danaleeling

Acceleration

2012-01-26T23:20:00.001+11:00

This term laboratory one was not returned until Wednesday, which increased the time on Monday to obtain acceleration of a RipStik. I changed the procedure this term, using a tape measure to measure off 800 centimeters. Initially I tried distances that increased, but this did not work out well. I then used 200 centimeter segments marked with chalk. A student timed my crossings of the 200 centimeters marks. This worked out rather well and generated a nice curve with an increasing velocity.

Ceyleen and Kimberly

Wednesday I handed back laboratories and covered them in some detail for the first 30 minutes of class. I realized that I need to spend more time clarifying what I want in the laboratories, and I did so this term.

I then worked the homework - the velocity between 200 cm and 400 cm, and 400 cm to 600 cm from the Monday RipStik acceleration exercise. This left too little time to have the students trace ball arcs on the board, so I ran that as a demonstration on Wednesday. No spreadsheet graphing of the function this term - just coverage of the shape and quadratic underpinnings. Essentially a lighter approach.

Rustem and Palikkun

Lab 032 then built on Monday and Wednesday, chasing the idea that a ball is at rest before it is dropped, and once dropped the ball has a non-zero speed. Therefore, acceleration happened. And that acceleration is the acceleration of gravity.

Hanna timing and dropping

The outdoor drops of 400 cm and 500 cm

Rolling balls and linear relationships

2012-01-26T22:54:00.000+11:00

Spring 2012 laboratory 022 marked the fourth term of the even "no write up" laboratories. Assessment done spring 2011 indicated that the shift from writing up every laboratory to writing up only odd laboratories did not have a negative impact on the improvement in writing.

As this laboratory is often done in physics, the distance is preset and becomes the independent variable, with a timing determining the time to that fixed distance - such as a photogate on a air track. The ramp permits rolling the ball at a specific velocity that can be repeated. This allows the timing markers to stand near to the correct location for their particular number of seconds.

Only a single timer is actually needed, one student calls out the seconds while watching a stopwatch or other digital second timer.

In the 11:00 section a light breeze kept arcing the ball. The wind was a reversed rotor off the roof of the gym. This was turned into a tail wind by moving the sheet to the west side of the parking lot as seen below.

The laboratory was wrapped up by graphing the data in the field and discussing the resulting curves on the paper. The data was linear enough to run a visual best fit line and calculate the slope. Some rolls did slow down, and this could be seen in the data as well. This term I did not discuss the tangent as the instantaneous velocity.

Social media survey

2012-01-11T18:13:00.000+11:00

A convenience sample survey of 73 students in the MS 150 Statistics class at the College of Micronesia-FSM Palikir national campus 09 January 2012 asked about social media membership.

Site	Sp 09	Fa 09	Sp 10	Fa 10	Sp 11	Fa 11	Sp 12
FaceBook	0	9	12	46	62	54	70
Twitter	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	7
MySpace	32	45	33	33	45	29	31
Bebo	17	41	27	37	42	20	19
Other	8	16	26	25	16	12	10
None	9	13	10	8	8	4	3
Sample size n	54	74	58	66	72	61	73

Number of students with membership in the listed site by term Note that the columns do not add to the sample size as students can have multiple memberships.

Percentage of students with membership in the listed site by term

FaceBook continued to extend its dominant position among students in MS 150 statistics at the college, with 96% of the students having a membership in FaceBook. MySpace, Bebo, and "other" sites lost market share among the students. Not shown above is that while some students only use FaceBook, no student only uses another site.

In other words, of the 70 students who use social media, all use FaceBook. Of social media users, FaceBook holds 100% membership. The 96% is the result of three students who have no social media memberships. FaceBook is effectively the only place to be.

No student named Google+ in their responses. Seven students listed Twitter in the other category, this term Twitter is being tracked separately.

FaceBook on the spring 2009 survey may have caused to students to investigate the site and begin signing up for accounts. Because the survey and this report may have the unintended effect of driving "membership out of curiosity."

Kosrae Christmas marching in Kolonia

2011-12-25T12:32:00.001+11:00

Being as Christmas fell on a Sunday, the Kolonia Kosrae Congregational Church marched on Christmas eve Saturday.

The day starts with food preparation at the house. Marching is not until the afternoon.

Joseph and Mary star in the Sunday School skit. Baby Jesus is no plastic doll either, a real live baby starred in the lead role.

Mary was very skilled - singing and marching while carrying a bag of candy and the baby Jesus. Joseph is very fortunate to have such a skilled wife.

First she removed her angelic hair band, then she proceeded to rip off those wings. She was clearly fed up with being type cast once again as the angel.

A family star bearer on the left.

The front line of Yonkumi choir.

Joseph also joined Yonkumi.

This was the last shot I got off before being strangled by that same towed.

Three sisters and a distant cousin as star bearers on the front line of Ichikumi. Shrue, Elterina, and Hanna take a turn on the front row.

Inac Sra Ioanis is the dot in the letter "i" for isuslac en Bethlehem.

"...look like an angel, walk like an angel, talk like an angel..." time to get wise!

Pualani, a more likely candidate for Ichikumi angel!

Christmas gift distribution at the church - a Kosrae church tradition casting the Deacons in the role of Santa Claus.

His mother forbade the consumption of soda, so he hid behind a car with a purloined can of fizzy pop and attempted to down it all before getting caught. His girlfriend did not want to be photographed...

All hopped up on sugar, this sugaroid-raging young lady takes her first and last swing at mom.

An Ichikumi star gets to take Jesus home.

SDA Christmas Concert

2011-12-15T23:46:00.000+11:00

The Christmas concert, an event where parents dive into a photographic mosh pit with the latest in digital technology to get that blurry, unbalanced photo of their angel or little prince.

A shepherd out watching their flock and singing.

A singing shepherd is a happy shepherd.

Was also a shepherd, here standing with his instructor.

Statistics performance across the terms

2011-12-12T10:54:00.001+11:00

The following chart depicts the average success rate on the MS 150 Statistics final examination fall terms only. The average success rate is based on an item analysis of the final, and the average is the average of the percentage of items answered correctly aggregated across the student learning outcomes. The standard deviation is based also on the aggregated student learning outcomes. The sample size n is the number of students.

Thunderbird grade book mail merge on Lubuntu 11.10

2011-12-10T14:09:00.001+11:00

Attempts to perform a mail merge to email using LibreOffice.org 3.4.4 on a Lubuntu system led only to LibreOffice.org crashing. In searching for another way to perform a mail merge, I looked into what might be possible using Thunderbird 8.0.

I rather quickly found Alexander Bergmann's Mail Merge 2.5.0. The add-on page however, and even the web site left me somewhat perplexed as to how to actually perform the mail merge. The directions were spartan and minimalist.

Fortunately a video by PleaBargain provided me the visual information I needed. Once I saw the draft email with the fields, everything clicked into place.

I pulled the specific columns I needed from my grade book and did a special paste (values only) into a blank temporary spreadsheet. I cleaned up the field names so they had no spaces, and then saved the file as a CSV file.

first,Gr,perc,cperc,max,fxp,sum,fx,mail
Nolynn,D,0.666,0.666,383,0.55,255.2,24,nolynn@wacngin.fm
Maybelynn,B,0.806,0.806,383,0.66,308.65,29,maybelynn@wacngin.fm
Yeslynn,A,0.904,0.904,383,0.84,346.2,37,yeslynn@wacngin.fm

I then composed a new email. In the To: line I put {{mail}} and the subject line was End of term update for {{first}}. Then I composed the body, inserting fields by name where appropriate.

Once done I chose Mail merge from the file menu in the composition window.

I selected the CSV file using the Browse button and the add-on performed the 74 student mail merge flawlessly, putting each individual email in my out box. I could now individually edit specific messages if I chose, or even delete a message that I did not want to send out.

As my list includes students who have not dropped the class but have stopped attending the course, I deleted those emails. The a "Send Unsent Messages" from the main file menu, and Thunderbird began sending the individual emails.

There are some nice upsides to this. In the past, OpenOffice.org did not use IMAP to put sent copies in my sent mail folder on the server, Thunderbird does. That Thunderbird is the email merge agent also means that I am no longer wed to the LibreOffice.org Calc and Writer duo to accomplish mail merges.

LibreOffice.org is a powerful package, but resource hungry on an older system. LibreOffice.org invariably eventually crashes the lxpanel. LibreOffice, however, has been a necessary evil to date as I use mail merges to provide students with updates on their grades.

With Bergmann's add-on I am free to shift to lighter footprint (in GTK) packages such as Gnumeric.

Pohnpei Women's Advisory Council fun run

2011-12-10T13:41:00.001+11:00

On Saturday 10 December 2011 the Pohnpei Women's Advisory Council , the US Embassy, the Australian embassy, and sponsored a "Healthy LifeStyle Fun Walk/Run" with a 7:00 A.M. start from Spanish Wall. The route was out to the airport and back to Spanish wall.

My son headed up the hill to Spanish wall from the causeway.

Most the group chose to walk, only about seven chose to run the route. Walking and juggling remains harder than running and juggling, so I joined the runners.

The event was a double header with the run followed by a march to capitol hill at 9:00 A.M. As noted by the Australian embassy (http://www.fsm.embassy.gov.au/phpi/home.html accessed on 12 December), "the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is a global campaign to raise awareness about violence against women and its impact on a woman's physical, psychological, social and spiritual well-being."

"The 16 Days of Activism began on 25 November on International Day for the Elimination of violence Against Women (White Ribbon Day) and ended on December 10th, the International Human Rights Day. These two dates highlight that violence against women is a human rights abuse."

Bernolina on the causeway

The two Saturday events mark the end of 16 days of white ribbon activities focused on ending gender violence, with the themes "Against Family Violence", "Against Gender Violence", and "Break the silence, end the violence." Activities were coordinated under the aegis of the Pohnpei Women's Advisory Council.

Participating and sponsoring agencies included the U.S. embassy in Kolonia, the Australian embassy, the Pohnpei Office of Social Affairs, and Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Programme. Affiliations include the White Ribbon Campaign.

The marchers brought proposed domestic violence legislation to capitol hill and presented the proposed legislation to a member of the state legislature.

Participating groups included the Pohnpei Ladies Club, Lien Madolenihmw (Pwihn en minimin en lien Madolenihmw), Lien Dolonier, Lielehle Pohnsapw, Lien Kolonia Town, UCWA (U Council of Women in Action), the Development Skilled Organization of Women (DSOW), and many others.

KBP 5k

2011-12-04T11:03:00.001+11:00

The Katilingbang Bisaya sa Pohnpei 5k fun run is unusual in the Pohnpei 5k calender, being one of the few runs that is held on a Sunday.

Temperatures were cool under cloudy skies for Pohnpei, at least from a local perspective.

Given that the same sign can hit 102° by late afternoon, 86° Fahrenheit is nice and cool. The heat is not usually the issue. Pohnpei's year round high humidity is what makes running here challenging.

Turn-out was strong for a Sunday morning. The route is also unique in the running calendar. The run starts at the movie theater and then heads up into town to the intersection of Kaselehlie and Elenieng. A quick left and then a right at Namiki and the run heads up through Mapusi towards Palm Terrace.

A right turn brings one onto the main circumferential road. At Blue Nile the run heads up into Dolihner and then makes a left back down to the state track.

When asked if I can take a picture, this gen FBer immediately struck a pose. "All right Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my profile picture!"

The route passed by the new Medpharm location in the former US Embassy building. In the background is Seven Stars Inn in the former location of the Penny Hotel.

The route took a right at the College of Micronesia Pohnpei upper campus and went down Dainy street. Helena Yamada was moving at a steady clip.

Deaconess Notwe was preparing for Sunday morning service.

Rendy Geminaro took first place in 21 minutes. I was ten minutes back at 31 minutes. I then tagged on a 45 minute photo shoot jog.

Dinner the night before was not the usual carbo load of pasta, but then carbo loading for a 5k will only lead to obesity. The gang enjoyed fluffernutter sandwiches courtesey of the Wisconsin wing of the family.

Clidemia hirta

2011-11-22T19:47:00.001+11:00

The SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany class went on a search and destroy mission seeking out the dark curse, Clidemia hirta, deep in the forest across the road.

Anthony points out a spreading patch of evil.

Mary Ann.

Barnson addes to a garbage bag held by LillyAnn.

LillyAnn and Maylanda.

When the class first sees a few small baby plants, they are initially convinced that their instructor has exaggerated the threat. When they encounter their first serious patch they suddenly comprehend the true threat that Clidemia presents.

Dana with Clidemia hirta.

Dana wraps up with a in-forest lecture.

Floral litmus solutions

2011-11-21T22:01:00.001+11:00

Physical Science SC 130 laboratory thirteen collected flowers and boiled them to generate floral litmus solutions. Some flowers generate solutions that function both as red and blue litmus paper simultaneously - that is they change to two different colors when a base or acid is added to the floral litmus solution.

John adds acid to his floral litmus solution, Merna Keller on the left. The laboratory uses a variety of local key limes as the known acid. Baking soda is the known base. Chemistry is a quick run from proton and electrons, basics of atomic structure, hydrogen to oxygen, and then the structure of hydrogen and hydronium ions, providing an attempt at a segue into this laboratory. This material always reminds me that physical science is a bizarre course, an assembled beast that has way too much material in it.

Brend adds acid to Spathoglottis plicata. Flowers that work as floral litmus solutions tend to turn magenta in the presence of acids. In the presence of bases the solution may turn blue, steel blue, green, dark blue-green-gray, or almost black.

Testing a basic substance. This term I remembered to bring in Alpinia purpurata which again worked extremely well. Experience had suggested that "waxy" flowers did not usually perform well in this laboratory. Although I was aware that the key compound which makes many of the flowers useful as litmus indicators are the anthocyanins, and that these are unrelated to the outer coating, my experience had been that waxy flowers on island either did not contain anthocyanins or they were hard to extract simply by boiling. Thus I was pleasantly surprised when the Alpinia yielded a full two-color changing litmus solution.

Lisa Lollaine and Ariel Maylea working with the unknowns. Once a functional floral solution is found, the students test of a variety of household compounds such as PineSol (yellow variant), ammonia, diluted bleach, drain openers, hand soap, and rubbing alcohol. The bleach has to be diluted or the color change is followed so quickly by a loss of color (the fluid is bleach after all) that the color change is hard to catch with the human eye.

Mindira and Moses check floral solutions to determine which, if any, detect acids and/or bases. Solenostemon scutellarioides (Coleus, leaf) was not available this year. The plant on the hill has died back. The Alpinia appears to be a good substitute.

Oneal checks unknowns. Much of the fun of this laboratory, if for no one other than myself, is to see how different flowers will react. Some flowers vary in their indication abilities with the time of day. Hibiscus tiliaceus usually does not work well early in the morning when it first opens. The flower works better by later in the day, closer to when it will fall off the tree in mid-afternoon.

Charleen Fernandez.

Alden Damarlane.

Kosraean thatched hut build

2011-11-12T20:26:00.001+11:00

On November 11 and 13 the Kosraean community assisted the Kosrae Student Organization in the rebuilding of their thatched hut.

Kosraeans traditionally use dok as both needle and thread for thatching. Dok is a tall grass from high in the mountains that is neither Saccharum spontaneum nor Phragmites karka. I have yet to see the plant, let alone identify it. Neither S. spontaneum nor P. Karka can be be used for this. Thin strips are cut from the outer layers of the tall grass.

The fronds of Nypa fruticans, fahsuc, are used for thatch by Kosraens. They are always laid in pairs, except for rare expert thatchers who can handle three at one lay.

The fronds are wrapped around loa (Saccharum spontaneum), although here the women are using ac (Phragmites karka), but they do not usually use ac. This was a supplier communication error. In addition, there was insufficient dok for thatching. This is probably because the youth group who worked on gathering the supplies apparently did not realize that there was a third plant, dok, required.

Young Kosraeans often do not know the difference between loa and ac, some not knowing even the words loa and ac. Dok is a rare enough word/plant that I had not previously encountered it in seven years of teaching ethnobotany.

The ac (should be loa) is secured by the foot to start the thatch piece.

The end of the dok is tied in a loop to prevent pull-through.

Six fern tree posts form the base pillars. Images herein are chronological. Thatch weaving proceeded simultaneous to hut construction.

The dok is woven back at the end.

Ensuring the roof crown post is vertical. A four log frame is already atop the fern tree logs.

These cross-members are temporary to stabilize the crown posts.

In ancient times rope would tie things together, today bolts are used.

Extra timber along the base of the roof forms a double layer of timber. These lay on top of the cross-members at the sides.

A detail atop a middle fern post above and below.

Corner post detail. Note that a second layer of roofing timber is being readied to be put in place.

Above is the first layer of timber for the roof. There are essentially three layers: vertical, horizontal, and vertical again.

Below the second, horizontal, layer is being nailed into place.

On top of that second layer is a third, again vertical layer, to which the thatch will be tied. Each layer is slightly smaller diameter wood from the mangrove, possibly called sakasrik.

The above marks the end of the first day of construction.

Ac and fahsuc above.

The above final timber will be tied on.

Thatch attaching.

The thatch is vertical spaced by the length of the fingers - one finger-length up for each new thatch sheaf.

Working on a wall.

Thatch tying detail.

For two days a team seen above has been producing thatch. Even after two days there is not enough thatch for the small hut.

End piece detail.

Awning frame is beginning.

Crown line will be steel sheet.

Electricity

2011-11-10T20:52:00.001+11:00

Laboratory twelve in SC 130 Physical Science focused on electricity.

Merna, Agnes, Donnalyn, among others compare the currents and voltages.

Jessica watches Charleen light the bulb after experiencing a hot wire short circuit.

Roxie examines the ammeter.

MacArthur and Alden working on testing for electrical conductivity.

Board notes. The week had started with the third disk in the alternate energy series, installation of a micro hydro system. 455 might be a better choice as 454 spent a good half an hour on installation specifics. 451 might also be preferable. That said, 455 had how to calculate power production for a high head micro hydro system.

The concepts of flow and head translate well to current and voltage for electricity.

Halloween and school fair

2011-11-05T09:39:00.001+11:00

Pre-halloween the kids played with their cyalumes sent by their sister and grandmother. Slow synch night mode produced the following images.

The gang geared up the next evening for treating.

Three princesses, one from Europe and two from the Pacific.

SDA school fair included spending the whole day wet.

Slipping and sliding post-Halloween!

If you spend the whole day wet, one is abed under the late afternoon sun.

His first arm's length "FaceBook" self portrait! Of course he is eleven years from having an FB account, but no sense waiting eleven years to practice these critical life skills. His arms are still a tad short, but a modern digital adjusts for the overflash effect quite nicely.

MiCare Healthy Lifestyle fun run

2011-10-29T13:38:00.004+11:00

The MiCare Healthy Lifestyle 5k fun run is a new addition to the annual running calendar. The run is unique in featuring a health screening tent. I stopped by pre-race and checked my numbers. Heart rate 58 bpm, blood pressure 130/72, fasting blood sugar 101. Those last three numbers are not good.

My son stayed with me longer and farther than ever before, running with me out to the Lidakida turn-around on the causeway. He finished hot on my heels at 31:06, thanks to his push I managed to just barely eke in under 30 minutes at 29:35. That is a PR for him, and a long time since I have seen a two as the leading digit.

My son with race director Bong. My youngest daughter also joined the run, also pushing harder and faster than ever before. For the first time on the lower route, I met her while I was still on the causeway. We met just in front of JBI at the Edwin's place.

Post-run poster posing. My son was the second under 12 to cross the finish line, good for a medal today.

After the run I re-checked my numbers. My blood pressure fell to 122/73, while my one banana blood sugar rose to 111. Pulse was 148 post-run. Thus my blood pressure fell, not rose. There is the possibility that pre-run I release adrenaline and thus lift my blood pressure in anticipation of the upcoming effort.

Reflection and Refraction

2011-10-27T21:16:00.002+11:00

Laboratory eleven began with placing a one dollar coin on top of a towel and under a beaker filled with water. The top of the beaker was covered with a ceramic floor tile. I then asked the class to come up and determine what coin was under the bottom of the beaker.

Due to total internal reflection at the bottom, and refraction at the sides of the beaker, the coin is invisible.

Then I put the coin in an empty dish basin at a distance of four meters. No one could see the coin: the side of the dishpan blocked their view.

Then I filled the dishpan with water, and the students could now see the coin. This led to an explanation of apparent depth

Ariel Maylea and Alden set up to measure the depth of the penny tallest of the graduated cylinders.

Moses and Gorang determine the apparent depth of the penny in the tallest cylinder. This term again I lined up the cylinders from shortest to tallest on the middle table.

The board notes on the "index of reflection" portion of the laboratory. I opted to use the parallel terminology "index of refraction" and "index of reflection" to make clear the distinction between the two slopes.

Connie and Mindira work on the object and image position of a space alien figure.

Thatching

2011-10-25T21:42:00.000+11:00

The class usually uses Nypa fruticans, called paremin Pohnpeian. In some terms the class used the traditional material for Pohnpeian thatching, Metroxylon amicarum, but this requires cutting down the tree to access the fronds. Nypa fruticans can be obtained non-destructively from the plant.

Maylanda Mikel demonstrates skill and speed in completing a section of thatch. In the above image she is removing the nohk.

There are two styles of Pohnpeian thatching, doakoahs en Ruk and doakoahs en Pohnpei or simply doakoahs. Doak means "to pierce" with a needle-like object. Oahs is the Pohnpeian name for Metroxylon amicarum.

The nohk is the back half of the midrib. Removing the nohk is necessary when using oahs due to the thick midrib. The oahs frondlet cracks and breaks unless this is done.

Christlynn and Joesen

In Chuuk pandanus is used for thatch, as well as coconut palm leaf. Coconut palm leaf has a reputation for a short life span across Micronesia.

On Pohnpei in the past the tip of a marlin (a bill fish) was used as a needle. Nowadays the sharpened end of a toothbrush with a hole in the end is a good needle, nails are also sometimes used. Nails with heads, however, do more damage to the frondlet due to their heads. In class we usually use carved pieces of bamboo.

Verginia and Claralyn

Expert craftsmanship and skill shows in the even spacing of stitches and the tightness of weave. String is not typically used to stitch the thatch together. Some use the outer skin of the main petiole on oahs. Others unravel rice sacks of woven plastic.

Joanie Lane

Frondlets are folded so as to create a one-third, two-thirds split in relation to the length of the frondlet. The base is one-third, the apical end is two-thirds.

Trisha

The minor rafters over which the frondlets are folded are made of either Phragmites karka(Chuuk: Woowo, niwo, Kosraen: loa, Pohnpeian: lirau) or Saccharum spontaneum (Kosraen: ac, Pohnpeian: ahlek). The minor rafters are called rahu in Pohnpeian. Today we used ;ahlek.

Gorang

Parem is too narrow to produce proper doakoahs en Pohnpei. Doakoahsen Pohnpei differs in being laid on a 45 degree diagonal. Note that traditionally Pohnpeian thatch was not covered by a net to protect the roof from wind damage.

Pauline

On the flat, outer island atolls in mid-ocean the wind is a more significant source of damage. On Pohnpei rain and subsequent thatch rot are apparently more problematic. Pohnpei thatch is not netted down. The thatch is designed to catch the wind and "fluff" slightly, aiding in drying of the thatch and slowing rot.

RinaRuth

The nohk is the back half of the midrib. Removing the nohk is necessary when using oahs due to the thick midrib. The oahs frondlet cracks and breaks unless this is done. This is not apparently strictly necessary with parem.

Maylanda and Nordan, Maylanda attempting to rectify Nordan's work

The nohk from oahs are then used to make a whisk broom. Teeth are used to crack the midrib and split the nohk. Removing the nohk from parem (nipa) is more difficult and produces smaller nohk than oahs.

Fall 2008 Cantina Albert demonstrated Kosraean thatching. Kosrae does not have oahs. Kosrae is presently thought to have only four species of palms. Coconut (Cocos nucifera), betel nut (Areca catechu), Ponapea ledermanianna (Kosrae: kitacr, Pohnpei: kedei) , and Nypa fruticans

Kosrae does not have oahs. Kosrae is presently thought to have only four species of palms. Coconut (Cocos nucifera), betel nut (Areca catechu), Ponapea ledermanianna (Kosrae: kitacr, Pohnpei: kedei) , and Nypa fruticans.

Fall 2009 Cantina Albert of Kosrae returned to demonstrate Kosraean thatching. During this session she secured the minor rafter with her foot.

Linguistic note: dok is "pierce" while oahs refers to Metroxylon amicarum. The combining of the words is what is known in linguistics as verb noun incorporation or incorporated objects. When the word is by itself, it is dok (intransitive), which means to pierce or to stab. The transitive form of it on the other hand is doakoa. The use of /oa/ is sometimes /o/, depending on the following vowel or consonant sounds. For instance, doakoahs, to pierce oahs, dokpwihk, literally to stab a pig (to pig-slaughter), dokomwomw, to spearfish,etc. [Source: Robert Andreas]

About the house and town

2011-10-25T13:18:00.000+11:00

Kacl money

Akira and his cats

First Joy lunch. The tables and chairs are a recent renovation.

Lubuntu 11.04 to 11.10 dist upgrade reversion to Unity

2011-10-23T15:52:00.002+11:00

Where a computer had been running Ubuntu 11.04 and the Unity desktop, and said computer was changed over to the Lubuntu 11.04 desktop using the Ubuntu Software Center, the computer reverts to Ubuntu with the Unity desktop on distribution upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10.

Worse, the automatic log in is reset to user name and password required, in other words, the autologin is disabled in default.conf and dgod is re-enabled, even if one clicks on "keep" configuration file intact.

Getting back to an automatic log in Lubuntu 11.10 desktop is all but impossible - only loading Lubuntu 11.10 from a CD - a full reinstall, works to get back to Lubuntu.

There is a partial work-around, but it leaves in place the splash screen. The issue appears to be the switch to the lightDM desktop manager in 11.10, it usurps the lxdm desktop manager.

The work around is described below.

Upon restart after upgrade one will find oneself in the Ubuntu 11.10 Unity desktop, a desktop that remains infinitely confusing for my students. Log out from the desk top and return to the log in splash screen.

Click on the "gear" wheel in the log in dialog. Change the desktop from Ubuntu to Lubuntu. Log in using the password.

Once logged in, choose Users and Groups.

Note the Password: Asked on login. Click on change.

At the bottom of the pop-up dialog box choose Don't ask for password on login.

Enter password again. Click OK and Close out the dialog boxes. Restart.

At this screen press Enter or click on Login to boot to the Lubuntu desktop. Not automatic, but no password needed.

Automatic login is not possible. Editing the default.conf file results in an automatic login to the Unity desktop, even if the desktop choice had been Lubuntu.

Note that none of the above happens unless the computer has the gdm and ran Unity under 11.04. Lubuntu 11.04 boxes built from the CD retain their automatic login capabilities and remain in the Lubuntu desktop on upgrade.

Gall stone

2011-10-21T22:07:00.000+11:00

Checked in for abdominal discomfort, ultrasound reveals a gall stone.

Juggling children was the nature of the week. Tuesday and the three were up at the college.

A dear friend whomped up the most wonderful all organic spaghetti with salad and whole wheat muffins for the children one evening.

A very happy customer!

A couple nights later a noise in a cabinet at Genesis...

... and this is how babies arrive! Not from the stork but by popping out of cabinets in the surgical ward.

No fear of either the dark nor enclosed spaces.

In on a Sunday, removed on a Tuesday, discharged on Friday. The cause of the discomfort: a gall stone of some size.

Water swirling at bath time.

A ring of water off of the heel of a brush.

Vegetative morphology

2011-10-21T21:09:00.000+11:00

The SC 115 Ethnobotany students went on a vegetative morphology field walk.

RinaRuth observes as I note the peltate attachment of the petiole on Merremia peltata.

Clidemia hirta is appearing in the ethnobotanical garden. Claralyn, Trisha, Jeanette, Joanie, and

Sagittate leaf of hard swamp taro, Cyrtosperma chamissionis.

Piper ponapense with a cordate leaf shape.

Noeleen demonstrates a use for the Nephrolepis fern.

Assessing cloud drawings

2011-10-21T20:41:00.000+11:00

Once again I turned to a team of professional crayon drawing evaluators to assist in evaluating the cloud drawings done in physical science laboratory eight. As they have in the past, the two of them discussed and argued the arrangement of the images. This term they worked using the descriptors in the marking rubric.

From left to right the columns mark accuracy of the drawing with respect to shapes, forms, colors, and light source. From top to bottom marks composition, consistency of drawing style, and apparent effort made by the artist.

Above, working in the three point column for composition.

Comments added by the adjudicators on the post-it notes. Sometimes blunt, but then youth has its honesty.

The next generation in training. Once a judge falls off the cliff at the edge of the rye field, they tend to be less brutally and openly honest in their comments. Comments that only a child in the rye field can get away with.

Synaptic under Lubuntu

2011-10-21T19:08:00.002+11:00

With the shift to the smaller memory footprint Lubuntu distribution in the mathematics and science laboratory, some of the computers no longer have the Ubuntu Software Center that accompanied the Ubuntu distributions running the Unity desktop.

The software center could be re-installed, but for the demi-power user the Synaptic Package Manager provides more control with an easy to navigate and comprehend interface.

The Synaptic Package Manager is under system tools under Lubuntu 11.10 and earlier versions.

The package manager is password protected.

Click on Search in the top center to start a software search. Note that in this blog one can click on any image to enlarge that image.

The search term will hit in both package titles and package descriptions. Variations can by useful. The above search will not turn up Lybniz because the word graphing does not appear in the description. For Lybniz, the words mathematical and graph do appear, both will hit individually or in combination.

Above the graphmonkey package has been selected by clicking on the package title, this pulls up a description as seen above. The Get Screenshot button yields a screenshot.

Clicking on the package check box allows one to mark the package for installation.

Synaptic handles all dependencies and selects the necessary dependent packages.

After clicking on Mark, choose Apply from the Synaptic tool bar. Synaptic will proceed to download all of the packages. This is best done during off hours due to bandwidth constraints if the packages are many and/or large.

Note that the screenshot application for GNOME (gnome-screenshot), a graphical user interface (GUI) screen capture program is also not included by default in Lubuntu. SCROT, for SCReenshOT was used to grab the above screenshots. Again, one could install the gnome-screenshot, but even with the GUI I usually headed for the terminal to issue an easily repeated sequence of gnome-screenshot commands.

Some of the SCROT commands used to grab screen shots can be seen above. Issue a man scrot to read all about this capable tool. Output was switched to JPG using the extension, a default compression of 75% was used.

Saving LibreOffice.org files on a USB drive under Lubuntu 11.04

2011-10-16T11:21:00.000+11:00

Unlike Abiword and Gnumeric which integrate automatically with the Lubuntu LXDE 11.04 desktop and the PCManFM file manager, LibreOffice.org does not integrate as fully and uses its own internal dialog boxes. The result is that saving a LibreOffice.org file to one's USB flash drive requires navigating to the USB drive in the file system. This procedure is also true for any other package that does not use the PCManFM file manager under Lubuntu.

After plugging in the flash drive, a dialog box will ask if one wants to open the USB drive in the file manager. If one selects to do so, the USB drive appears in the PCManFM file manager as seen below.

Note that the USB flash drive is located in the /media/ folder. The /media/ folder is where removable media appear - flash drives, floppy disk drives.

When working in LibreOffice.org, as seen above, performing a Save as... calls up a LibreOffice.org dialog box open to the home folder. The above computer is called mathsci, thus the home folder is /home/mathsci. One has to manually navigate to the /media/ folder to save the file on the USB flash drive.

Click TWICE on the "Up One Level" button in the upper right hand corner of the dialog box. This brings one to the "root" of the folders, the / folder.

Locate the /media folder and double-click to open that folder.

The USB flash drive should now appear in the LibreOffice.org dialog box. Double-click to open the flash drive.

This procedure should work for any USB flash drive, thumb drive, or USB key that mounts under Lubuntu. There are some removable media that do not mount including some brands of flash drives.

My annual numbers

2011-10-15T14:18:00.000+11:00

Every term in MS 150 Statistics I use a Tanita scale to measure the students weight and to estimate their body fat. The data is primarily used, with names stripped out, as number sets to play with during the term. Secondarily this provides information to a sample at high risk of obesity and associated metabolic syndromes, number two on the planet by one measure. The students become inured to my exhortations to exercise, eat right, and to track their numbers.

Because I get to see the students numbers, I always feel that sharing my numbers is incumbent on me. Although I do try to take a daily pill for my health, my health habits are not yet well aligned with modern heart attack prevention guidelines.

Blood pressure 100/70 is down year-on-year for a second year.
Weight: 140 down four pounds.
LDL: 103, was 86 last year.
HDL: 47, up from 41. I was a tad low last year, this year I just edged up over 45. Fish oil recommended but not taken.
Cholesterol: 165. Up from last year, but down from prior years.
Triglycerides: 78.
Risk ratio: 3.5
Sugar: 86, down from the unusually high 102 I recorded last year.
PSA 1.26, statistically flat against last year's 1.1. Highly colored vegetables, lycopene, recommended.
Uric acid: Down a full point at 6.8 from 7.8 last year. In 2008 I hit 7.7, 2009 I dropped to 6.9. I have spent this past year avoiding pork, all but eliminating beef, and avoiding chicken skin. I do not usually eat shrimp, lobster, clams, shellfish, crabs, and other problematic foods. Hydration may be an issue too.
Hemoglobin 13.9, hemocrit 41.8.
This year no ASD and no ALT number to report (79 in 2010).

Cholesterol is the number that concerns me each year. I typically saw numbers in the 160s and 170s through to a 2007 cholesterol of 169. Then in 2008 I hit 219. With more attention to my diet, exercise, and a daily glass of wine or a single beer, that dropped to 178 in 2009.

That 2008 spike also saw my LDLs hit 144 after a 100 in 2007. 2009 saw that number drop to 118, 2010 to 86. That number is now rising again at 103.

My 2008 HDL, however, was good at 57, falling to 41 and holding there for two years, and now back slightly at 47.

The results remain mixed. The HDL is low for a runner - but then I am not running enough these days. The cholesterol is up, but 165 puts the numbers at where they were a decade or so ago. The uric acid is down from the borderline, but not out of the woods. A resting heart rate done in statistics last week was a record low 49 for those particular measurements - which are not true resting heart rates.

Traditional food dishes of Micronesia

2011-10-11T21:56:00.001+11:00

Clara, Jennette, and Joanie presented ground hard taro cooked in an umw, effectively a hot rock oven.

Pohnpeian: rotama. Pingelapese: sero. Mwoakillese: rodma. Mortlockese: Amahd. Kosrae: rodoma. After cooking in an umw the rotama is pounded with the petiole of a palm frond.

Rotama is made from hard or swamp taro, known as mwahng on Pohnpei, mweian on Pingalap, pula in Mortlockese, and pahsruhk on Kosrae.

In traditional times on the outer islands the women had primary responsibility for tending the taro while the men handled fishing and climbing tasks.

Joesen and Noeleen presented fermented breadfruit from the outer islands of Yap such as Woleai and Eauripik. The raw ingredients were actually brought in from Yap, Noeleen prepared the maare.

The leaf wrap is ti leaf - Cordyline fruticosa.

Pauleen, Barnson, Trisha, Verginia, Con-ray, and Maylanda from Kitti, Pohnpei brought in mahi umw, koahpnoair koakihr, and uht sukusuk. Above is breadfruit umw, mahi umw, one of the oldest of the traditional foods on Pohnpei.

When presented in a traditional feast the number of breadfruit pieces must be 3, 5, or 7: an odd number. This contrasts with the four or eight leaf rule of healing plants.

Maylanda (below) presented koapnoair koakihr (above) - ground, boiled yams with coconut milk. While taro is the food that marks a man a good provider on the outer islands and Kosrae, on Pohnpei yams define a real provider. The koapnoair koakihr combines both ground yam and small chunks of unground yam to provide texture and body to the resulting dish.

The dish is cooked in an oampwoat ("iron pot") using boiling water. This dish thus must have arisen after the arrival of cookware from abroad. The word for "boil" is pwoil.

Maylanda Mikel

Barnson and Pauleen present the perennial crowd favorite uht sukusuk, seen below. Boiled mashed bananas smothered in coconut milk.

A palm petiole is also used to pound the uht.

Neelma Pearl and RinaRuth brought in Kosraean "all-star" soup featuring in reef fish, crab, and lobster in a rice and coconut milk base soup. Although the soup could in theory be made by anyone, primarily Kosraeans produce this soup, although it is a favorite food for many others in Micronesia. The pot was quickly emptied, the soup was indeed delicious.

Neelma and RinaRuth also made a Kosraean dish using ground, steamed bananas (usr) called ap.

Lisa, Iniki, and Nordan brought in ground hard taro and coconut balls called uter or utoar on Pohnpei. On Kosrae the correct name is kuhlamihs, but some use the term often used with little children for the food, pahsruhk fihti (hard taro ball). This dish is known across Micronesia and is known on Woleai as yewagil (soft g), and puna in Chuuk.

Christlynn and Mary Ann brought in a special Chuukese treat, kón. Kón is made from breadfruit that is pounded hot until it is creamy smooth. When first fruits are presented to the chiefs, the first fruits are presented as kón, not raw breadfruit.

Kón is pounded on a wooden board called a nif, the pounding implement is a po. In the lagoon men pound, in the outer islands of Chuuk the women usually pound.

The pattern on top of the kón may be unique to a particular family.

A special leaf is used to cover the kón, the leaf of the soft taro plant. Specifically a species with a hydrophobic upper surface layer. The leaf has a meaning, the leaf sends the message letting wrongs roll off one like rain drops roll off of the hydrophobic surface. The leaf symbolizes peace and forgiveness.

If a wrong has occurred between two families, the injuring family sends kón to the aggrieved family with that leaf. The aggrieved family reciprocates by sending kón back to the injuring family. If the leaf is the hydrophobic leaf, all is forgiven. If the leaf is a rough taro leaf that does not shed water, then the apology was not accepted.

Many of the Micronesian cultures have formal apology systems. For Chuukese kón is part of this social system, for Pohnpeians sakau is at the center of an apology. The outer island Yapese send special hand spun and loomed banana fiber skirts.

The Kosraeans undoubtedly lost their original traditional forgiveness ceremony when the culture underwent the seismic shift of losing sunak (their traditional customs) and centering on the Congregational church of the 1800s. Forgiveness is now sought through public confession in church and sometimes more privately in mediated meetings between the families.

Con-ray joined Tellez to present boiled taro in carmelized sugar topping - pihlohlo mwehng, a Mwoakillese favorite.

Anthony brought in coconut drink from Yap called domar - young coconut in sweetened coconut juice.

RipStik Wave Physics Introduction

2011-10-10T16:51:00.000+11:00

This term I tried riding my RipStik across the paper on the porch outside of the classroom without using water or dye.

Two sheets of poster pad were lightly taped to the cement on a rainy day. Donnalyn assists with a measurement that found the two sheets are 167 centimeters long.

I then rode my RipStik across the two sheets while timing the run.

The cement is quite rough and has red mud ground into it. The result was a nice stippled sine wave line on the paper. The 167 cm run took 1.84 seconds.

The first run was untimed, the traces of it can be seen at the top of the paper above. Below I have used marker to trace the path of one of the wheels. I covered wavelength, linear board velocity, frequency, period, and wave speed before I ran out of time. Amplitude will have to wait until Wednesday.

The dry cement imprint was far superior to the dyed water track approach.

Above one can see more clearly the slightly brown, stippled wheels tracks crimped into the paper. The two tracks are the two sets of wheels on the RipStik.

Clouds and weather

2011-10-09T15:44:00.003+11:00

Laboratory eight and the week in which it occurs focuses on weather, climate, and clouds. Monday began with a series of short videos on the impact of climate change on Pacific islands. The first video opens with a king tide event that flooded lower Danpei on Sokeh's island. A king tide coupled with trade wind swells and La Niña led to coastal inundation and structural damage to homes on the north coast of Kosrae in the same time frames.

Monday evening brought a heavy rain cell that caused flash flooding. One car went off the road on Mount Dolon, exact cause unknown but likely weather related.

On Wednesday an odd double ice bow in cirrus decks aloft formed, likely the result of two cirrus haze layers. Both images have been balance enhanced using GIMP.

Thursday was drawing clouds day. Jessica Nanpei sketching.

Board notes from Thursday. This term I covered tides, neap tide, spring tide, king tide, trade wind sea level surge, and La Niña sea level rise on Wednesday. I did not cover relative humidity and precipitation until Thursday morning. Friday morning I covered green house gases and the green house effect.

Moses and Mindira.

A week ending rainbow. A great weather week all told.

Healing, Haruki, Gymno, Island Foods

2011-10-05T07:44:00.003+11:00

Presentations on healing plants of Micronesia

Pauleen described the use of plumeria sap on small cuts.

Verginia presented the use of the seeds of Premna obtusa (topwuk) to cure a fungal skin infection known as kil sarawi.

Noeleen presented Woleaian uses of Morinda citrifolia (leele). She covered the use of a coconut oil emulsion of the leaves for massage therapy, the fruits for treating diabetes, and the use of the roots to remove areas of white skin (possibly tinea versicolor).

Maylanda Mikel covers the use of Idahn woal for pwiriamwei (also pwirimwei), the treatment of fright in babies. Fright, or startling, leads to illness in infants.

Trisha covers the use of Parina laurina (ais) to treat rashes. Ais is mixes with grated coconut. Ais is widely recognized and used in Micronesia. On Kosrae it is known as ahset, in Chuuk as ayis.

Christlynn holds Piper ponapense, apparently known as aanees in Chuuk

Neelma presented the Kosraean use of lo, Hibiscus tiliaceus in the treatment of diarrhea.

Claralyn broght in Ageratum conyzoides, known on Pohnpei as pwisehn kou, using the leaves to treat cuts.

The SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany class cleaned up the Haruki Japanese cemetery on the College of Micronesia-FSM property. The clean-up was scheduled to coincide with Ohigan.

Claralyn and Lisa clean up around the Hoshino Noritake memorial marker.

Barnson and Neelma team up on the reh padil.

Lots of reh padil to pull...

I explain to RinaRuth one of the meanings of Ixora casei, kalsruh, the flame of the forest. The bright red flowers stand brightly out even at distance under the forest canopy. And if they catch a beam of sunlight that penetrates the canopy, the blaze crimson amidst a dark forest.

On Kosrae the plant marks where people once lived and worked.

A Kosraean hunter was taught to not shoot a bird if seen above a kalsruh. The bird could be an inut, a spirit.

Barnson, RinaRuth, Verginia, Claralyn on the walk through the Pwunso botanic garden.

Noeleen comtemplates some of the largest and oldest Araucaria columnaris trees on Pohnpei.

On 04 October the ethnobotany class visited the Island Food Community of Pohnpei. Four days ago Pohnpei lost the founder of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, Lois Englberger. The loss feels overwhelming. To say her work lives on in the hearts and minds of each person who learns of the CHEEF benefits of local food feels too small, yet carrying message to new minds is surely what Lois wants to happen.

Local food is cultural food, healthy food, environmentally friendly food, economically beneficial to local farmers, and crucial to the island's food safety and security net.

Class photo opportunities!

Hooke, Heat, Latitude and Longitude

2011-10-04T23:21:00.001+11:00

Laboratory 52 investigated Hooke's Law using readily available local materials, styrofoam cups, marbles, and elastic bands. This laboratory substitutes the traditional springs and masses, both of which are unavailable in the local schools, with elastic and marbles. I note to the students that if they have no mass balance, and no public school does out here as far as I now, just use five grams per marble. Essentially one is measuring in marble units.

The elastic is common dress elastic, attached via lengths of string or yarn to overhead hooks. Noting that schools also lack meter sticks, I recommend dropping the cup lower and using rules. Typical cup descents are less than 30 cm.

This spring the students massed all thirty marbles at one time. All thirty marbles fit in the mass balance pan. As I did last spring, I had the students round to the nearest whole gram that was a multiple of three. Dividing by thirty marbles left only a single decimal place and no repeating decimals.

Fall 2010 the divided answer had been round to the nearest tenth, this does the same thing but handles the rounding beforehand. I also used this opportunity to teach/reteach the rule that one can add the digits to find a multiple of three.

Most of the sets of thirty marbles massed between 150 grams and 160 grams. Thus a 152 gram set of thirty was rounded to 153 grams prior to dividing by thirty. The resulting errors are small and are, quite frankly, dwarfed by measurement errors.

The above process, first used fall 2010, removed the need to mass each marble individually, which had been time consuming and interrupted the process of observing the elastic stretch. Small differences in marble mass were not significantly affecting the data.

The elastic is behaves in a somewhat complex manner that may vary with the length - not all of the elastic pieces are equal in length. Some students obtain a relatively linear graph, others a clearly bilinear graph, some a cube root-like trilinear, and some obtain a logarithmic graph.

This provides fertile ground for discussions with groups of their data, although this is generally only possible with groups that have a lap top with which to chart the data. Hand drawn graphs rarely capture the subtle S curves that are often encountered in the this laboratory.

This term 052 is only the third lab that gets handed in, and the first lab that does not feature a post-lab session upstairs.

Unlike spring 2011, I returned to thermal conductivity this fall for laboratory 62. The class viewed the cartoon video on temperature and heat on Monday, followed by coverage of temperature scales on Wednesday.

Moses sops up water from a leaking rig.

Waiting for the heat to conduct...

Between periods I put up the 8:00 data. I had demonstrated tracking time versus temperature rise, all of the students followed that lead and tracked time versus temperature. Although the students chose their own time intervals, I attempted to standardize on two minute intervals.

I then asked the 11:00 class to do as is often done in science: confirm and extend the data set started by the 8:00 class.

The complication with this approach was serious data overload. Many wound up with time versus temperature charts with all of the materials. As a class we never had the time to get back at the data and really examine ways to simplify the charts. I did spend some time on Friday pulling together the threads for the week.

The 11:00 class was tasked on that Thursday evening with producing a preliminary chart for me to share with the class on Friday. This assignment actually worked.

The time data led naturally to a science reasoning question on the Friday quiz.

Laboratory 072 included as a back drop the still under construction covered walkways at the campus. Hide and seek arrived without my having conceived of anywhere in particular to hide, so I returned to the spot I used last spring. While that proved tough last spring, this term the first group found me at 12:08, with a second group not more than two minutes behind.

Both groups locked onto the latitude and then simply walked the longitude until they found me. Neither group was put off by the track taking them into the tall grass. I guess by now the students are vaguely aware that I hide deep in the grass.

Lisa Lollaine studies her GPS bearings with Yoleen also tracking along the same line of longitude.

Mindira with Gorang in the background.

Connie handles the surveyor's wheel.

Jonnie reaches the end point on the longitude walk. The data from the above 11:00 class measurements came in at 2024 meters per minute, circumpolar.

With the end of class, weather moves in off the ridge line to the east of campus. Perfect timing.

When the mode is not the mode

2011-09-30T10:29:00.000+11:00

When a number appears more than once in a list and there is a multi-way tie at that frequency, the mode function in spreadsheets malfunctions and produces an answer when the answer should be "no mode." There is no single mode.

For as long as I have used spreadsheets, spreadsheet software will always pick a number from the multi-way tie and report that number as the mode. This would not necessarily be problematic, however different spreadsheets produce different results.

In a Lubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal equipped computer laboratory, the students have access to and are free to choose from LibreOffice.org Calc, Gnumeric, or Google Docs.

Given the data 2000, 640, 256, 128, 128, 1000, 512, 512, 384, 256; LibreOffice.org chooses 128 regardless of the sort order. Google Docs chooses 512 regardless of the sort order. And Gnumeric chooses a member of the tie that changes with the sort order.

Note that technically all of the spreadsheets cited are incorrect. The correct answer for this data set is that there is no mode. There is some wiggle room for suggesting that the data is trimodal, but the data has no unimodal value.

The data was loosely based on reality and used for a midterm examination in statistics.

Run to The Village

2011-09-27T12:12:00.003+11:00

I was asked what a District Three fun run might look like if the run started at The Village and ended at Nett Elementary school. Would that be five kilometers? The discussion also looked at transportation issues, which raised the possibility of a Nett Elementary five kilometer out-and-back.

Having been unable to get a run in during last week, I took the opportunity to get in a run and gather some data at the same time.

Nett Elementary is three kilometers from Dolihner via Pohnpei campus:

A five kilometer out-and-back would turn around at the house seen below. One could theoretically try to place the turn-around exactly at 2.5 kilometers, but that location is simply a banana tree next to the road.

For road race distances the route should not be short, an extra 140 meters ensures that the route is indeed at least five kilometers given the GPS unit position error of up to 10 meters.

A more logical District 3 turn-around would be this bridge on the Nett-U border. That would generate a 5.8 kilometer out-and-back course.

If one wanted a one-way five kilometer run that ended at Nett Elementary, then the start would be at this rock in U.

A more logical one-way route start would be up at The Village. A start at The Village junction would be a six kilometer run, and a scenic one at that. The run down from The Village includes views of the Pacific and the misty mountains of Pohnpei.

Should one opt to start at The Village restaurant, the run would be almost 6.5 kilometers back to Nett Elementary. End at the nahs at Nett Elementary and you would have a 6.5 kilometer fun run, equivalent to four miles.

Although I should have turned around and headed home for an 18 kilometer evening run, the sun was sinking into Nett Point. The outbound run had been slow, taking me an hour and six minutes to reach The Village. I called in my evacuation team for a nice evening ride home.

Lubuntu LXDE

2011-09-23T17:12:00.002+11:00

I spend a good deal of time reminding my students in the computer laboratory to use alt-tab to try to recover lost windows.The new Unity desk top in Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04 is simply confusing for the students. The launcher is an unusual metaphor in this virtually Mac-less nation.

The computer lab computers being older 512 Mb RAM machines, there are also problems with the resource intensive Unity desk top. After a hour of running, the launcher will often fail to auto-hide for LibreOffice.org Calc.

For other reasons, I stumbled upon Lubuntu LXDE. Test runs on two computers in my office show LXDE to be faster and more responsive than Unity. The real plus, however, is that students were able to instantly understand and use the desk top without any assistance. With the rest of the campus running Windows Vista and Windows 7, the similarity of LXDE is a real plus.

I am more than pleased that Lubuntu will become a full sibling to the other Ubuntu distributions with 11.10. With all the chatter I see on line about how to dump Unity and run Gnome 3, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and other spins, I have to wonder whether the core Ubuntu group has been wise in committing all of their futures to Unity. Somehow Unity appears like a case of Mac dock envy.

My thanks to the Lubuntu team for their excellent work!

RipStik Pairs Racing 2024 Brisbane Olympics

2011-09-14T21:41:00.000+11:00

In preparation for the introduction of caster boarding to the 2012 Olympics in Brisbane, the kids are practicing their racing skills, both pairs and solo work.

In the female pairs competition, these two are well ahead of the rest of the planet. Solo riders are globally distributed, but pairs riders are far less common. Teamwork and rhythm and a keen sense of pairs balance are critical assets in this event.

The pairs riders are off on a racing loop of the RipStik track, also known as Pohnpei International Airport parking lot near sundown. With only one plane per day near midday, the lot is all but deserted as the sun sets.

The male pair riders have established a strong lead on the turn into the back stretch.

Foot placement and positioning is another critical element in this sport. Years of practice are required just to get to this level of togetherness.

Note the parallel front foot stance for the female pairs. This is essential to remaining upright and moving forward.

The old man demonstrates proper... uh... scratch that. The old man demonstrates nothing of benefit to the future Olympians.

In pairs group RipStik dancing, the two pairs exit a criss-cross passing maneuver. Timing is absolutely split-second in this maneuver. When castering in formation, the pair will maintain a tight one meter board-wing to board-wing separation.

The two older riders engage in a solo racing lap of the parking lot, driving hard for the finish line.

Remember, do not try these things at home. Seriously. The above riders really do have years of experience, even the smaller riders have over a year of experience with the boards.

Exploring momentum

2011-09-11T12:22:00.002+11:00

Laboratory 042 was following the constructivist variation piloted spring 2011. I ran the set-up in the same manner in which I set-up last spring and last summer. I first asked the students to predict the result prior to any marble collisions. Then I released one marble on a shallow ramp. The marble rolled down and collided with a line of five marbles of roughly equivalent mass.

Ariel presents results as MacArthur and Alden watch

I repeat this with two, three, four, five, and even six inbound marbles. For the latter cases I shift the focus to the "break-away group" retaining the inbound number as the released marbles also tend to continue on post-impact and eventually off the ramp.

Once the students grasped "marbles in" equals "marbles out" then I focused on the penultimate marble.

How does the penultimate marble "know" whether it should stay or go? How does the penultimate marble in the line "keep count" of the number of inbound marbles?

Connie Eperiam shares her group's findings. Elbert, Ariel, Jonnie, and MacArthur listening.

I then demonstrated that "speed in" is equal to "speed out." When I asked the students to formulate explanations one student suggested that the "force" was the reason. I then usually return that back to them, "What is force? What is pressure?" "Why does that cause only an equal number to be ejected from the line?"

This term as in prior terms I had the opportunity to discuss the misuse of "magic" words that the speaker does not actually understand. For many of the students, tossing around "force" is the equivalent of saying "magic." Neither word explains how the marbles "know" what to do.

Rico's group took the approach of measuring outbound speeds only over a distance equal to the inbound distance. This ought to have reduced the errors introduced by friction for the lower velocity impacts. They came up with this approach on their own.

I almost always tie this back into the Dyson quote from laboratory one. The marbles know what to do and are doing it. That nature is mathematical is true, as to why nature is mathematical is a central mystery.

Katsandra shows their marble placements on the ramp

Once the students have their minds wrapped around the mystery of the marbles, I ask them to form small groups and to try to attach numbers to the system. To make qualitative measurements of mass and velocity for the marbles. I provide no further guidance nor correction. I do circulate and try to be helpful to groups that seek assistance.

Donnalynn explains the what her group measured and how they took those measurements

Although I had suggested a three ruler set-up after the summer run, I went ahead with the two ruler set-up I had used in the past. Unlike summer term, all of the groups found approaches to measurement, building tables and graphs. I now do not know they the students this past summer seemed to be unable to move forward. My only hunch is that the summer term is too fast, too furious.

With the groups apparently moving forward, I intentionally stepped out of the laboratory for over twenty minutes. I wanted the groups to wrestle with the equipment and the set-up on their own. Whenever I am present, the students look to me for answers and, most often, confirmation that they are doing the laboratory correctly. "Is this right?" they ask.

Jessica Nanpei explains, her partner Charleen on the right, Deffeny at the back

I always face questions when I return, but by then most of the groups have started making measurement of one sort or another. I remain fascinated by the fact that a number of students still do not fundamentally grasp what speed means from the point of view of trying to measure a speed. That speed is distance divided by time is well covered by the time of laboratory four, yet there remain some students who cannot translate that abstract understanding to measurements in the laboratory. My sense is that there are many students who pass laboratory science classes with good grades but little more than a very superficial understanding of the material that they have encountered.

This term I had prepped the students to not form groups of four shy students, that each group would need a presenter. This seemed to help.

Elbert explaining the set-up used by his group

I still feel, as I did last summer, that a modification of the set-up might be useful. All the groups that tackled inbound speed tried to measure the time versus distance on the sloped ramp. The groups were all using a two ruler set-up. The result is a underestimated inbound speed. A three ruler set-up, one ramp and two on the flat, five marbles at the junction of the two on the flat, might provide a more visually obvious way to measure the speed of the inbound marbles.

This term I tackled the issue of an underestimated inbound speed by reaching back to a finding of laboratory three: speed increases when an object accelerates. I put on the board the following:

0  2  4  6  8  10

I explained that if the above numbers represented the speed of a marble as it accelerated down a ramp, then the speed one obtains by dividing the distance by the time is the average speed. The sum is 30, divided by six numbers, is five centimeters per second. I argued that the average is typically half of the actual terminal velocity at the bottom of the ramp. I intentionally avoided going symbolic in this explanation as that would surely lose the class.

The above came up because a couple groups had good enough numeric data to "confirm" that the outboard marbles were moving faster than the inbound marbles.

Jonnie explains as MacArthur looks on

Three rulers might help, but there is good bit of speed loss on the ramps and the junction between two ramps is usually problematic. Ultimately the marbles will never be as good as air carts, but air carts are definitely magic and marbles are everyday.

Flowers

2011-09-11T11:20:00.003+11:00

Arc of a ball and acceleration of gravity

2011-09-04T15:18:00.001+11:00

Exercise 031, the mapping of the parabolic arc of a ball, was modified again this term. I wanted more data points than the exercise traditionally generates. Last fall I hit upon the idea of keeping the arc wholly on the white board and using an army of students with markers to capture the ball arc data points.

I repeated this again during the spring term, although the marks were not as accurate as I might have hoped. I also did not leave enough time to explain the theoretic function, how to enter it into a third column in a spread sheet, and then graph the actual data and the theoretic curve on the same chart in a spreadsheet. Spring term I had 34 students, checking their RipStik accelertion homework took longer than usual. Although the homework check uses time, it also provides a valuable opportunity to see what each and every student is able to do and not do.

Fall 2011 the homework check took time and I again did not have the time I would have liked to introduce the theoretic function and how to enter the function correctly into a spreadsheet. I did, however, develop a new way to get the arc up on the board. This time I used four balls and I sectored the board into four sections.

I had groups of two students per quadrant map out the arc of a ball using magnetic doughnuts. I used the space balls which are large and easy to toss.

After the students had marked the path with the magnets, the students connected the dots using white board markers. This produced four fairly parabolic paths on the board. I made measurements of one and then introduced the function.

The homework was only to graph the theoretic function, no measurements were made other than r and k as seen above.

Laboratory 032 involves timing the fall of a ball to determine the acceleration of gravity g. The students drop a small superball from heights of 100 to 300 centimeters inside the classroom.

I began by making measurements in a demonstration at the front of the class, averaging a series of drops from various heights and then sketching the result.

This proved beneficial as it led to most of the groups using the average drop time for repeated measurements, which reduced the error for many groups.

Merna prepares to drop a superball.

Trasleen steadies the meter stick just after Katsandra has released the small green superball. Agnes records data.

Connie calculates the average for multiple drops from a specific height.

MacArthur looks over some of his data.

Gorang makes calculations while MacArthur observes: laboratories get students doing and discussing science. Even simple laboratories.

The second half of the laboratory is held up in the computer laboratory where I assist students in making the two graphs. Charleen is working on her second graph in the image above. My own data at 8:00 was within 1% of the actual value of g, the smallest error I can recall.

Lycophyte and monilophyte presentations

2011-09-04T14:36:00.001+11:00

Students in SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany gave presentations on the botany and local names of cyanobacteria, lycophytes, and monilophytes.

Pauleen covering the life cycle of Lycopodiella cernua

Jeanette lectures on the life cycle of a fern.

Trisha was part of a team that covered fern morphology.

The following Thursday was our visit to the Pohnpei Traditional plants garden. There the students were given an introduction to healing plants and a tour of the garden.

Barnson, Maylanda, and Pauleen liten to the presentation.

Con-ray on the tour observing a climbing Pandanus.

Maylanda, Pauleen, and Noeleen in the front. Verginia, Trisha, Christlynn, RinaRuth, Lisa in the second row. Claralyn, Neelma, Jeanette on the third tier.

RipStik acceleration

2011-08-29T15:35:00.001+11:00

In a previous article I shared the use of a RipStik in SC 130 Physical Science to demonstrate linear constant velocity motion. The ability to generate a relatively constant velocity by swizzling at a constant rate on level ground was useful to that demonstration.

This term, as in the past two terms, the non-linear motion of the rolling ball in laboratory two had already set up the concept of curved lines as changing speeds on a time versus distance xy scattergraph. This permitted me to move directly to data gathering for an accelerating RipStik.

I did not achieve the top end that I typically attain, I am uncertain as to why. Prior to class I performed three practice runs with a goal of first pillar-to-pillar time of six to seven seconds. The hope was to hit an acceleration around 0.2 m/s².

My actual run during class suggests an actual acceleration of 0.068 m/s². The chart belows compares the desired accelertion curve against my actual acceleration curve. The time to the first pillar was right on the mark, but my acceleration fell to nearly zero.

A more careful examination of my pillar to pillar velocity indicates that my acceleration was low until the final two pillars.

Raw data:

Time (s)	Desired (m)	Practice run 1 (m)	Practice run 2 (m)	Practice run 3 (m)	Actual run (m)	Actual v (m/s)	Actual a (m/s²)
0	0
6.8	4.6
9.6	9.2
11.7	13.8
13.6	18.4
15.2	23
0		0
7.78		4.6
13.16		9.2
16.8		13.8
19.37		18.4
21.91		23
23.62		27.6
0			0
5.69			4.6
9.59			9.2
12			13.8
14.22			18.4
16.75			23
0				0
7				4.6
11.27				9.2
14.53				13.8
17.54				18.4
19.06				23
0					0	0	0
7.22					4.6	0.64	0.09
13.13					9.2	0.78	0.02
17.06					13.8	1.17	0.10
20.16					18.4	1.48	0.10
21.91					23	2.63	0.65

Acceleration started off well below the desired 0.2 m/s² and remained below this value until the final two posts. Average acceleration was only 0.12 m/s². The approach of rolling as slowly as possible into the first pillar - essentially a zero acceleration after the initial push-start - in order to clock seven seconds to the second pillar, appears problematic.

I think the idea of a continuously increasing beat remains the most likely approach to producing a constant acceleration. This is likely, however, to cause me to hit my maximum speed sooner.

On the home front

2011-08-28T21:00:00.000+11:00

Wushu demonstration at the college gym. As can be seen on their faces, my son went on to enjoy the evening, my daughter was bored.

A treasure box that was once in the basement of my paternal grandfather's house.

My typical activity on a weekend. Marking papers.

New JBI expansion store.

Searching for mangoes

Up in Dienm Kitti,

Wearing 3D glasses improves one's ability to ride at night.

Boy time.

A badminton tournament started Sunday.

Rolling balls and linear relationships

2011-08-28T20:30:00.000+11:00

Fall 2011 laboratory 022 marked the third term of the even "no write up" laboratories. Assessment done spring 2011 indicated that the shift from writing up every laboratory to writing up only odd laboratories did not have a negative impact on the improvement in writing.

This term I had the Nissan and thus could not transport the roofing sheet to the gym. So I walked it across campus on a very clear day with saturating humidity. The photo makes the morning look lovely but the humidity was so close to saturation that one was instantly lathered up in sweat.

In laboratory 022 the location of the ball at each second is marked by a different student. Then the distance to the timing mark is determined. This makes the time the independent variable and the distance the dependent variable.

As this laboratory is often done in physics, the distance is preset and becomes the independent variable, with a timing determining the time to that fixed distance - such as a photogate on a air track.The ramp permits rolling the ball at a specific velocity that can be repeated. This allows the timing markers to stand near to the correct location for their particular number of seconds. Only a single timer is actually needed, one student calls out the seconds while watching a stopwatch or other digital second timer. This also means that one does not need hundredths of a second.

The ball slowed down both in the morning and afternoon sections, most especially after the first second. In the past 022 has provided an example of linear, unaccelerated motion. This term again, as last spring, the laboratory failed in this respect. The failure, however, was not as problematic for the curriculum as the failure might have been.Using the RipStik, I had demonstrated constant velocity motion on Monday. As a result, 022 became an opportunity to focus on what happens on a time versus distance graph when the velocity is decreasing with respect to time.

On Friday quiz 024 was able to exploit this accidental enrichment. Next week's accelerated motion will also benefit: the student's should be able to predict the nature of the curve for my accelerated RipStik demonstration on Monday. That will lead to a homework assignment to confirm that acceleration occurred. The homework would also be able to include, building on questions seven and eight on quiz 024, the pillar-to-pillar velocity.

The laboratory was wrapped up by graphing the data in the field and discussing the resulting curves on the paper. Ideas such as speed between timing marks were introduced. This term I did not discuss the tangent as the instantaneous velocity. The retreat was running in the gym, filling the lot with cars, and cramping our work space.

Without the computer laboratory second half, the laboratory could use some further enrichment and development to really bring forward the idea of the mathematics as making predictions. Maybe the class could be asked to predict the distance based on the particular release height? The complication is that one would have to work graphically - the data was simply not linear this term.

Ethnogardening

2011-08-23T22:45:00.001+11:00

Cleaning up the ethnogarden, the leading edge of fall term 2011.

Lisa works on the ilau, Clerodendrum inerme

RinaRuth contemplates the lemon grass, Cymbopogon citratus

Neelma Pearl clears Merremia peltata off of Musa spp.

Maylanda examines uht, Musa spp.

Cleaning around the oahs, Metroxylon amicarum.

Barnson rakes.

Pauleen cleans an unknown plants as Trisha examines the same plant.

Jeanette works around sawaen Hawaii, likely a variety of Colocasia esculenta.

RipStik in Physical Science: Linear Velocity

2011-08-22T21:03:00.000+11:00

To demonstrate linear motion while retaining some modicum of attention span from my social media saturated students, I again rode a RipStik along the sidewalk in front of the laboratory. The activity is built around the linear relationship between time and distance for an object moving at a constant velocity. Thus my goal was to retain a constant velocity over the 36.8 meter distance.

In class I only wrote the time and distance data on the board, the following table was constructed later as part of my analysis of whether my speed was fairly constant.

Pillar	Time (s)	Dist (m)	Vel (cm/s)	Acc (cm/s²)
one	0	0
two	3.86	4.6	1.19
three	6.89	9.2	1.52	0.11
four	9.64	13.8	1.67	0.06
five	12.45	18.4	1.64	-0.01
six	15.09	23	1.74	0.04
seven	17.84	27.6	1.67	-0.03
eight	20.47	32.2	1.75	0.03
nine	23.45	36.8	1.54	-0.07

A constant swizzle rate tends to generate acceleration early in the run, and I could feel the increase in the speed between pillars one and three. I started the run prior to pillar one, but only by about three meters, so I had not yet reached a constant speed as I passed pillar one.

During the summer I opted to delay the stopwatch start until the second pillar to provide a seven meter run prior to starting measurements, . This fall I returned to starting with the first pillar as zero. The small variations in speed are visually difficult to see and thus do not impact the finding of linearity for the system.

At the very end of the run I usually run off onto the asphalt walkway. A visitor to campus from Japan was standing in that location, so I had to stop swizzling and jump off immediately after the last column. The visitor had a somewhat bewildered expression on his face as I hurdled towards him.

The small increase in velocity among the first three pillars and the deceleration at the run's end can be seen above. Mid-run my speed held fairly steady, accelerations remained near zero. The overall average speed for the run was 1.57 m/s, with the linear regression best fit slope at 1.61 m/s.

Assessment of graphing, plotting, calculating slopes

2011-08-21T20:45:00.000+11:00

In order to generate and comprehend the mathematical models that live at the core of physical science systems, students have to be familiar with the xy coordinate system, plotting points, graphing lines, calculating and understanding slopes of lines.

Eight questions that focused on graphing skills and which were tested on the first test summer 2011 were presented to the SC 130 Physical Science students fall 2011 on the first quiz of the term. The skills tested focus on student learning outcome 1.2 on the outline.

Twenty-nine of thirty-two students sat quiz one fall 2011. Data from the first test summer 2011 and the first quiz fall 2011 is presented in the table. Percentages are the percent of students answering the item correctly. Summer 2011 the sample size was fifteen students.

Question topic	Su 11	Fall 11	Δ%
calculate slope from line on graph	0.67	0.52	-0.15
density as equal to slope	0.47	0.38	-0.09
infer effect of density	0.67	0.66	-0.01
calculate density from measurements	0.53	0.34	-0.19
calculate mass from density and volume	0.67	0.83	0.16
plot data on graph	1.00	0.72	-0.28
draw line through data points	0.93	0.72	-0.21
calculate slope from line on graph	0.73	0.55	-0.18

Overall performance this fall was lower than seen at the start of the summer term. Success rates for these questions do not exist for prior terms, suggesting an academically weaker class than seen this past summer.

Given a line on a graph only half of the students (15) could calculate the slope. Although laboratory one had focused on slope as density, only 11 of these 15 correctly understand that the slope is the density of the material which was graphed.

Given, however, just numbers to directly plug into a given formula, 83% made the essentially arithmetic calculation correctly.

Somewhat concerning was that eight students were unable to plot tabular data correctly on a supplied xy scattergraph - there was only a 72% success rate on this item. Of the 21 students who plotted the data correctly, only sixteen could then calculate the slope. This echoes the first item - only half of the students can calculate a slope from a graph, even when given the formula for slope on the quiz itself.

There is no math pre-requisite for SC 130 Physical Science, nor is there any intention to introduce one. The course includes the intention to teach math through science. That said, the students are usually either in MS 100 College Algebra, or have finished that class, or are eligible to take the course. This often means that they have completed MS 099 Intermediate Algebra. In other words, graphing and plotting should not be unfamiliar mathematical terrain. The data, however, suggests otherwise.

The data above suggests that I will have work more carefully early on in the term to connect together physical concepts with mathematical models, and ensure that the math itself does not become a barrier to comprehension.

Lycophytes and Monilophytes hike

2011-08-20T08:48:00.001+11:00

For the past five or more years the term has started on a Thursday, which meant that the first ethnobotany class was also on the first day of class at the end of the week. Attendance had suffered as a result. This term started on a Monday, which put the first ethnobotany class on the second day of classes on a full week of class. Attendance was strong with all but one student attending.

The first day I brought in five plants as a pretest, the results of which were depressing. That introduction plus coverage of the syllabus left time only to cover cyanobacteria. The first day of class was wet and rainy, and the students were not yet prepped with the knowledge that ethnobotany walks under the rain. In view of this, I had brought in a specimen of cyanobacteria (Nostoc). Thus moss was not covered on the first day of class.

On the second day of class, the class headed out on the hike into the valley of the monilophytes. I did not open the class, opting to leave from in front of the classroom at 3:30 to maximize the time available for the hike. We stopped to put backpacks in the division supply closet as the weather was again rainy.

Behind the gym the class paused briefly as I looked for moss sporophytes. I did not see any and moved on. I opted to use the trail that takes off from the southwest corner of the parking lot on the west side of the gym.

This dropped the class down into the area where I had previously found Psilotum nudum. I did not locate any P. nudum, the area having become covered with Piper ponapense.

I led the class through the Hibiscus tiliaceus to the trail.

On the Ridgeline

The class stopped on the ridgeline to view the lycopodium Lycopodiella cernua and the sun-loving fern Dicranopteris linearis. Lycopodium is a member of the division Lycophyta, the ferns are members of Monilophyta. After a fire three years ago, and over-harvesting due to decoration for graduation, the Lycopodiella was scarce. This term the Lycopodiella appears to have recovered and expanded along the ridgeline.

Again the language loss among the students was severe. Only one student came up with kidien mal. One of the few Chuukese students disputed unen kattu. And for the first time that I can recall, the main island Yapese student was clueless as to whether the plants even had a name.

The class then paused at the top of the steep slope where Nephrolepisspp. and Thelypteris maemonensis were observed. A tree at the top of the trail now has a healthy growth of the lycopodium Huperzia phlegmaria on the trunk. Since last January strobili have developed on this plant. I was devastated when not a single student could name the Nephrolepis fern - rehdil. A single young man may have known the plant, but was too shy to say. The inability of essentially all of the Pohnpeians to name rehdil is unprecedented.

Local uses and meanings of these plants was also explained, along with names in the local languages. The local names for Microsorum scolopendria, its use as amwarmwar, and the function the plant had as a mwarmwarin protecting the dancer from soumwahuen eni were covered. A plant known locally as marekenleng was located on a tree, this plant is currently listed in the virtual herbarium as Asplenium polyodon.

Also found atop the steep slope was Davallia solida (ulung en kieil). I was so taken aback by broad and deep loss of language, that I forgot to cover the term devolution. Asplenium nidus was encountered as we descended the slope. Now that I no longer cover the use of Vittaria, the fern is re-establishing on the trees at the top of the slope. This omission has been necessary due to over harvesting of the plants. This term I mentioned only the Pohnpeian name and that the fern is a primitive fern.

On the slope

The descent into the valley was particularly wet and slippery this term due to ongoing drippy rain.

In the valley

Down in the forest I could not locate Humata banksii. This term I also did not locate the Psilotum complanatum nor did I see Huperzia phlegmaria in the valley. The Asplenium Polyodon was still present both on top of the slope and in the valley.

Father along the trail the class observed Cyathea nigricans. One student could name the tree, a couple others agreed with the student. The rest of the class drew a blank.

I then took the class down to the river and up to the Antrophyum callifolium. We reached the A. callifoliumaround 16:40. No one said that they knew its name, no one indicated that they had seen this fern before. I then took role and at 16:47 I dismissed the class. This was one of the later dismissals, but this term add/drop continued until the next day. No one dropped the class.

Overall my impression continued to be that plant language loss is increasing term-on-term. While there will always be statistical fluctuations in the knowledge set of a given class, this class seems weaker in their local language skills than any previous class.

Density of soap

2011-08-20T07:56:00.000+11:00

Laboratory 01 in SC 130 Physical Science focused on the linear relationship between volume and density for soap. The class began with a return look at Monday's demonstration.

Measuring the mass of the vials did clearly demonstrate that the sinking vial was slightly more massive than the floating vials. Density calculations were complicated by the cap being slightly larger than the glass vial. Volume calculations attempted at 8:00 were plagued by measurement and mathematical errors. Misreading of the calipers and forgetting to halve the diameter both contributed to a confusing presentation. At 11:00 an attempt was made to determine the volume by displacement using the graduated cylinder.

The complication is that the masses do not yield densities that predict floating and sinking.

The floating vials massed at 13.2 and 13.4 grams. The sinking vial massed at 14.0g. By displacement, the volume of a vial is 14 cm³.

Differences in the 1.575 cm diameter of the vials was less than 0.025 centimeters between vials, thus volumetric differences in the vials were on the order of, at most, 2%. The mass difference was the larger effect at 6%.

I also massed an empty 100 milliliter beaker, filled the beaker with 80 ml of water, and remassed the beaker to work out the density of the tap water in the laboratory.

A 43.7 gram beaker massed 126.4 g with 80 ml of water for a calculated density of 1.03 g/cm³ for the tap water. The complication with this approach is that few, if any, of my students have worked with milliliters, thus this calculation is little better than magic.

The above implies a water mass displacement of 14 times 1.03 or 14.42 grams of water, suggesting that all three vials should float. As they do not all float, errors in measurement must remain. The differences are small, only a 6% spread in mass, a difference of less than one gram. This is a rather sensitive system.

Cutting the soap into a rectangular slab

Harmony beauty soap and Safeguard anti-bacterial soap both with a density greater than one gram per cubic centimeter was used by six lab pairs in each section. Two lab pairs in each section had Ivory soap with a density of less than one gram per cubic centimeter. The soap was carved into square chunks so the volume could be calculated from length × width × height.

The class began with the Freeman Dyson quote:

For a physicist mathematics is not just a tool by means of which phenomena can be calculated, it is the main source of concepts and principles by means of which new theories can be created... ...equations are quite miraculous in a certain way. ... the fact that nature talks mathematics, I find it miraculous. ... I spent my early days calculating very, very precisely how electrons ought to behave. Well, then somebody went into the laboratory and the electron knew the answer. The electron somehow knew it had to resonate at that frequency which I calculated. So that, to me, is something at the basic level we don't understand. Why is nature mathematical? But there's no doubt it's true. And, of course, that was the basis of Einstein's faith. I mean, Einstein talked that mathematical language and found out that nature obeyed his equations, too.

At the start of the class I noted that if the density of the soap was less than one gram per cubic centimeter, the soap would float. If the density of the soap was more than one gram per cubic centimeter, then the soap would sink. The density would be determined from the slope of the graph later in the class period.

Connie masses Harmony soap

I also included a quote from William Gilbert on the need to perform experiments and when experimenting to "handle the bodies carefully, skilfully, and deftly, not heedlessly and bunglingly." The above difficulties with the vials suggests that I too am not heedful enough of Gilbert's cautionary words. Somewhere in the vial measurements I bungled.

This class also provides an opportunity to introduce the mass balance and measuring in centimeters. After gathering the data on the length, width, height, and mass of the soap, the class moved upstairs to the computer laboratory to plot the data and determine the slope of the best fit line.

The class does not presume prior knowledge of linear regressions, on the contrary the class teaches the concepts of slope and intercept through the science encountered in the class.

Only after the students work out their slope data do I ask them to predict what their soap chunks will do when dropped into a beaker of water. Each makes a prediction. Then I drop the Harmony soap chunks into the water, followed by the Ivory soap chunks. As Dyson noted, the students made a mathematically based prediction and the soap knew what to do.

The chart is based on student data for the Ivory, Harmony, and Safeguard soaps. The blue line is a density of one gram per cubic centimeter, the theoretic density of water. Obviously this experiment could be mathematically simplified by having the students directly calculate the density per chunk. The densities could then be averaged. The point, however, is to move the students towards mathematical models. Laboratory three and section 041 will feature non-linear models. Slope is mathematically a farther reach for the students, the gain is worth the mind stretching.

Jon Berger Luncheon

2011-08-19T10:37:00.000+11:00

A farewell luncheon was held for assessment coordinator Jon Berger at the Kaselehlie diner in Nett.

Jon successfully coordinated the COMET entrance test, assessment, and accreditation matters during his time with the national site. He also proposed the Micronesian Cultural Center and drafted the first business plan.

Social media survey

2011-08-17T22:31:00.001+11:00

A convenience sample survey of 61 students in the MS 150 Statistics class at the College of Micronesia-FSM Palikir national campus 15 August 2011 asked about social media membership.

Site	Sp 09	Fa 09	Sp 10	Fa 10	Sp 11	Fa 11
FaceBook	0	9	12	46	62	54
MySpace	32	45	33	33	45	29
Bebo	17	41	27	37	42	20
Other	8	16	26	25	16	12
None	9	13	10	8	8	4
Sample size n	54	74	58	66	72	61

Number of students with membership in the listed site by term
Note that the columns do not add to the sample size as students can have multiple memberships.

Percentage of students with membership in the listed site by term

FaceBook extended its dominant position among statistics students at the college, while MySpace and Bebo lost market share among the students. FaceBook has risen from zero in spring 2009 to social media hero in 2011.

The appearance of FaceBook on the spring 2009 survey may have caused to students to investigate the site and begin signing up for accounts. Because the survey and this report may have the unintended effect of driving "membership out of curiosity", the sites included in Other are not listed in this report. In the Other category twelve students reported membership in seven sites with no site having more than three members.

A study of whether students use only FaceBook, MySpace, Bebo, or some combination of the three is shown in the following table.

Site(s)	Fa 11
FaceBook	22
MySpace	0
Bebo	0
FB+MyS	13
FB+Bebo	4
MyS+Bebo	0
FB+MyS+Bebo	16
None of three	6
Sample size n	61

While 22 students use only FaceBook, no students use only MySpace or Bebo. This suggests that students who have MySpace and Bebo memberships have these memberships as a result of having joined those sites prior to joining FaceBook. These memberships are historic artifacts and as these students graduate, the number of MySpace and Bebo users may simply fall to zero.

Providing some support to this interpretation is that 41 students report FaceBook is the first site they check, none report that MySpace or Bebo is a first check. The remaining students reported email sites as a first checked site when the student gets on line.

In addition, when asked in which site they have the most friends, 53 reported FaceBook, one reported MySpace. The remaining students did not answer this question.

Four students self-reported no social site membership. Spring 2011 eight students had self-reported that they do not use a social media site. That is a drop of 50% while the sample size only decreased by 15%.

FaceBook users reported an average of 280 friends, an increase from an average of 228 friends spring 2011.

Loss of plant words

2011-08-16T17:49:00.000+11:00

I did a first day exercise with my ethnobotany class involving five plants. I had the whole class stand. I asked students to remain standing if they knew the name of the plant in their own language. I chose leaves from five plants that I felt ran from easiest to hardest:

Breadfruit, Artocarpus altilis
Bird's nest fern, Asplenium nidus
Ixora casei.
Melastoma malabathricum var. marianum (pisetikimei)
Giant Caroline island ginger, Alpinia carolinensis (iuiu)

Everyone stood up. When I held up the breadfruit leaf, no one sat down. I expected that.

When I held up the Bird's nest fern I expected the Kosraean and possibly the Chuukese students to sit down. I was a tad shocked when everyone sat down.

I then went around the room and cross-checked. Four young Pohnpeian men, and only four, knew the name. They stood back up - they had sat down because they were not sure.

The four were able to name the next two, but none of the four knew the iuiu. No Pohnpeian in the class recognized iuiu. At the end, no one was standing.

I did not expect anyone to name the iuiu, but the loss of tehnlik was a shocker.

Artocarpus altilis, Breadfruit
Chuukese name: Maichul
Kosraen name: Mos, possibly ikunlal or fohksrasrok
Pohnpeian name: Mai uhp
Yapese name:

Asplenium nidus
Chuukese: Choolek, Neek
Kapingamarangi: rokoh
Kitti: Toahnlik
Kosraen: Muhlihklihk
Mwoakilese: Kardoap
Pohnpeian: Tehnlik

Ixora casei
Chuukese name: Achiou
Kosraen name: Kalsruh
Pohnpeian name: Ketieu
Pingelapese: Keliseu
Yapese name: Waish

Alpinia carolinensis
Pohnpei: iuiu
Yap: chifif

Melastoma malabathricum var. marianum
Pisetikimei

Density and Buoyancy Demonstration

2011-08-15T21:30:00.002+11:00

I modified and ultimately simplified a discrepant event demonstration that Dr. Thomas Scarlett III introduced me to at the Pacific Education Conference 2011 (PEC) here on Pohnpei. Dr. Scarlett was presenting as part of a Pacific Education And Research for Leadership in Science (PEARLS) that is based out of the Hawai'i/Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center (AHEC).

Dr. Scarlett used three vials with liquids at different levels and a two fluids at different densities. I initially played around with this option, substituting clear virgin coconut oil for the second liquid. I put the graduated cylinder in the prep room and the coconut oil solidified. The unexpected complication was that the oil did not become clear upon melting - the oil remained milky.

I did decide to use fluids of equal amounts in each vial. While I fascinated by the three different levels, I decided to make the discrepant event the floating and sinking of two vials with fluids at a common level. This reduced the variables in play.

Although I did initially demo the three vials in the two fluids, I realized that there were still too many variables. For the students it was magic - nothing too surprising or mysterious. I shifted to water and the difference in performance suddenly became more puzzling for the students.

Buoyancy and density discrepant event experiment

Note that the two floaters are not actually identical and that they did hover at different levels in the problematic dual liquid cylinder on the right. Using a fluid less dense than water would allow one to use more fluid in the vial, which would make the denser than water fluid vial more reliably sink. In the above the buoyancy is very sensitive to the fluid levels in the vials. The floaters and sinkers are only just barely separated in density. A bit more fluid and both sink, a little less and both float.

If I do repeat this next term, two or more vials and a large beaker of just water is recommended. The third vial may be useful. I ask for a prediction up front. Then after the first vial is in the water, the students often predict the second vial will behave the same. If it does not, then the students are left in a quandary as to what to predict for the third vial.

Mourning

2011-08-14T21:24:00.000+11:00

Tonight the body of a volunteer teacher, the only daughter, returns to her grief stricken parents. She arrived on island only three weeks ago. A week ago on an outing to a waterfall, Lididuhniap, she was apparently climbing slippery rocks, and fell from a height onto the rocks below. There is no making sense of the loss of someone so young and full of the joy of life.

If you traveled from afar to go work in Chicago and two weeks after arriving passed away as the result of a tragic accident, few in Chicago other than your immediate co-workers would be aware of your passing. On Pohnpei the governor, the state director of education, the state coordinator, of secondary education, an ambassador, and over fifty other people gathered to mourn the loss. A choir sang and tears were shed.

I went not because I knew her, I did not. I only knew those who did. In the states there would have been little impetus for me to have attended a memorial service. By analogy, it would be as if someone recently hired by another company, not the one I was working for, had passed away. Although I have been away a long time, I cannot think of a situation in which I would be attending the memorial service for a new hire in another company in Chicago.

Pohnpei is different, much more closely related to a small town than a city. Culturally, those here on the island gather when there is a loss. Death is up close and personal here. On Pohnpei we may live on an island but on that island we live by the words of John Donne, "No man is an island... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankindand therefore never send to know for whom the bell tollsit tolls for thee." When the bell tolls, we gather as a community, as a family, knowing that the bell peals also for us.

Space, Time, and Matter

2011-08-12T12:49:00.001+11:00

In the beginning, nowhere at no time was made of nothing. The perfect symmetry of absence was lost and a singularity became somewhere at some time made of something. Space, time, and matter came into existence.

Space is about choice. Forward, backward, left, right, up, or down. You can go any direction. Up to you.
Time leaves no choice. Relentlessly marching ever forward into the future. There is no going back. No left time, no right time. No up, no down. Only one direction. No choice.
Mass is the mystery. Mass has no direction. Mass has no forward, no backward. No left. No right. No up. No down. Mass simply exists.

Space is the questions how close, how far, which way, where am I, how high, how deep, how wide, how long. Space has lots of questions.
Time is the questions when, how old, how young. Time has only few questions.
Mass is the question how much. Mass has the fewest questions.

Space is near, far, over there, here, on, over, under, above, below, big, small, narrow, tall, short, wide, in front, in back, across. Space has many descriptors.
Time is now, never, sooner, later, forever, immediately. Time has a only few descriptors.
Mass is a lot, a little. Mass has the fewest descriptors. Mass is stuff. Stuff seen and, in the case of dark matter, stuff unseen.

Everything else is pure energy. Energy perceived and, in the case of dark energy, not perceived.

SC 130 Physical Science fall term 2011 starts on 15 August in room A101 at 12:00.

Students in the course will need a scientific calculator for this course. The text book is available in the book store.

I also recommend but do not require a ruler. Another recommendation, but certainly not required, is a cell phone. Cell phones often have chronographs. A chronograph is a stopwatch with memory for recording laps and splits. A lot of physical science can be done with a ruler and cell phone chronograph.

A final recommendation is sunglasses. Not for style, sunglasses are useful for viewing clouds and ice bows.

In physical science we study the inanimate world. Physical science includes physics, mechanics, statics, thermodynamics, earth sciences, vulcanology, geology, meteorology, climatology, sonics, optics, electromagnetism, astronomy, cosmology, and many more fields. There is too much to cover in a single term, and the amount of potential content exceeds what one could learn in a lifetime. Thus this class focuses on process more than on memorized content. Science is a process, a way of exploring the world, not a set of memorized fun facts to know and tell. Science is a way of thinking.

At the core of every science is mathematics, and mathematics will be a regular core feature of the class. Do not be afraid, mathematics is simply another tool science uses. Science often makes math more understandable.

Science is not science unless it is communicated. The course includes writing up laboratory reports using spreadsheet and word processing software. Laboratory reports are graded on content as well as on grammar, vocabulary, organization, and cohesion. This course will demand a lot of writing from you.

The course includes a focus on the potential use of physical science in the elementary and secondary school classroom. Some in the course are either in an education major, the child of a teacher, or will one day be a teacher - even if you do not now plan to do so.

In the end there will be only dark energy, dark matter, and black holes with singularities at their center.

--
Dana Lee Ling

"I always loved running - it was something you could do by yourself and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
- Jesse Owens

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