InterChange Newsletter From the Regional Math & Science Center at Grand Valley State University April 2018 | Volume 25, Number 3 STUDENTS - JOIN THE FUN AT SHAPE HEALTH PROFESSIONS CAMP! sHaPe Camp sHaPe (Summer Health Activities and Professions Exploration) is a four-day introduction to health careers for boys and girls currently in middle school. Students in sHaPe study anatomy, physiology, and personal health and fitness. They explore the professions of dosimetry, medical lab science, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, public health, radiation therapy, sonography, sports medicine, and therapeutic recreation. Full Story MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FEATURES RMSC DIRECTOR’S NOTES CONNECTIONS FOR THE STEM CALENDAR OF EVENTS CLASSROOM Monthly Updates from the Director's Desk Calendar Big Data Ignite presents Teacher Workshop A Grander View of Life: From Backyard Observations to the Theory of Our Origins - Full story A book review of “Darwin’s Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory” by James Costa (2017) Full Story Yuri's Night CELEBRATE MATH AND SCIENCE IN APRIL! Check out ways to celebrate math and science in April with: Global Astronomy month, Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month, Yuri’s Night, National Environmental Education Week, and DNA Day! Full Story PLAN ON ATTENDING VAEI’S SCIENCE ON THE GRAND: A STEAM CONFERENCE ON INQUIRY-BASED INSTRUCTION Van Andel Education Institute (VAEI) will host its inaugural conference for K-12 teachers this July 16-17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Full Story FALL SCIENCE UPDATE CONFERENCE - NOVEMBER 14 - SAVE THE DATE AND CALL FOR PRESENTERS The 35th annual Fall Science Update conference will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 on the GVSU Allendale campus! Full Story MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS - ATTEND THE FREE "ENERGIZING OUR Energizing our World WORLD" CAMP AT GVSU THIS SUMMER! Energizing Our World is a four-day camp designed to spark interest in renewable energy. Full Story K-13 EDUCATOR WORKSHOP SPONSORED BY WMU GEOSCIENCES & NSF This one-day workshop is intended for K-13 educators interested in learning more about the elemental chemistry of geologic materials. Full Story Dream Big PLAN TO ATTEND SCICON 2018 On Wednesday, May 9, join science educators at Kent ISD for a one day conference with multiple break-out sessions. This year’s theme is "Implementing, Teaching, Instruction, and More" - Using Michigan Science Standards to Shift Science Instruction. Full story SCIENCE MARCHES ON! MARCH FOR SCIENCE ON APRIL 14, 2018 March for Science logo Are you ready to champion science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity? Full Story InterChange Newsletter Students - Join the Fun at sHaPe Health Professions Camp! Home sHaPe (Summer Health Activities and Professions Exploration) is a four-day introduction to health careers for boys and girls currently in middle school. Students in sHaPe study anatomy, physiology, and personal health and fitness. They explore the professions of dosimetry, medical lab science, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, public health, radiation therapy, sonography, sports medicine, and therapeutic recreation. Sessions are taught by Grand Valley State University faculty. This hands-on day camp includes activities such as exercising in fun ways, eating nutritious meals, collecting data in a laboratory setting, using modern medical equipment, understanding different types of therapies for various injuries and disabilities, and experiencing a field trip to Mercy Health. Sessions are held at the GVSU Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences in downtown Grand Rapids. The camp will be held July 16-19, 2018. Participants must be between the ages of 12-15 and currently entering 7th or 8th grade. sHaPe camp is FREE and lunch is provided each day. Transportation is available based on need. For more information, including the brochure and registration, visit www.gvsu.edu/shape. Applications may be mailed in or completed online and are due April 29. For questions on the camp, please contact the RMSC at (616) 331-2267 or Kathy Agee at [email protected]. InterChange Newsletter RMSC Director’s Notes Home BIG DATA IGNITE PRESENTS TEACHER WORKSHOP On Saturday, May 5, the GVSU Statistics Department and Big Data Ignite, Inc., a Michigan Kris Pachla nonprofit, will join forces along with the Regional Math and Science Center to put on the RMSC Director, Kris Pachla inaugural Big Data Ignite Teachers’ Workshop to downtown Grand Rapids. Collecting and assessing information has always been a key ingredient in business decision- making. But in recent years, the practice of collecting and assessing information has scaled-up dramatically, a phenomenon termed “Big Data.” Big Data has become a core element of operations and strategy for a large and growing number of Michigan businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. Michigan’s continued economic development and competitiveness depend on a ready supply of Big Data talent. Consequently, preparing students for the hi-tech economy continues to be a key educational objective. The Big Data phenomenon arises from the convergence of four accelerating trends in information technology: (1) the growing availability and shrinking cost of computing and networking hardware (“infrastructure”); (2) the expanding collection of a wide variety of records and measurements (“data”); (3) advances by data scientists in the development of tools and techniques to analyze and derive insights from large volumes of multifaceted data; and (4) an expanding workforce of data engineers, data analysts, and decision-makers who can leverage the new infrastructure, data, tools, and techniques. The Big Data Ignite Teachers’ Workshop is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience with readily-available educational tools that can provide students practical exposure to foundational Big Data concepts. Participation qualifies for SCECH's. All participants must bring their own laptop computer. Date: Saturday, May 5 Location: Room 107D Richard M. DeVos Center (401 West Fulton, Grand Rapids, MI 49504). This is the downtown Grand Rapids GVSU Pew Campus. Time: 8:00am to 12:00 noon Cost: Just $20 for Michigan K-12 STEM teachers Light snacks and beverages will be provided. Register here Online registration closes on April 30. Big Data Ignite, Inc. is a Michigan nonprofit focused on providing education and training in data-intensive computing technologies, such as large-scale data management, predictive analytics, machine learning, cloud computing, and the internet of things. Big Data Ignite, Inc. seeks to establish Michigan as a recognized center-of-excellence in these areas and pursues its mission through conferences, workshops, technical user groups, and by collaborating with valued partners who share its vision, such as Grand Valley State University. Many thanks to Grand Valley State University and professors Paul Stephenson, David Zeitler, and Bradford Dykes of the GVSU Statistics Department as well as the Regional Math and Science Center for providing content, venue, refreshments, and administrative support for the Big Data Ignite Teachers’ Workshop. InterChange Newsletter Connections for the STEM Classroom Home GVSU faculty and area experts provide engaging ideas on current topics in research and education A Grander View of Life: From Backyard Observations to the Theory of Our Origins A BOOK REVIEW OF “DARWIN’S BACKYARD: HOW SMALL EXPERIMENTS LED TO A BIG THEORY” BY JAMES COSTA (2017) BOPI BIDDANDA, TONY WEINKE, RACHEL RATLIFF, KATIE KNAPP, ANNIS WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE, GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY, USA, AND MANUEL VILLAR-ARGAIZ, PRECENTACION CARRILLO, JUAN MANUEL MEDINA-SANCHEZ, DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, SPAIN “But I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them.” – Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) made one of humanity’s most preeminent discoveries with his unifying theory of life sciences – evolution – that explains the diversity of the ever-changing life on Earth. But as the new book “Darwin’s Backyard” by James Costa (2017) carefully chronicles, it was the collective continuum of not only the series of observations of the natural world that he made during his 5-year voyage around the world, but also the multitude of “experimentizing” – Costa’s term for “experimenting” – that Darwin made throughout his life, that led to such a sweeping body of work and ground-breaking discovery (Figure 1). Darwin had more questions and hypotheses than answers and would dream up observations and experiments for testing these hypotheses and seek answers. During his voyage, Darwin figured out the transmutability of species – but he needed experimental evidence for such intercontinental dispersal of species and their transmutability. Together with the observational evidence he gathered from around the world, and the in-home and backyard science-based experimental findings he made in untangling the “tangled bank of life” around his own house in England led to the 1859 publication of “On the Origin of Species” – revolutionizing, science, religion and our very sense of place in the complex and diverse stream of life on Earth. Today, nothing in the natural world around us makes much sense – except in the light of evolution. Darwin book cover Darwin Figure 1. Cover of “Darwin’s Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory” by James Costa (W. W. Norton & Co., 2017. 464 p), and photo Charles Darwin. Photo credit: Wikipedia. The book starts out with some of the stories we all know