Internet and Technology

Science encompasses many aspects of a child’s life. From exploring, to cooking, to imaginative play, science can be applied frequently in your toddler or pre-schooler’s everyday activities. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or caregiver, there are numerous ways to help introduce young minds to the world of science. Here are 15 tips to expose your child to science.

1. Relate Science to Everyday Life

One of the best (and cheapest) methods to teach about science is to relate it to everyday life activities. Nearly all activities – from playing to general life – can be applied in some way or another to science. Here are some examples:

* Is it raining outside? Talk about how rain is formed (yes, even for a 2 year old) and encourage them to learn a new word – “precipitation.”

* Playing with a ball? Discuss gravity. In simplest terms possible, talk about the law of gravity.

* Have a thermometer/thermostat? Show your tot the thermostat and inform him/her about the very basics of temperature taking.

* Cooking with eggs? Discuss where eggs come from and what comes from eggs.

* Hear a loud sound? Talk about your ears, and how you hear with your ears.

* Have some ice? Show your little one how it will melt when the temperature changes. Mention the many forms of water.

These are just a few of the ways you can relate simple biology, chemistry, and earth science to the lives of toddlers and preschoolers.

2. Visit a Children’s Science Museum

Many cities and larger towns have a children’s museum where kids can interact with various exciting exhibits. Your tots will learn about science, and you won’t have to teach them (well, for the most part!). If possible, try to get a membership (it makes a great Christmas/Birthday gift!) so you can visit frequently, and attend classes or camps. To locate a center near you, visit the Association of Science and Technology Centers Web-Site right here . They currently have 447 centers listed. (Not all museums are listed, however.) Most museums offers fun courses, camps and workshops as well.

3. Do Science Activites, Crafts and Simple Experiments Together

Making a craft together will not only stimulate your child’s creative side, it can be a fun way to learn about science and nature. There are several crafts you can do with your child. One great way to get ideas is to browse through craft books. Although they are written more for older children, there are many that can be done with your younger child – you just may need to assist them more.. Here are some books to consider:

Science is Simple: Over 250 Activities for Preschoolers : This is an exceptional book that is very easy to read, even for a science-challenged parent. It offers a variety of fun activities including rockets and slime! These activities will definitely tickle your child’s cognitive thinking skills.

Science Play: Beginning Discoveries for 2-6 Year Olds : This book is loaded with tons of age-appropriate science activities and crafts. Some include “wonder water bottles”, “bug hotel”, and “ice cream in a bag.” If you need a lot of ideas on planning science playtime, this is the book for you.

Ecology Crafts For Kids: 50 Great Ways to Make Friends with Planet Earth : This book offers a variety of earth-friendly crafts. Some include a potato print t -shirt and a bottle garden. It is recommended for ages 9-12, however children as young as 4 can complete the crafts with a lot of help from an adult.

Geology Crafts For Kids: 50 Nifty Projects to Explore the Marvels of Planet Earth : This book is also geared for older children, but again with the assistance of a very patient parent, many of the crafts can be completed. And, you can save the book for when they are older!

You should able to find these books, and others, at your local library, or purchase them online. Here are 2 additional ideas to do with your child:

Peanut Butter PineCone Bird Feeder

Just take some pine cones (can be purchased at a craft store if you don’t have pine trees) and tie a string onto the pine cone. Then spread peanut butter on them and sprinkle birdseed over the peanut butter. Tie the bird feeder to a tree and wait for the birds to come! This craft will teach little ones about nature and birds.

Play-Doh Fossils

Take some play-doh (or make your own if necessary – here’s a recipe ), and press small sea shells or other objects into the dough. Talk about how fossils are formed and, if possible, show the child pictures of fossils in a book or online.

4. Plan science related vacations

This one might not meet the budget of most families, but if possible, plan vacations that will teach your children about science. Read the article “Fun Family Vacations That Will Teach Your Child About Science ” for more ideas. You can visit a cave, got to a space center, and much more.

5. Have science related toys available

Toys with a science theme make great Christmas and Birthday gifts! One great toy to start with is My Very First Magnet Kit. . Another excellent one is My First Chemistry Kit . You also might try the Mind Blowing Science Kit . There are other great toys out there. Visit your local toy store or search online.

6. Take Nature Walks Together

This is a simple activity but can really have an impression on a toddler or young child. Even just walking through a neighborhood can expose a child to nature. Point out the different trees. Talk about the sky, clouds, and weather. Look for birds, and maybe a squirrel or even a rabbit. Talk about sunlight and how all living things need sunlight to grow. Nature walks are not only educational, they’re great exercise too!

7. Play Science Themed Computer Games

This one’s more for pre-schoolers, as a toddler might not have the hand/eye coordination for it. There are several educational computer games available to children that will teach them about biology, chemistry, earth science and more. Most of the software is greared towards children ages 6 and above. However, with a parent’s help, a child as young as 4 1/2 could learn from these programs. Some to consider are Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body and San Diego Zoo Presents the Animals .

8. Sing/Play Songs With a Science Theme

Okay, this one’s a little cheesy, but hey, if your child ends up going to medical school from your teaching skills, it’s worth it. If you visit the Science Songs for Teaching Web-Site right here , you will find the lyrics to many fun science songs, as well as CD’s you can purchase. This is definitely a unique way to help your child master knowledge, and it’s fun!

These are a just a few tips to help spark an interest in science in your child! Happy Learning! Enjoy!

Social networks definitely became a part of our day-to-day life. But when it comes to younger generation it looks like social networks are not just a part, but something more comprehensive and important in their lives. Let’s try to assess potential benefits and negatives of the social networks for our children:

Benefits:

1.      Despite of widespread opinion that social networking is a nothing more than a time-killer for students, recent researches discovered educational benefits of social networking. Study reveals that students tend to learn much of their technology and communication skills from online networking resources such as Facebook, MySpace, etc. Particulalry this way of learning efficient for low-income students.

2.      Another positive point for social network users is that they are surely more globally aware with immediate access to latest global issues. Furthermore online socializing develops perspective-taking, decision-making and critical thinking skills, with the latter is almost unaccessible to our youngsters at schools and universities.

3.      Social networking sites offers students the opportunity to create a positive self-image. The profiles gives them a chance to create the image of themselves that they want people to see by putting their best qualities “out there.”

4.      Social networks are also used as a good recruitment tool both my employees and employers. So having well regarded references and respected reputation of professional will open a huge oppurtunities in job seeking throughout your contacts network.

5.      Social network could turn into source of revenue for those youngsters who are trying to make some money with network marketing and affiliate programs. Advrertising through social network is often easy and effective rather than doing it by cold calling for example.

 Negatives:

1.       Students may get into trouble with University administrators for incriminating and inappropriate information or pictures on their social networking profiles that are violations of school policy or the code of conduct. They also may damage own reputation by posting some discreditable data or images of themselves.

2.       Obvious negative of all social networks is that young people getting used to it very fast and sometimes it becomes some sort of addiction rather than just a hobby. People who got themselves addicted to social networking waste plenty of their time to unnecessary chatting and surfing through network’s profiles. Such addiction may result also in psychological stress once social networks become unavaiable to related person.

3.       Due to the thorough connectivity of various members, people will be able to see their contacts which they may not want to reveal to others and thus these sites create holes in their privacy.

4.       There are many profiles on these sites which contain the objectional content and thus it fears lots of parents as their children get to see all that objectional content. There have been cases where people started abusing others and have gone so far that they took the photos uploaded and made changes in them using photo editing softwares and made them look nude and other sutff.

Solving the problem of employment may be more of a challenge for young workers today than for young workers of the past, however, more has changed than just the troublesome nature of job searches.  With prices soaring far above where they were when older generations faced the same trials for everything from a college education to renting an apartment, many recent grads and twenty-somethings are finding themselves in the last place they ever expected: back home with Mom and Dad.  Although just 10 years ago it was a living situation that caused many a great deal of shame, with the world getting less affordable every day and a large number of sons and daughters doing it, the level of acceptability has simply risen.  For many families, instead of empty-nesting, older generations are trying to figure out how to co-exist with 3 or more adults all living, eating, working, and sleeping under one roof.  Whereas before Junior moved back in the kitchen, living room and television may have seemed a little too large for just two people, these things may all suddenly seem slightly insufficient for a group of adults to share.  If in the midst of a job search, the newest re-addition to the household may be tying up the phone, computer and home office all day, every day, making it impossible for anyone else to get in.  Many families faced with this situation are looking for the solutions to problems caused by re-introduction of adult children into the home and coming up empty handed.  It’s just not an issue that parents’ confidants are likely to have a lot of knowledge about.  One of the best pieces of advice parents can follow is to help the grown child out with at least the illusion of some independence.  Families are finding that things like a separate internet connection are invaluable when it comes to diffusing family tensions.  One solution is treating the son or daughter to a WiMax internet subscription, which utilizes 4G internet technology and allows the user to connect anytime, anywhere.  This means that even if the child is unemployed they can get out of the house to do his or her job searching.  Even just getting out to a local café will keep him or her mobile, and can prevent the dangerous syndrome of becoming “overly comfortable” under your roof.In homes with other children, especially teenagers, freeing up the internet connection will save lots of tension and time bickering over whose turn it is to get online.  With the ability to download movies, songs and games at high speed with WiMax mobile broadband, kids will be able to entertain themselves.  A WiMax equipped laptop allows that song, movie or game to travel anywhere in the house, and allows Junior to travel with it.  Making your son or daughter feel right back at home is certainly priority number one, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is by giving him or her the ability to enjoy the convenience of anywhere wireless internet.  With a mobile air card, or WiMax ready laptop or other wireless device he or she can be not only connected to friends and family, but a world of career opportunities wherever he or she may be.

As a mother, I can truly understand how parents across the world feel about their children. The parent-child relationship is a universal one. It crosses languages, barriers, and borders and speaks the same language of love and protection. All parents have the same goal – to protect their children from the problems of the world. Obviously, most parents would like their children to grow to be model citizens and they would never want their children to be associated with anything criminal. Fair enough… but (and of course there is a but to everything, isn’t there?) there are two sides to everything. The knife that we use to cut fruits and vegetables could also be used to kill! Does this mean that we should stop using it?

I believe it all depends on how people look at things. We can choose to be positive and to look at all the positive aspects of life, or we can choose to be pessimistic and to be threatened by every fly that passes by. (Flies can carry germs!)

Recently, I have been reading countless accounts of parents who are paranoid about fingerprinting their children, and so far I haven’t been able to understand what the real issue at hand is. We have made numerous technological advancements to make our lives easier. We believe that now, in the 21st century, we are more civilized than man has ever been. So why are we not able to accept certain changes which come due to new technology? Is it because we are inherently pessimistic and cynical? I’m sure that when Marie Curie discovered Nuclear Physics her intentions were clearly not to create nuclear bombs. Humanity has benefited greatly from the development of nuclear science. Still, every time we hear the word nuclear we think of bombs and wars. It is the pessimistic nature of modern man that guides our thought process in this way.

It is true that fingerprinting has been used in the past for identifying criminals. However, the technology has evolved just as most technologies tend to do. It is rare to see someone today with a car phone or with a computer the size of an entire room. These technologies have evolved, and certainly for the better. Today, fingerprinting is generally used as a device to accurately identify people. In fact, there are a number of other biometric technologies available. Such technologies include signature readers, retina scanners and DNA samples. These have all been used to identify criminals at some point or another. But DNA is also used for many scientific tests and the study of DNA has advanced so greatly that medical science could not possibly think of doing away with it. If you were being treated for a sickness and your DNA needed to be analyzed for a possible genetic disorder, would you choose to die instead because DNA sampling is used to identify criminals? Of course this is an extreme example, but I doubt that anyone answered “Yes, of course!”

We show our children TV shows like Star Trek, The Jetsons, etc. All children have seen doors slide open and computers accessed by using fingerprinting technology “in the future”. Why can’t we realize that “the future” could be now, if we would only allow it to happen?

Parents are concerned that their child’s fingerprint will be stored in some kind of database. To be honest, I was also concerned about this at first. However, I felt that I should gather extensive knowledge about the technology before I shot it down without a second thought. I have done online research and contacted reputable firms that offer biometric technology like M2SYS, Motorola, NEC (citations to these websites are given below) etc.

M2SYS they are an American reputable leading company in fingerprint biometric technology and most of their clients are private firms, school, gyms, banks, clinics, etc. Motorola and NEC are big multibillionaire companies that produce high-fi biometric technologies for big government agencies all around the world.

These companies confirmed what really happens when an individual is fingerprinted. It basically breaks down into an initial enrollment process and an identification process. During initial enrollment, an individual scans his fingerprint for the first time. The biometric software recognizes certain unique, key points of this individual’s fingerprint. These points are then converted into a series of numbers, or a binary string. Then, each time the individual scans their fingerprint for identification, an algorithm is used to determine if the binary numbers match up with the fingerprint. If they do, then voila! The software provides instant and secure identification.

If you are still scratching your head at this point, you are not alone – I was too. Most of us will never understand the entire science involved in biometric identification. But what is easy to understand is this: every software company uses a different algorithm. There is not some magic, all-encompassing fingerprint algorithm that every company uses within their software to identify people. This means that if you had two children attending schools in different districts that were both using fingerprint identification by different biometric companies, and you accidentally sent them to the wrong schools (Mondays…) there is no way that either child could be identified. Their prints are not stored in some common database. All that is ever stored is a binary number associated with points of their prints that can only be accessed by the company that has provided the biometric software. These companies are not even associated with the government. They are mostly private technology companies just looking to sell their software solutions.

Biometric technology can be beneficial to our children by improving the security at schools and increasing the overall safety of our children, all with binary numbers which are useless to anyone but the private biometric company. I would advise every parent to do some research into the realities of biometric identification and to unveil the myth behind the infamous fingerprinting technology.

Of course if we want to think negatively, nothing is one hundred percent foolproof. Computers make our lives easier but they can be hacked too. However, if the biometric software is hacked, the thief would be disappointed that all he would receive were the useless strings of numbers. As one company put it, it would be easier to steal fingerprint data from something a child had touched than to design an intricate reverse algorithm; all to retrieve a useless series of points of a fingerprint.

Life is full of possibilities if we think positively and are open to new technology. I, for one, am more interested in my child safely growing up in a world full of amazing technological advances that my generation could never have even dreamed. I believe that this world is possible if we don’t hinder its progress by bashing advancements that we know nothing about. In the end, we may all have different opinions, but I am asking that we all gather knowledge about each new technology before we ruin a great possibility for our children.

Resources:

http://www.m2sys.com

http://www.nec.com

http://www.motorola.com