Triple Helix

Today we went to the Ayeduase school for he first time. Today is Sunday so they had converted from school to church for the day. The people were very friendly and happy to see us. We were really just as happy to see them after the arduous journey to get here. The missed flight, the 7 hour wait in JFK for the 9:30 PM departure to Ghana. Following the 10 hour plane ride, we had the miscellaneous wait of clearing immigration, converting currency and waiting for the United flight that should have had our luggage aboard. As it turns out the luggage didn’t make it and we ended up going to the mall to purchase a few things to carry us through. Somehow it doesn’t seem right to travel 5000 miles to go to a mall, so we had to have an African dinner at the KNUST guest house in Accra. Red red with chicken – very good! Because of our lost time the first day, we started out for Kumasi right after dinner. I don’t think our driver really wanted to make the trip at this time of day – he had us pray before departure and he prayed a small prayer of thanks upon our safe arrival. I can’t say that I blame him, it was a bone-jarring drive with sections of the road completely torn up. In Ghana, it seems just about anything is acceptable on the road so long as it is accompanied by a few short beeps of the horn to let folks know you are coming. At one point we were on the complete wrong side of the road of a divided high way, it is amazing what a few short blasts of the horn can do for oncoming traffic.

I was able to update all of the equipment that has been in use here over the past year. One of the machines seemed to our hosts to have a virus – a symptom of the surprise internet connection that we didn’t know about. I succeeded at downloading the MS malicious software removal tool and scanned the machine. I don’t think it really is a virus, I suspect that the ‘c’ key is just faulty. I was also able to use google to confirm that suspicion, it seems the Asus Eee has had other owners with stuck keys that were solved by replacing the keyboard.

We will be using the rhythm wheels software tomorrow with the kids and I look forward to the experience.

Internet connection is really difficult to maintain for any length of time. Today we had quite a down pour and that knocked the power out as well as the internet connection. That was unfortunate because there was no internet connection all day until about an hour before the rain. At any rate, I was able to do everything I needed to before we lost it again.

I think I am making some inroads with the girls in period 6. I have started to go up to them and ask them how they are doing?, do you have any questions?, do you need any help? This is an engagement tactic that I have had great success in the past with in all of the math groups I have been involved with. Where a student would be unwilling to request help, if it’s routinely offered, then it become something they are used to. I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me earlier – it’s very exciting that I have found a successful strategy for engagement.

Last week science club succeeded in almost putting the motherboard into the case. Organizing the tools and materials while I’m waiting for the students to come up from lunch with Mrs. Carey helped enormously that I think that will be my routine from now on. I used to go down with her to get the kids and something to eat, now I just skip doing that.

Once the students finished eating, they re-lined up the MOBO with the posts and figured out how to proceed in getting the board into the case. This is the first week I have noticed that they are beginning to come together as problem solvers. What a nice thing to see! I no longer need to enforce taking turns – they are just doing it. If they encounter a problem they have stopped asking me and have started consulting the documentation.

Success – the board is in – unfortunately we forgot something. Elliot questioned about the piece that goes around the ports that closes that whole with the case. Ahh – you’re right! I asked them if they wanted to fix it or if I should, and they decided that I should just do it so that they can move on to the next component.

images courtesy of tigerdirect.com, our vendor for this project.

Mrs. Carey and I plan to start a Science club in Science 7A that will meet during 7^th period lunch. Our goals for the club include presentations of science topics beyond the science curriculum as well as encouraging students to create projects for the Joseph Henry Science Fair. Students will first compete in the Hackett Middle School science fair, with the winners of the school competition moving on to participate in the Joseph Henry Science Fair. Joseph Henry is being held at The College of Saint Rose on Friday March 25, 2011.

Clubs and competitions can encourage participation and academic growth in ways that typical classroom experiences do not. One of the wonderful things about the Joseph Henry Science Fair is that in addition to being local, they recognize all students for participating. This is so important and aligns with my feelings concerning competitions. Not everyone can win, but we want as many students as possible to participate. Recognizing all students is crucial to all students having a good experience and creating the desire to compete again next year.