Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Feeling the Temperature-01

by S.B.Asoka Dissanayake Visit www.writeclique.net

There is a bizarre (somewhat insane) discussion going on local English Papers. This is something .I penned down many moons ago. Reproduced here for any sane person's perusal.

Finding a suitable Thermometer

I lost my email connection due to no fault of mine but that was a blessing in disguise. It was a painful experience and I could not gain access to my writings at www.writeclique.net It forced me to have an alternate email which was useful in any case and I registered myself again dropping my professional designation.

So all my relatively scientific writing would be at this alternative space from now onwards. This would be one of my opening writings that would be posted there.

I had some interest in temperature ever since the indoor temperature of my room hit 90 degrees (90º F) and when I could not sleep. Since then I kept a record of the indoor temperature at random and it has became almost an obsession.

The other reason is that I should have a record of Kandy temperature for future perusal when the coal power plant is operational in three years time. My record for the next three years if I am alive and well by that time would be an eye opener to our future energy planners.

My gut feeling is that there would be drastic and erratic changes in temperature even though Kandy is far away from that site.

I do not want to delegate this responsibility of recording the temperature to the meteorology department since I am told some of the filed officers never take any interest in recording accurate data. I am also told some of them look at old data and send a doctored report to head office and they are like our foresters who are never found in the forest where lot of illegal felling of trees and gem mining is going on.


After the tsunami the little respect I had for them also evaporated with the waves.


I had two red alcohol thermometers which bought for less than two pounds a piece at Woolworth Stores. One of them stopped working but the other one is still in working order and accurate (to 0.25º F) for domestic purposes.

My intention is not to write about it but to write about how I found a new one.

After surveying the entire Kandy city I found one Jumbo Size thermometer at a supermarket (Chinese made) but its recording got stuck at 78 º F and during the period it was recording the temperature it had an error of 2º F.

There supposed to be more than five Super Grade Schools teaching science in Kandy and I wonder how many of them have a thermometer in their laboratory.

I went to all the reputed pharmacies and only a few of them had clinical thermometers but none had an ordinary thermometer.

THAT WAS A REVEALATION.

When I asked few of the shop assistant I need a thermometer and not a clinical thermometer one of them sent me to an electrical shop thinking it is some sort (form) of a meter that record electricity.

That brings me to a point of an anecdote and the standard of English as it is taught (I come to that point later in an article) today in our schools.


I was barely fifteen years old still wearing shorts (those days one starts wearing a trouser when one is competent enough to speak in English and not before. Now when I come to think about it some of them are wearing it inside the mother's womb) and a young bloke (wearing lounge) came to me and asked me "what is your chronometer?

I was not amused and I told him the time and asked him why you can't speak in simple English. This bloke never gave me eye contact again and I never saw him in any academic circles too, thereafter. This was the way some city boys took Mickey out of those who could not speak English (and were not wearing lounge suit) and if the same yardstick is raised again how many of our English Teachers would pass this acid teat I wonder and wonder.

I have become chronic and teach my students acute and chronic inflammation to begin with and any word with meter aliased with electricity is a reminder how science is taught in our schools.

However, with some soul searching I managed to find a digital thermometer with two sensors and a clock and by January first I started recording the temperature both at home and my room in the faculty.

By the way the university is also not without blame. When I joined the university after long lapse I wanted to find a digital balance for some research purpose and I could not find one in our university (faculty).

It took three years for me to get one that is also from "Japanese Aid".

By that time I had finished my data collection.

I paid my own money to buy a suitable electronic balance that also after six months of searching in Colombo.

This is the way we do research in our universities. So we (higher education) are no better than the education department.

This is where I have a "hearty laugh" when people in Colombo are talking about nanotechnology.

Teaching Science-03

by S.B.Asoka Dissanayake Visit www,writeclique.net

There is a bizarre (somewhat insane) discussion going on local English Papers. This is something I penned down many moons ago. Reproduced here for any sane person's perusal.

Even though the discussion would end up with the illustration of the basic scientific tenants of uncertainty principle, the change and the chaos inherent in any physical or biological cycle, the conceptual development of the themes that are involved are giant steps for young minds.


The frog leap attempt is the way to reach the summit of discussion.

To come to the final conclusion one has to go through the layers of scientific concepts and behaviour pattern of nature.


The fact of the matter is constant change.

But because these changes have patterns that tend to recur in somewhat of a predictable pattern, the sequence of events that recur are called cycles and the term equilibrium is introduced to bring a concept of static nature to a dynamic change that would be chaotic if not for the patterns of regular behaviour.


The persistence of patterns gives order and consistency to recurrent events.


Weather is an ideal ground to base the conceptual thinking. That was the reason for its choice in the first place.


Having said that the professional meteorologists meager capacity to predict the weather and his negligible ability to control it warn against the complacency of the scientific notions and the teachers (myself in this discussion included) limitations.


Equilibrium states

A man with science would like to simplify facts of life for the purpose of explanation. The equilibrium states is a model well tried out for stating concepts. Sometimes in this process of simplifying facts he destroys the true tenants of reality but that is beside the point at this stage of discussion.

For the purpose of discussion we take few examples of equilibrium states.

Cycles
1.Day and Night
2.Diurnal rhythms
3.Circadian rhythms
4.Rain and the Monsoons
5.Populations and the Birth and Death of individuals
6.Photosynthesis and the Respiration
7.Clouds and the Rain
8.Wind and Pressure
9.High tide and Low tide
10.Chemical Equations

Concepts

1.Pressure
2.Temperature
3.Gravity
4.State of the Matter
5.Radiation
6.Energy
7.Thermodynamic Principles
8.Entropy
9.Atmosphere
10.Air (water vapour )and Matter (dust)

Only term not listed up there is the Time for a valid reason. To explain the day and night we need a artificial measurement be that it may be seconds, minutes, hours or days, weeks and months and years. The seconds (small but perceptible enough) and days have a meaning for the clock manufacture but the minutes and hours are arbitrary ingredients. Similarly hours and days have a meaning to the teacher and the parents and the weeks and months have no meaning (to the child).

For the child it is the play and no play (work) or the schooling and holidays and the rest of the classifications (weeks and months) are arbitrary and meaningless approximations in his life's experiences.

In a scientific sense what the child needs is to be exposed to enough experiences adequate for his perceptual (development) thinking capacity and certainly not a rigid science syllabus. I have no intention of discussing each scientific principle except a few that would have some meaningful expression in the child's mind.

Exploration

The explanations of the themes can be attempted by studying a model or an exploration. A cloud chamber in the laboratory can be a model (difficult to simulate) but in real terms unnatural for a young mind. I would go for an exploration (observation, adventure and discovery) instead of demonstration with a virtual class of students.

This exploration is laid in the in the neighbourhood of the Hantana Ranges.

Why the Hantana Range?

It is simple.

A living laboratory to investigate the laws of nature?

How the modern man is destroying it or trying to restore it to order is an object for further discussion.

Perspective

The knowledge is incremental and the wisdom is not. Acquisition of knowledge without the ability to shed prejudices (be that it may be colour, creed, class, sex or the knowledge itself) already ingrained in the conceptual development is the biggest hindrance to modern day learning.

If the correct conditions are provided the development of wisdom (peace associated with it) will ensues and of course the harmony of the world at large.

Experiment an Eco friendly one

There can be many variations to this skeleton of experimental inquiry. This is something I would have wished as a child but never was given thought by the scientific teachers of the yesteryear. But I made my inquiry not necessarily in a scientific sense but silently (rationally as was feasible at my age ) in my own time and space.

There are many more like me in this generation who are left without a guide in the search for knowledge for fun and game.

The exploration should consist of small teams. Should be limited to 5 to 10 for easy administration and division of labour without duplication of efforts and the efficiency of management.

First of all they should obtain a contour map of Kandy city (I doubt any school in Kandy have it except some understanding of the perimeter of 2 mile radius).

Then the team should identify sites for exploration for either 250 or 500 feet ( Kandy-Peradeniya bridge as a base of 1500 to 1600 feet)elevation intervals (altitude.

They should camp in these sites initially on day time (cycle) and subsequently at night (parents would go berserk.

With the day time data and their imagination they should be able work out their predictions and strategies for night. With the integration in mind, the Boy's Scouts and Girl's Guides in schools should have their own contribution to this thematic learning and experience.

I have few site for the students to investigate. They are as follows.

1.Hantana Peak (with Radio Ceylon organizing the infrastructure requirement).
2.Peradeniya River Basin (at the Campus, Peradeniya Garden and the Water intake- with Peradinya Garden, University and the Teaching Hospitals providing the infrastructure requirements).

3.Kandy Lake and the surrounds

4.And many more sites.

The equipments necessary are the minimal and what would be used by the meteorologists of Kandy. For the data the students could not obtain, the meteorologists should provide inputs of basic data (especially nocturnal).

Thermometers, barometers, compass and litmus paper would suffice.

They should make some weather balloons and few kites themselves for fun and experiment.

The whole exercise may take months of planning and execution but at the end of the day the students are enriched with meaning and understanding why we do something.

All the concepts mentioned above and many more that would arise from simple questioning and inquiry would cover the entire syllabus with minimum of theoretical knowledge.

Since the education department have canceled the advanced level practical examinations for many decades and the university has no intention of recommencing them this is the only way to rekindle the scientific inquiry and true scientific breeds.

It is the need of the day I believe.

I have avoided the exact methodology (things to be recorded by the students ) since it may look like the passage I have used for discussion.

However just to illustrate a point the student should gather at the bridge that lay across the court complex in Peradeniya and study the contents of the stream (The KUNU Ela).

It is an ideal place for a pilot project for the students before embarking on an ambitions project.

I have used this for a theoretical discussion in a global sense to make aware of the complexity involved in doing research and weather reporting.

It should not be taken in literal or metaphorical sense but with open mind to discover the uncertainty principle which is the binding rule of the Universe.

The words that I have encountered in the passage are given below for objective examination by the teacher who may think like me and the list is not comprehensive.

In every 20 words there was a technical term and it is staggeringly high for a small mind.

Would clutter even an adult mind.

If the conceptual understanding is introduced in a half baked manner the damage it does for conceptual thinking is irreversible.

List of words

1.liquid
2.solid
3.states
4.vapour
5.content (zero to about 4 percent)
6.atmosphere
7.air
8.temperature
9.dust
11.condensation nuclei
12. nuclei
13.ingredients
14.precipitation
15.The Precipitation Ladder (model)
16.stages
17.processes)
18. form
19.Ascent
20. Expansion
21.cooling
22.air parcel
23.air pockets
24.wind
25.flowing
26.horizontally.
27.vertically
28.weather processes
29.currents
30.reversing
31.air mass
32.convergence
33.convection
34.frontal lifting
35.physical lifting.
36.Convergence
37.surface
38. space
39.Frontal lifting
40.warmer
41.dense
42.ascending air
43.frontal boundary
44.Physical lifting
45.orographic lifting,
46.topographical
47.barrier
48.(volume - quantity)
49.pressure to be in equilibrium
50.expands
51.condensation
52.relative humidity
53.humidification
54.saturation
55.threshold,
56.vapour content
57.Mixing of more humid air mass.
58. Boundary
59.Supersaturation
60.condensation
61.Condensation of water onto condensation nuclei
62.deposition of water vapour as ice on freezing nuclei
63.altitude
64.cloud base
65.lifting condensation level.
66.ice crystals
67.average cloud droplet
68.terminal fall
69.velocity
70.Buoyancy or Cloudiness
71.property of water
72. latent heats of condensation
73.deposition
74.Freezing
75.heat
76.cumulus clouds
77.vertical growth.
78.continued condensation
79.collision
80.Turbulence
81.currents
82.bounce off
83flow around
84.updraft
85.collision opportunities.
86.conditions for drop growth
87.optimal conditions
88.co-exist

Teaching Science-02

by S.B.Asoka Dissanayake visit www,writeclique.net

There is a bizarre (somewhat insane) discussion going on local English Papers. This is something I penned down many moons ago. Reproduced here for any sane person's perusal.

Weather as a Model for Scientific Investigation
As an example the weather can be investigated in a scientific way. This examination is not complete or comprehensive but taken as an instruction model for discussion and refinement. The limitations inherent in any model in illustrating a scientific fact (as a form of analogy) is also discussed briefly.

Whether one studies mathematics, chemistry or physics, science teachers are very comfortable in using equations to explain scientific themes. These equations have well balanced structures and are ideal for explanation (not investigation) of scientific notions but may fall short of that reality. That is something I would like to delve into.

My intention is to highlight the fallacy of using equations and equilibriums to state scientific facts as absolute truths (In a philosophical sense - the meaning of the word meaning?).

This approach of equations and equilibrium fails miserably when discussing the pattern weather and its behaviour.

This was what I have encountered as a child and still do and the recent tsunami was an eye opener to rekindle my latent interests in science of weather reporting. Even though this is not and attempt of in depth to analysis of weather or its reporting, an oblique reference is made to weather as a focal tenants of disagreement with the way the science is taught in our class rooms.

I have started addressing this in the Part 1 of the essay and this should be read in continuity with that and the Part 3 of my own observations that follow.

In weather an equilibrium state is never achieved in a scientific sense. It illustrates the uncertainty principle in general. Instead of an equilibrium state, cyclic phenomena are evident in weather patterns Weather is discussed in some detail below. The order and change (chaos) can be grasped without any difficulty unlike other scientific principles. The cyclical nature is apparent when one talks about monsoons and inter-monsoonal rain. What is evident is constant change but the order only becomes apparent because of repeated sequence of events (change and cyclic change adequately fits into this notion).

The cyclic nature of the phenomena is studied when forecasting of weather and it behaviour.

The model is the cyclic pattern of the water cycle.

Discussion is based on a scientific description of clouds and their behaviour which I copied from a web site with modification to suit the current discussion. To begin with there were over a hundred new scientific and technical words in in a short space of few passages. That is what I consider as the biggest handicap to a student or an average inquirer with open mind.

I would attempt to put that in perspective in simple terms as is possible but there is no guarantee.

It as a bold attempt since the few passages that I cover involve the entire package of scientific domains form physics to chemistry to mathematics to dynamics and logic and logistics.

Building Clouds

Although the formation of clouds can be quite complex in full detail, it can be simplified for a wider nonscientific audience.

There are two basic ingredients to satisfy formation of clouds; water and dust.
On earth naturally occurring clouds are composed of either water in its liquid or solid state. On other planets, where the surface atmosphere is different from that of the planet earth clouds may form from other compounds and that is not under discussion.

Thus, the primary recipe in forming clouds is water.

Collection of a sufficient quantity of water in a given space in its vapour state at a given time when the essential prerequisites (the temperature, the altitude, the pressure and the movement of molecules) are met the water vapour is transformed into clouds in either liquid or solid state.

The water vapour content of the atmosphere varies from near zero to about 100 percent, depending on the moisture on the surface beneath and the air temperature and condensation.

The water vapour content at a certain point of time and space needs to be ideally saturated to form clouds.

Next, recipe one needs is some dust.

Without "dirty air" there would likely be no clouds at all or only high altitude ice clouds. Earth atmosphere is never clean as one would expect it to be for healthy living (man's perspective). Even the "cleanest" air found on Earth contains about 1000 dust particles per cubic meter of air.

Neither a large amount nor large particles nor all dusts would satisfy the primary needs of forming clouds. Dust is needed for condensation (nidus or the nucleus) sites on which water vapour may condense or deposit as a water droplets (liquid) or ice crystals (solid). Certain types and shapes of dust and salt particles, such as sea salts and clay, make the best condensation nuclei. With proper quantities of water vapour and dust in an air parcel, the next step that has to be satisfied is the cooling of that air mass (i.e; cooling of the air parcel having a dust content of particular size and shape ) to a particular temperature conducive for the formation of cloud droplets or ice crystals (suspended in air in as a massive aggregation).

Viola, the clouds are formed.

Just as there are many ways to prepare a recipe, there are many different ways to form clouds. The recipe can be expanded with new ingredients for the precipitation to occur.

Professor John Day, the Cloud Man, has taken the simple cloud recipe, added a few more details and continued it until it makes precipitation(rain).
He calls this The Precipitation Ladder.

As with a simple recipe, he begins the process with the basic ingredients of dirty air and water vapour. As with cooking it is regulated (in real sense there is no regulators but changing states) to achieve the desired effect. He takes the ingredients through the rungs of the ladder in several stages (several processes) to form a cloud.

Ascent and Expansion are two of the main processes that result in the cooling of an air parcel in which clouds will form. We mostly think of moving air as wind flowing horizontally across the surface. (The movement of air is almost chaotic in a scientific sense but not random).

Air moving vertically is extremely important in weather processes, particularly with respect to clouds and precipitation. Ascending air currents takes the process up the Precipitation Ladder. The processes are assumed to be reversible. With descending air currents the process comes down the ladder reversing the effects until finally water vapour and dust are left in the air stream (mass of atmosphere) of movement.

There are four main processes occurring at or near the earth's surface which give rise to convergence, convection, frontal lifting and physical lifting of the ascending air.

Convergence occurs when several surface air currents in the horizontal flow move toward each other to meet in a common front. When they converge, there is only one way to go and it is upwards only. An area of low pressure (cell) build up on the surface of the earth is an example of where the converging air currents result in rising of air at the center of the converging currents. The air at the center rises to accommodate the redistribution of various air pressures (wind) that build up due to variable degree of cooling and warming of the atmospheric air creating low and high pressure points in the atmosphere. Convection occurs when air is heated by contact with a warmer land surface until it becomes less dense than the air above it. The heated parcel of air will rise until it has again cooled to the temperature of the surrounding air.

Frontal lifting occurs when a warmer air mass meets a colder one. Since warm air is less dense than cold, a warm air mass approaching a cold one will ascend over the cold air. This forms a warm front.

When a cold air mass approaches a warm one, it wedges under the warmer air, lifting it above the ground. This forms a cold front. In either case, there is ascending air at the frontal boundary.
Physical lifting, also known as orographic lifting, occurs when horizontal winds are forced to rise in order to cross topographical barriers such as hills and mountains. Whatever the process causing an air parcel (volume or quantity) to ascend, the result is that the rising air parcel must change its pressure to be in equilibrium with the surrounding air. Since atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, so too must the pressure of the ascending air parcel. As air ascends, it expands. And as it expands, it cools. And the higher the parcel rises, the cooler it becomes.

Now that the cooling has begun the air parcel is almost ready to form a cloud.

The air parcel cools until condensation point is reached.
The next several rungs of the Precipitation Ladder describe the processes through to the condensation of liquid water.
As the air cools, its relative humidity will increase -- a process Prof. Day terms humidification. Although nothing has yet happened to change the water vapour content of the air, the saturation threshold of the air parcel decreases as the air becomes cooler. With decreasing saturation threshold the relative humidity increases proportionately.

Cooling is the most important method for increasing the relative humidity but it is not the only one.

Another is to receive more water vapour through evaporation or mixing with humid air that come in contact (cloud that has already formed) with the result of moving air currents containing more (various degrees) water vapour.
To form a cloud, humidification may eventually bring the air within the parcel to saturation. At saturation the relative humidity is 100 percent. Usually a little more humidification is required to bring the relative humidity above 100 percent, a state known as supersaturation, before a cloud forms. When air becomes supersaturated, its water vapour condenses out.

If the quantity and composition of the dust content is ideal, condensation may begin at a relative humidity below 100 percent. If the air is very clean, it may take high levels of supersaturation to produce cloud droplets. But typically condensation begins at relative humidity a few tenths of a percent above saturation.

Condensation of water into condensation nuclei (or deposition of water vapour as ice on freezing nuclei) begins at a particular altitude known as the cloud base or lifting condensation level.

Water molecules attach to the particles form cloud droplets which have a radius of about 20 micro meters (0.02 mm) or less. The droplet volume is generally a million times greater than the typical condensation nuclei.
Clouds are composed of large numbers of cloud droplets or ice crystals or both. Because of their small size and relatively high air resistance, they can remain suspended in the air for a long time, particularly if they remain in ascending air currents. The average cloud droplet has a terminal fall velocity of 1.3 cm per second in relatively still air. To put this into perspective, the average cloud droplet falling from a typical low cloud base of 500 meters would take more than 10 hours to reach the ground.

Forming Precipitation

We know that all clouds do not produce rain that strikes the ground. Some may produce rain or snow that evaporates before reaching the ground, and most clouds produce no precipitation at all. When rain falls, we know from measurements that the drops are larger than one milli meter. A raindrop of diameter 2 mm contains the water equivalent of a million cloud droplets (0.02 mm diameter). To get some precipitation from a cloud, there must be additional process within the cloud to form raindrops from cloud droplets.

The next rung of the Precipitation Ladder is Buoyancy or Cloudiness which signifies that the cloud water content must increase before any precipitation occurs. This requires a continuation of the lifting process. It is assisted by the property of water of giving off heat when changing from vapour to liquid and solid states, the latent heats of condensation and of deposition, respectively. If the vapour first changes to a liquid before freezing, then there is the latent heat of condensation released and followed by the release of the latent heat of freezing. This additional heat release warms the air parcel and adds to the lifting effect. In doing so, the buoyancy of the parcel relative to the surrounding air increases, and this contributes to the air to rise further rise.
Now in the cloud, there must be a Growth of cloud droplets to sizes that can fall to the ground as rain without evaporating. Cloud droplets can grow to a larger size in three ways.

The first is by the continued condensation of water vapour into cloud droplets and thus increasing their size until they become droplets. While the first condensation of water onto condensation nuclei to form cloud droplets occurs rather quickly, continued growth of cloud droplets in this manner will proceed very slowly.

Second, growth by collision and coalescence of cloud droplets (and then the collision of rain drops with cloud droplets and other drops) is a much quicker process. Turbulent currents in the clouds provide the first collisions between droplets. The combination forms a larger drop which can further collide with other droplets, thus growing rapidly in size. As the drops grow, their fall velocity also increases, and thus they can collide with slower falling droplets.
A 0.5 mm-radius drop falling at a rate of 4 m/s can quickly overtake a 0.05 mm (50 micro meter) drop falling at 0.27 m/s. When drops are too large, however, their collection efficiency for the smallest drops and droplets is not as great as when the drops are smaller in size. Small droplets may bounce off or flow around much larger drops and therefore do not coalesce. A drop about 60% smaller in diameter is most likely to be collected by a large drop.
Clouds with strong updraft areas have the best drop growth because the drops and droplets stay in the cloud longer and thus have many more collision opportunities.

Finally, it may seem odd, but the best conditions for drop growth occur when ice crystals are present in a cloud. When small droplets form, liquid water should be cooled well below 0º C (32º F) the freezing point. In fact, under optimal conditions, a pure droplet may reach - 40º C (or 104º F) before freezing. Therefore, there are areas within a cloud were ice crystals and water droplets co-exist. The ideal condition necessary for precipitation, in other words, rain has been duly satisfied.

The technical terms that were associated with the passage I obtained from a web page (which I have changed to make the flow as I would have wished) are enormous and even with a mastery in English language and grammar one may find it difficult to understand the scientific concepts in its entirety. Put that into simple English is difficult enough but I would make an attempt to simplify the contents.

Summary

For the synthesis of the above discussion in simple terms simple enough for younger age group (instead of 7 stages) person to understand I would break it down the concept of cloud formation into 3 or 4 essential stages without upsetting the authors description of the events in a hypothetical environment.

1.Formation of water vapour in a focus of dust particle of a particular shape and size.

2.Ascent of that tiny water vapour mass enclosed around the dust particles with the change in wind currents

3.Cooling and Condensation at high altitude

4.Acquisition of a particular size when gravitational pull brings it down (down to earth attitude) to the earth surface.

Next part of the discussion I would make my observations on the basic scientific tenants of uncertainty principle, change, chaos, gravity, entropy and thermodynamics in a superficial and philosophical point of view.

Teaching Science-01

by S.B.Asoka Dissanayake Visit www,writeclique.net

There is a bizarre (somewhat insane) discussion going on local English Papers. This is something I penned down many moons ago. Reproduced here for any sane person's perusal.

Approach to teaching science is changing in the West. It is realized that in spite of the rapid advances in science (in the past century) the
benefit of science has not filtered down to the masses, specially to the young (in and out of school). When out of school the young adult has
no way of furthering his or her basic learning in science for ones own benefit functionally and socially. The school should be a place to make young people learn in a constructive way (not irrelevant factual knowledge) and apply that knowledge with common sense and with a scientific approach. There are inherent
religious, ethnic and educational prejudices that one has to circumvent to achieve these goals without upsetting the social sensitivities. Young children are brought up in various ways according to the way of life they are born to. Some are enriched and others are deprived of valuable opportunity due to many factors beyond the control of the child. The school should be the ideal place that can change this social disadvantage and teaching science with a new and scientific way is desirable and is found to be wanting.

The art of teaching science has to change form what it is now in our schools.

The top down approach and the the assumption that the teacher as a sage knows all what the students should know has failed in this country and elsewhere whether it is the East or the West.

In the West however, there is a changing attitude to teaching science (in a more pragmatic way). My attempt here is to look at this problem in a child's perspective rather than the teachers perspective. It is not possible for a teacher to know (for that matter even a doctor to know all the aspects of medicine) all the aspects of science.

A mixture of integrative approach and pooling of resources rather than training pure science teachers is what is intended. Instead of a purely scientific and academic exercise it should be broad based taking the child's development stage and the social background.

The medium of instruction and the command in whatever the language that is utilized to teach is also important. Bombarding factual knowledge to young is not what is required.

What should be tested or trained is not the memory and factual contents but the way of thinking based on scientific reasoning.
It is the thinking capacity that should be developed not the retention capacity.


Even though I attempt this at the university level the outcome is not as it is expected by me in general.

What is required is to make students ready for acquiring concepts appropriate for their psychological development. Children vary in their stage of development not only in the capacity but also at what level they achieve certain milestones of conceptual development.

Brief description of the psychological development is necessary before discussing the outcome based teaching (OBE). One should not expect the children to grow developmentally in a rigid programmed pattern. Even though they follow a general pattern some are slow and some are fast in acquiring conceptual skills. It is a normal behaviour of conceptual development and it is not that a particular child is stupid or very smart. It is the way they are born with and teachers task is for the whole class to achieve a certain level of competence (achievement) in thinking science.

To cover a particular syllabus forced on them by the hierarchy in the education department who do not have a good understanding (but just follow what was prescribed for the past 40 years without any revision) of the current trends and thinking in education. Changing requirements of the higher education should be balanced by the new way of thinking and approach in teaching science.

From concrete operational (direct experience) thinking to formal (acceptable to science) operational thinking is a very big step in psychological development. This change occur around 5 to 7 years of age and go on until 16 years of age. What is amazing is that children (and many adults too) do not shed their direct experience (and their thinking with it) when the conceptual development is progressing in their development (which has inherent variability).

This is a handicap (in a way blessing in disguise) the children from the age of 8 to 16 years undergo and overcome. Bombarding with factual knowledge at this stage of development is a serious problem from the point of view of the child. It is believed that conceptual development occurs at around the age of 16 and many do not develop this even up to 30 years of age and even then the conceptual development function at a very rudimentary level.


There is another barrier that is associated with psychological development. It is the language barrier itself. The language and grammatical structure did not evolve in parallel with science and its development. Language development and acquisition pre-dated the development of science by more than 2000 years. It is only in the last hundred years that the Language of Science started integrating with the standard languages of the West. Scientific terms that emerged in the West were not kind to Eastern languages and if not for the Pali Language (specially Abhidhamma terminology) teaching science in Sinhala would have been much more difficult. Unfortunately the people who started translating scientific terminology went in tangents to the tenant of Pali which was meant for a different purpose. By doing this they not only destroyed Sinhala but also the teaching of science by distorted interpretation of an ancient language.


The end result is that we are producing poor quality scientific thinkers and educators. I am one who believe that science should be taught in English very early in children's education. Not only this will help improve the English that the children would learn to use and would be an advantage in grasping difficult concepts in later life (especially when they proceed to higher studies).

Having seen students struggling to understand simple concepts in their first year at the university and the introduction English language learning before commencing their academic career has not improved or remedied the problem as it is today my impressions are somewhat biased and the reader should excuse me for that.

Having said that English is not an difficult language to learn and English is a very good supplement even if one wants to learn purely in ones own mother tongue.


Conceptual Development

Modeling is an acceptable way of expressing situations which we cannot observe directly. Models help us to understand what we observe and predict what will happen in situations that we cannot observe. Modeling a scientific concept is an acceptable scientific tool in advancing a concept or an idea. Eventually we may become so convinced of the reliability of the model or the security of the model image. Then we tend to accept it as total reality without any objection or question. The distinction between the model and the reality disappears in our teaching of science and this in turn inhibits the acceptance of new ideas. The atomic model is a good example and everybody accepts it as a good model and almost certain reality but few thinkers deviated from this mode of thinking and went into talk about quarks and antiparticles and the like.

Our educationists in science have gone into hibernation after the atomic model and canceling the practicals at the university entrance for the advance level examination (due to inherent inability to hold examinations full proof so that some elements can doctor the results) compounded the already deteriorating approach to teaching science in schools. This is one example of the examples of skewed (squint) eye view of the teaching and education in general. We have let this phenomenon (science teaching without experiment and investigation at least at a rudimentary level) progress for nearly 40 years without a review.

It is high time at least from "middle school age" the children are brought up looking for both knowledge and wisdom with open mind rather than "programed minds"of the education department. Restricting them to free books published by the education department which are probably 30 years outdated is not the panacea for a long term problem of "learning on the go" especially in science.

Australian teachers researching in science teaching are introducing many models of art of teaching science and I would like to jot down some thoughts about one of them in some detail with my own adaptation of that model. It is called the 5E Model (I am quite at ease with the Japanese 5S model of Quality Training) and worth some elaboration. Students acquire a certain level of conceptual development on a scientific phenomenon that is discussed based on 5E Model. The focus is on a observable topic or phenomenon.

Engage
Students express their views and grasp of a particular phenomenon (or a topic) and study any connection with what they already seem to know at a particular age of their development. The teacher generate the new idea or the concept without any factual information.

Explore
Students explore the phenomenon and use their own language to express and discuss the phenomenon in their own understanding and experience without any hindrance from the teacher who act as a facilitator rather than a disseminator (discriminator) of knowledge. Students generate new ideas based on hands on activities.

Explain
They explain the phenomenon in scientific terms and teacher help to develop new ides and concepts and terminology.

Elaborate
The teacher introduces new challenging situation and students apply what they have learnt to a new situation and modify their concepts accordingly. This is the application of the newly acquired knowledge to a given problem. Problem oriented but evidenced base learning is gradually introduced and facilitated.

Evaluation
The students reflect on the preconceived views (ideas) to the post conceptual development of the new scientific theme and teacher allows ongoing development of the theme as and when the experience of the class improves with new situations and problems (the class encounter). Building on a sound base of conceptualization children learn and understand more complex phenomena.

A layer of conceptual (idea) development is formed on top of the already existing concrete operational thinking which each student inherit differently without upsetting their own previous preconceived ideas and thinking capacities. There is no label attached to the previous conceived idea as either right or wrong but a modified version of the previous concept is laid on top the previous experience which each student inherited with their own experience or lack of it. The thinking capacity is developed instead of retaining capacity. Unfortunately there is tremendous variation of memory capacity of children. The top or the surface (outermost) layer is kept open ended for further ongoing improvement and development of new ideas and concepts. The approach is not rigid as it is in the book oriented learning expectation of the department of education.

In effect there are there layers of conceptual development.
Layer 1 Students already perceived thinking and ides
Layer 2 The new concepts developed with exploration and explanation
Layer 3 Open end for further facilitation with new experience and understanding

The third layer is kept open in true scientific spirits that what is understood is kept for further development and refinement. With this level of understanding and maturity students could enter what ever the type of further education they wish in their life. It should not be a static and should not end up abruptly at advanced level examination. The concept of continuous learning should be ingrained in the minds of school leavers who are encouraged to learn in their own pace and time rather than regimented time scale as prescribed by the education department.
Before elaborating with some examples that can be used in the class room

I should introduce few of my own 5ES to make the grand total ten.

The

1)Evidence based
2)Expansion of the
3)Experience of the individual to
4) Encourage true
5) Emancipation of knowledge leading to right thinking and wisdom.

Whatever the field of study one is free to apply this framework of exploration.

My intentions are to promote open discussion.

Linux in Sinhala-Hanthana Linux included

I have waited over a decade to see a Linux version in Sinhala and finally it has arrived.

Our own Anurahdha who was an expert in Linux and especially Debian initiated it well over a decade ago and he produced an experimental version named Sinhala Linux(I still have a copy).

Then after 1994 tsunami he was drawn into presidential task force (had nothing going on at that time) to steer all web applications and e-commerce and the Sinhala project was push to a back burner.

I have been testing Live CDs (over 150 now, except Ubuntu) for the last 18 months and when I tested Debian 6, I accidentally discovered Sinhala Installation Capability which was a pleasant surprise. I downloaded all the Debian CDs and some DVDs for testing and they were pretty good.

Immediately blogged this fact at parafox and asokaplus (using them for promoting Linux 100) my rambling spaces in the web.

I am trying to distribute these Debian CDs / DVDs after thorough testing.

But I personally prefer to install them in English which is second nature to me and activate the Sinhala capability afterward since the Sinhala terminology is somewhat GREEK to me.

Mind you Debian is not for the weak minded and certainly not for a newbie or a novice.

And today I find Hanthana (I live down the Hanthana Range- on the other side of the University) Linux 3.6 GiB DVD released which is Fedora 14.

It takes 3 to 10 days to download a DVD in Sri-Lanka and very few will bother to download it.

Now I have tested all Fedora 14 releases and Fubuntu (installed only Fubuntu for further testing) and all Fedora CDs freeze in installation (tried on several of my computers) but did not bother to see Sinhala capability.

In fact because of this nuance in Fedore 14 I decided to download all the 6 (5 CDs and one netboot) Fedora (13) CDs for posterity.

It has some problem with the Grub file too.

I cut my teeth with Redhat 8 and 9.

Debian I learned many moons later.

Then again Fedora 3 was the first Linux to allow Sinhala font in Open Office and later Mandrake.

I wonder whether the introduction of Sinhala font into an experimental Linux distribution is a wise decision (hope my reservation prove wrong).

Anyway we have two robust distributions having Sinhala capability.

I hope Ubuntu will pick the trend and run faster than both of them.

I won't pass my judgment just for a little while!