Physical and chemical changes

My new series

I want to mix humor and a marine science/conservation message.

What do you think?

Lionfish invasion part 2!

I was inspired by a recent taping of Changing Seas to make this sequel to my popular lionfish invasion comic.

What do you think?

Sea animal art

I was a little bored so I made some portraits of my favorite sea creatures.

What do you think?

Calculating speed

Another contest! Please help!

So Pixton is having a Haiku contest, and the more views I get the better for me! The prize is "Pixton points", which help you buy props to help you make better comics. It's a good thing. Please vote?

A Darwinian wink

Weight and mass

I made this comic to explain the difference between weight and mass and it was my most time-consuming comic to date. There was just so much fact checking to do! But I learned a lot. Hopefully my students will, too!

Lionfish invasion comic

I have been learning a lot about the lionfish invasion here in Florida and in the Caribbean through research for "Changing Seas", so I was inspired to make this comic for my students next year when we learn about invasive species.

What do you think?

Where does the blame lie?

Arctic food web comic

What do you think?

Oil Spill Lab for Middle Schoolers

I did this lab for my students last year and they loved it. Coincidentally, I did the lab 2 weeks before the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred. Ironically, that actually helped my students a lot, because we were able to have an in depth discussion about the best clean up methods. During this lab, they learned that although the detergent cleaned up the oil the best, it made their water soapy and "killed" their animals. My students couldn't believe that people were using chemical dispersants in real life.

The saddest part was when one girl raised her hand and asked "If they knew this kind of thing could happen, why didn't they have a plan? Why didn't they do this lab first?"

Contest

So Pixton was having a contest to see if you can make a comic using only 3 colors (shades allowed). I wanted to make mine have some semblance of a story, and tried to make it a girlie comic (as I think there is a gap in the market there...)

What do you think?

Another stop motion video with Loftus

I am fascinated with stop motion movies. I love The Nightmare Before Christmas, Wallace and Gromit, and Coraline. So when my friend suggested we make a quick one during our lunch break on Friday, I jumped at the chance. It's a little shaky because it's my first, but it has inspired a slough of science-themed ones to me made with Legos, hopefully in the very near future.

What do you think?

Out of Range: How I walk into the classroom. Always

States of Matter comic

I thought I'd use this as an invitation to a lesson on the states of matter this year with my seventh graders. What do you think?

Video of Newton's laws using stop motion and a flip cam!

My friends and I made this video using a still camera to make a stop motion film, and added some clips using a simple flip cam. I can't wait to teach my students to make one like this to teach scientific concepts. I'm linking this to the blog of the creative genius behind the video.

Out of Range: And Again Today

My research- the full comic

For my little sister

My amazing little sister completed her Ph.D. yesterday. As far as I know, she has the first Ph.D. in our family! Here is a comic in her honor.



Edit: I got a comment today saying that this was putting a negative spin on my sister's achievement. Let me be clear that I am nothing but happy for her! This is a comic strip... a joke! If anything it just reveals my cat's true personnality. He's a judgemental little guy.

My research- the movie

Since I wasn't entirely happy with the slow pace and slightly boring tone of my VoiceThread, I decided to make a movie of it instead, first in Final Cut and mixed in iMovie.

What do you think?

VoiceThread

One of our tasks was to create a multimedia presentation of our research. Naturally, comics came to mind. We were recommended to use the program VoiceThread to make a narrated presentation. While I would have rather used Final Cut Pro, here is the result...

My research, more or less

Science Made Sensible

I am in the middle of a 2 week training course ("summer institute") to teach me, a graduate student, to work with a middle school science teacher and teach science to 7th graders in a new and exciting way.

The training has been arduous and tedious at times, but I have high hopes for this year. I am looking forward to using my new skills to make science fun for kids.

One of the skills I learned was how to make comics... which I psychotically love. And so I unleash my new obsession onto this blog... Enjoy.