakau ceremony.

Lempwoai takes the pwel. Lempwoai explained that there are three title lines. Oloiso, Serihso, and Samworo. Oloiso is the line of the Nahnmwarki. Serihso is line of the Nahnken. Samworo is the third line. In ancient times the Samworo were the traditional religious leaders. The cup order is Oloiso, Serihso, Nahnalek, Samworo. With no Oloiso or Serihso present, Lempwoai takes pwel as our highest titled leader present.

 Rosalinda, Edelynn, Kacinta.

 Sukusuk.

 Samantha, SepeBriana, Strick, Lanze.

 Kimberly, Strick, Lanze, Deisleen.

 Glory, Antoinette, Monaliza, Rafaila.

 LA Peter at menindei.

Rophino and Dayne.

 

Esil.

Many thanks to the extended Mendiola family for hosting the ceremony this term!

Clouds

Cumulus congestus. Builds can get quite large prior to dropping collision-coalescence rain.


Probable alto-cumulus.

A solid deck of altocumulus clouds.

The upper portion and lower portion of this image were separately balanced to bring out a distant almost lenticular cloud in a low contrast sky. The cloud was quite distant, possibly over the ridgeline between Nett and U.

Liked and Disliked Laboratories

With the laboratories at the core of the SC 130 Physical Science fall 2010 curriculum, I ran a survey on which was their favorite laboratory and which was the laboratory they least liked. The laboratories are now gathered into a single HTML5 text that includes SVG and MathMl served as text/html (not XHTML5). As of the writing of this blog only FireFox 4 beta series can render both the SVG and MathMl. This fall the laboratories included the following topics.

Laboratory one: Density of soap
Laboratory two: Velocity of a rolling ball in the gym parking lot
Laboratory three: Acceleration of gravity by dropping a ball in lab
Laboratory four: Momentum of marbles on a ruler track
Laboratory five: Force, stretching an elastic band using a cup of marbles
Laboratory six: Heat, the conduction of heat by materials connecting Styrofoam cups
Laboratory seven: Earth, latitude and longitude, meters per minute
Laboratory eight: Clouds, drawing a cloud
Laboratory nine: Sound:, clapping wood blocks to determine the speed of sound
Laboratory ten: Apparent depth, pennies underwater
Laboratory eleven: The colors of light via RGB, HSL, X11, and HTML
Laboratory twelve: Electrical conductivity, circuits and Ohms law
Laboratory thirteen: Chemistry, acid and base detection using flowers

Students were asked which was their favorite laboratory and why, which was their least favorite laboratory and why.

This term I took advantage of the existence of four terms worth of surveys.
ps93: Fall 2009
psa1: Spring 2010
psa2: Summer 2010
psa3: Fall 2010

	Like				Dislike
Lab	ps93	psa1	psa2	psa3	ps93	psa1	psa2	psa3	Net	psa3
1	1	2		1	1		2	1	0	0
2	1		1				2		0	0
3		2			1	1		1	-1	-1
4				1		1		3	-3	-2
5		1			1		1	2	-3	-2
6	1		2						3	0
7	11	6	3	7	9	8	2	6	2	1
8	6	4	7	8	6	7	4	1	7	7
9			2		4	2	7	5	-16	-5
10		3		2	1	1	1	4	-2	-2
11	7	3		5	1	2	2	2	8	3
12	2	3	2	2	5	1	4	5	-6	-3
13	1	10	10	6	4	3		1	19	5

Laboratory nine is the least liked laboratory both for all terms and for fall 2010. Laboratory 13 is the most liked for all terms, while laboratory eight captured "most favored" status for fall 2010.

Laboratory eight is arguably the weakest laboratory in terms of the academic goals of the course, yet the laboratory appeals to students who find the rest of the course to be confusing, difficult, and frustrating. This is the one laboratory that provides an opportunity for success to some students who have artistic gifts but who are lost in the mathematics that permeates the other laboratories.

The student comments can help illuminate the underlying reasons for the liking or disliking of a laboratory.

Liked laboratories fall 2010
1 enjoyed it as the first lab
2
3
4 learned a lot
5
6
7 liked walking around on campus, learned to use GPS, helpful if lost, fun
8 easy, enjoyed drawing, got all the points, less work, no lab report
9
10 fun to use mirror, dolls, got full points
11 color has meaning, fun, got an "A"
12 electricity interesting, good to know about electricity
13 interesting to see flowers change color, amazing, funny

Least liked laboratories fall 2010

1 not fun, took time to carve soap
2
3 confusing
4 did not understand, tough to time marbles, got a bad grade
5 did not score high, difficult, not interesting
6
7 do not know how to use GPS, do not know lat/long, Google Earth confusing
8 cannot learn cloud names, the names are too long
9 hard to clap in synch, lots of walking, sunny, hot, did not understand objective
10 confusing, too much to learn, measurements hard
11 hard, did not get many points
12 no interest in electricity, lost, do not like playing with electricity
13 confusing

The bulk of the students evaluate a laboratory based on whether they had fun during the laboratory. Few rate the laboratory based on whether the goal of the lab was scientifically attainable.This term, for the first time, students liked and disliked laboratories on the grounds that they attained a high or low number of points for the laboratory. Personnel performance based comments had not been seen in summer 2010.

Writing

Students were also asked whether they felt their writing skills had improved. The course has the students writing up a formal laboratory report every week which is then marked for content, syntax (grammar), vocabulary, organization, and cohesion. Twenty-three students report that they felt their writing skills had improved. No student reported that they felt their writing skills were weaker. Seven students reported that their skills probably improved. These seven used phrases such as "I think so" and "maybe." One student reported that they did not know if their writing skill had improved. One student noted that the course had improved their control of verb tenses.

Floral pigments as litmus solutions

Laboratory thirteen in physical science had the students collect flowers from around campus, produce floral solutions by boiling in water, and then test to see which floral solutions changed color for both a known acid and a known base. Teaching in the tropics makes this laboratory possible in both November and April, or even in July.

Achimy pours hot water on  flower petals.

Sussy prepares petals for boiling.

Carlyne sorts out test tubes.

Adam with a floral litmus solution that turns magenta when an acid is added.

Rihter and Carlyne work with the known acid (lime fruit) and the known base (baking soda).

Elizabeth adds lime juice to a test tube held by Jason. Monaliza looks on.

Carlyne and Iumileen testing one of their floral solutions.

Loioshi and Evelyn work with the unknowns, attempting to determine whether they are acidic, basic, or neutral.

MaryHellan with a floral litmus solution.

Merlisa and Kioleen clean their flower petals for boiling.

Brian and Ceasar testing one their floral solutions for a color change as a result of lime juice being added.

A table full of flowers.

Iumileen with a color changing floral litmus solution.

Joshua working with a flower fluid that turns bright red in the presence of an acid.

 

Lupe with a floral solution that turns green in the presence of a base, magenta in the presence of an acid. 

This laboratory remains a favorite of the students. This term six of thirty-two picked laboratory thirteen as their favorite laboratory. Only one student chose thirteen as their least favorite laboratory. In the tropics we are blessed with many different flowers and colored leaves to try. For those in temperate climates, Fred Senese covers some of the options available. Senese also notes that onions and vanilla are olfactory pH indicators.

Celebrating Yonis

Yonis joined the Pohnpei household just long enough to celebrate her birthday.

Yonis with Shrue and Elterina's son.

Four of the six sisters together again, Shrue, Yonis, Hanna, and Elterina.

Hanna's daughter calls this "RipStik" She gets up on the arm rest and then "mingos" (wiggles).