Last week I spent an afternoon at a nearby elementary school teaching 3rd graders about rocks. The already knew about the rock cycle, but their hand samples were pretty mediocre – pebble size, maybe. So I loaded up our cart with a couple hundred pounds of rocks and spent the afternoon teaching those kids on “How to become a rock-detective”. It was fun and I got some cool thank-you letters back. Mackenzie clearly remembered what volcanic bombs look like:
The students wrote thank you letters and asked follow up questions. Here are a few:
Q: What is your favorite rock?
A: A blue schist from Russian River, CA
Q: On a scale from 1 to 1,000,0000 how much do you like your job?
A: 999,980 (nothing is perfect, but some things come close)
Q: What do you teach those College kids?
A: Lots of stuff: Geology, Physics, Climatology, how to do research and plenty more
Q: How much money do you make?
A: Enough to feed my wife, kids, two dogs, and a cat.
Q: What do you do all day?
A: I teach, do research, visit nosy 3rd graders, spend too much time in meetings.
And, finally, I received an awesome portrait, drawn by an amazing artist.
I must say my new friend Angelo got it right: flannel shirt, rolled up sleeves, beard, glasses, rock cart (note the ripple marks on the sandstone!!) – the works.
:-)
Last month Professor Morrison and her students conducted the annual spring bird banding event with 6th-8th grade students at the 2 Rivers Magnet Middle School, in East Hartford. This activity provides a unique opportunity for students to learn scientific methodology for studying birds, about the natural environment surrounding them, and more about the birds themselves. Prof. Morrison and her students have been banding birds at 2RMMS since 2002, once in fall and once in spring. This week’s best capture was a Northern Flicker!
