Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk

When you hear the word milk what do you imagine? A cold
glass of white, opaque liquid waiting for you to drink; maybe dip a cookie
in.  The milk you probably picture comes
from a cow, but milk can come from many different animals OR be plant-based.
Milk doesn’t always equal dairy. 

Milk technically is classified as an emulsified colloid.
That is just a fancy way of saying that fat and protein globules are suspended
in water.  Milk is opaque because the
solution is balanced, which means the globules are floating evenly throughout
without sticking together in one place!  

All mammals secrete milk from their mammary glands for their
babies, which means that everything from cows to blue whales produces milk!
Milk production for their young is one of the main features of mammals. Do we
drink whale milk? No, but humans consume milk from a variety of animals.  You probably have had cow’s milk, but what
about goat or camel? There are parts of the world where both of those are also
common!

Something that has gained popularity in the past few years
is plant-based milk, which could include almond, coconut, cashew, soy or oat
milks. Remember how I explained that milk is essentially globules of floating
protein? Well these plant seeds can be transformed into milk by simply putting
them into solution.  For instance, to
make almond milk all you have to do is soak almonds, blend them with water, and
strain.  You could also pick some up at
the store!

We all drank our mother’s milk (or formula) for at least the
first year of our lives, but what is the benefit of consuming milk when we’re
older? Milk is a great source of fat and protein for a growing child, but can
also be a great source of calcium for strong bones.  Dairy milk for a long time seemed to be the
main go-to for consumers, but trends are leaning more towards these plant-based
milks.  Plant-based milks are suitable
for vegans, more environmentally friendly, more climate friendly, and great for
anyone who is lactose-intolerant. They also can be a great source of calcium
and other nutrients without the sugar you find in milk.

Lactose is a type of sugar (a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose) and is the primary carbohydrate in the milk of mammals. All mammal milk has it but it can vary from animal to animal.  Cows’ milk, for example, has 12g/cup and goats’ milk has 9g/cup of lactose. Lactase, an enzyme produced in our intestines, is what helps our bodies break lactose down into digestible sugars. If someone lacks lactase, they won’t be able to digest the lactose, which may lead to digestive trouble. Lactose intolerance can develop at any point in your life and some cultures have a high rate of lactose intolerance since a lot of their cuisine doesn’t include dairy.  

Will you follow the trend and switch to plant milk? Or stick with traditional dairy? 

25 Years of Hands-On Scientist Training

“I hear and I forgot. I see and I remember. I do and I
understand.”

High Touch High Tech believes in hands-on education. We
believe that is the only way to learn science. Afterall, High Touch is in our
name!

At High Touch High Tech, we take our hands-on education
approach to training our scientists. Teachers and parents can schedule our
programs and feel confident knowing our scientists know the material, have
in-the-classroom experience, and want your students to take inspiration away
from our lessons!

We look for scientists with a passion for education, working
with children, and with science backgrounds! Our scientists really are
scientists!

While training our to-be-scientists in classrooms, they’re
allowed to develop the critical thinking skills and real-world knowledge to
adapt to your classroom. If there are disciplinary issues, innovative student
questions, or any other wavering factors, you can be sure that our scientists
will handle the situation with grace and experience!

High Touch High Tech has brought STEM education to students
for over 25 years, reaching more than 16 million students each year! Our
hands-on approach to your students education is what we practice across the
board, because it’s the only way to learn!

Happy 25th Birthday! Things Turning 25 Along with High Touch High Tech

Happy 25th Birthday!

Things Turning 25 Along with High Touch High Tech

 

1994 was an amazing year in world news, technological and scientific advancements.  High Touch High Tech began franchising, Nelson Mandela won the presidency of South Africa, and Amazon and Yahoo were both created, and floppy disks were a thing of everyday life! Take the nostalgic trip down memory lane with us as we reminisce 1994.

 

Amazon and Yahoo

In 1994, the world wide web has just been created. Yahoo and Amazon were both created and grew to the internet giants they are today. Imagine the days before being able to chat with strangers thousands of miles away at any given time! Imagine being unable to order your entire grocery list from your couch through Amazon prime! These websites revolutionized our relationship with the internet, both getting their start alongside High Touch High Tech.

 

Creation of the Element 110, Darmstadtium

Darmstadtium, element 110 was first synthesized in 1994! There were several failed attempts to create element 110, and was first successfully made that year. While chemists Yuri Ganessian and Vladimir Utyonkov created the very first Darmstadtium particles through cold fusion, credit for the first successful synthesizing goes to Sigurd Hofmann, Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg of Darmstadt, Germany where the element earned its name. The German scientists created the element by bombarding lead with nickel, and their evidence was deeming more credible and confirmed by other scientists throughout the world. Darmstadtium is a highly radioactive metal, and few atoms have ever been created!

 

PlayStation

 

The very first PlayStation was released by Sony in 1994. While PlayStation wasn’t the sole gaming console on the market, then competing with the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn, the PlayStation was game changing. With a CD format and sleek design, the PlayStation became the first gaming console to sell 100 million units worldwide! While many trends and gaming consoles have come and gone, PlayStation has remained a key player for 25 years.

 

 

Living fossil Wollemi Pine found

Before 1994, the Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) was believed to be extinct, only having been seen in fossils. The plant is from a line of evolutionary plants, dating back to the dinosaurs, long believed to have been extinct. In 1994, the plant was discovered in the remote, rainforest gorge of Australia. Currently, there are about 80 mature plants and 300 seedlings. The Wollemi pine produces various types of foliage depending on the age of the leaf, and the leaf’s position on the tree. Newer foliage is apple-green in color and frond-like. As the plant develops, the foliage becomes a blue-green color, giving it a Jurassic appearance with dual leaf rows on its branches. The mature trees have a bubbling chocolate appearance, as spongy nodules develop on its bark.

Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa

Until 1994, the Apartheid government of South Africa only allowed black voters elect Bantustan or homeland candidates. The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act had stripped black citizens of South Africa of their citizenship, making them citizens of their segregated homelands, or Bantu, in the apartheid state. In 1994 these homelands ceased to exist and were incorporated into the general South African elections, making this election the first multiracial election in South African history. On May 10th of 1994, Nelson Mandela, at the age of 77, was inaugurated as South Africa’s first place president. He tirelessly worked as president to address the issues caused by the apartheid, poverty, inequality, lack of social services and infrastructure, and building a strong economy. Nelson Mandela’s presidency reconciled and strengthened the nation of South Africa, becoming a beacon of progress throughout the world.

 

 

 

Western Hemisphere Declared Free of Polio

Poliomyelitis, more commonly known as polio, was a disease which left survivors permanently disabled. Each few years polio epidemics would plague cities and towns, leaving a trail of death and paralysis behind it. Most famous of all polio survivors being President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, being paralyzed waist down by the disease at age 39. FDR founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938, which would lead to the development of vaccinations for polio. In 1908, polio was identified as a virus by Dr. Karl Landsteiner after filtering preparations of spinal fluid of persons killed by polio. Later in 1910, Dr. Simon Flexner identified “germicidal substances” in the blood of monkeys that survived the polio virus, identifying the antibodies to polio which are the necessary agents in developing a vaccination.

Two separate teams of researchers developed early forms of the polio vaccination in 1935, both vaccinations ending in allergic reactions, illnesses, paralysis, and some deaths. For another 25 years, there were unfortunate trials and errors of an effective polio vaccination, but in the year 1960 Albert Sabin’s poliovirus vaccination for Type 1 poliovirus was licensed and formally recommended by the U.S. Surgeon general. Three years after this licensure, a vaccination for poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3 were combined creating one vaccination of the disease.  In the year 1994, polio was completely eradicated in the Western Hemisphere. While there are still cases of polio globally, there has been more than a 99% reduction of polio cases worldwide, proven the Poliomyelitis vaccination a simple and effective.

The Transition in Technology from 1994

So many of our everyday life depends on the internet; work, entertainment, communication, information, monetary transactions, networking, marketing, and education. In 1994, the World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee, and became the Internet we know and depend on today.

In 1994 there was no Google, no Hulu and Netflix, no smartphones, no YouTube, no social media, and no flat-screen TVs. Let’s look back at our very humble internet and technology beginnings.

The First Website

 

 

 

Windows Operating System

Yahoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Installation, installed via floppy disk

 

 

 

 

GameBoy Games

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Netflix and streaming sites, you had to go to a Blockbuster or video store to watch a movie

 

 

 

 

 

 

VHS Movies, the DVD was invented in 1995

 

 

 

 

 

No one had an email, or much access to the internet, so faxing was the go-to for messages 

 

 

Cell phones, whose battery was the size of the phone.  Free of a camera, touch screen, and texting.

 

 

 

CD Players, because there were no iPods, Pandora, or Spotify.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technology is constantly developing, and we’ve come a long way since 1994. As new inventions are developed, technology takes an increasing large role in our lives. We at High Touch High Tech believe in developing the next generation of inventors, granting us to the innovations of our future.

 

 

High Touch High Tech

800.444.4968

info@ScienceMadeFun.net

 

 

Sources Cited:
Barker, E. “25 Moments That Defined 1994.” NME, Jan. 2014. Retrieved from: https://www.nme.com/photos/25-moments-that-defined-1994-1422189
Sony Interactive Entertainment. “PlayStation, Through the Years.” PlayStation, Sep. 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/explore/ps4/playstation-through-the-years/
Robertson, M. “Darmstadtium.” Royal Society of Chemistry, 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/110/darmstadtium
The Global Trees Campaign. “Threatened Trees, Wollemi Pine.” Fauna and Flora International, 2017. Retrieved from: https://globaltrees.org/threatened-trees/trees/wollemi-pine/
South African History Online. “The Nelson Mandela Presidency – 1994 to 1999.” South African History Online Towards a People’s History, August 2019.  Retrieved from: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/nelson-mandela-presidency-1994-1999
History of Vaccines. “The History of Vaccines, All Timelines Overview.” The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Birthplace of American Medicine, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline#EVT_100340
Bort, J. “No Google. No Netflix. No iPhone. This is What Tech Was Like in 1994.” Business Insider, August 2014. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-in-1994-the-year-the-web-was-born-2014-8

 

 

Feature Teacher of the Month

 Feature Teacher: An Interview with Teacher of the Month Chad Johnson

 

Q: Why did you become a teacher?

A: I became a teacher because I had a family member that knew I had experience with kids throughout the years. [This family member] she encouraged me, a long time ago, to pursue education. So, I went back to school and got my certification to be an elementary school teacher.

Q: Do you feel that students get enough science education?

A: Looking across the spectrum I would say probably not. I think [the amount of science education] is school specific. When I first started using High Touch High Tech, I was not in a position that I was teaching science every day.  And to have High Touch High Tech opened me up to the opportunity to get extra work and time with students in the area of science, and I knew that they were teaching the objectives for my state.

Q: Why is science education so important for your students?

A: Science education is important because it’s the way the world is trending. Everything is technology, everything is integrated. Everything that we teachers do, at some level, is technology integrated. Anytime we can get kids into anything science or math related that they can use technology as a part of their education is a win.

Q: When did you schedule your first program with High Touch High Tech?

A: I was doing some research on different field trips I could incorporate with my students with science, I came across High Touch High Tech in the spring of 2014. I made reservations for the fall of that year, and I have been scheduling High Touch High Tech ever since then.

Q: How do you feel your students benefit for High Touch High Tech coming to your class?

A: Everything that High Touch High Tech brings completely matches my objectives for our state, so it was a clear-cut option to bring you to my students.

Q: Why would you recommend High Touch High Tech to other schools?

A: The number one reason why I would recommend High Touch High Tech is because it gives my students a break from the norm. As a teacher in the classroom, they hear me giving them information that they need [on a regular basis]. Having someone new come in, with new materials and fun experiences to addition what we do in the class provides them with a unique opportunity.

 

ScienceMadeFunRDU.net

800.444.4968

A Word From the Principal of the Year- Lauren Evans

 

Lauren Evans from Asheville Primary School was named Principal of the Year. Read what she had to say about High Touch High Tech of WNC.

 

 

 

 

10/8/2019

 

To Whom It May Concern:

Asheville Primary School is a public Montessori that services students PreK-3rd grade. Our educational model promotes student centered practices and hands-on experiences. High Touch and High Tech (HTHT) is an excellent accompaniment to our curriculum. Montessori encourages students to research non-fiction topics that are of interest to them. HTHT supports student interests in science and aligns with NC standards. All of our classrooms have had at least 3 “going-outs” with HTHT. A “going-out” is the Montessori equivalent of a field trip. The scientists have been absolutely amazing. Teachers and students have given very positive feedback regarding their experiences with HTHT. The HTHT scientists demonstrate the ability to be flexible and to meet the needs of each classroom. We have chosen to partner with HTHT again as a result of the consistent positive experiences they have provided our children. HTHT encourages student exploration and problem solving. This is the heart of our program. We are grateful to have a community organization that supports the curiosity of children! I highly recommend HTHT to schools that seek to support rigorous and joyful student-centered experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

High Touch High Tech

ScienceMadeFunWNC.net

828.984.3192

Playful Learning

Playful Learning: The Role it Plays in Education

 

Children of all cultures and backgrounds play. Play is omnipresent in the developing minds of children, as well as young animals. Play is an agent that promotes early brain development, strengthens language skills, the executive functions of memory and attention, mathematics and spatial skills, scientific thinking, and emotional development. There is an evident correlation between play and cognitive progression, which grants breakthroughs in conducting education.

Guided play maintains the free and fun aspects of play, while focusing on education goals, fostering an opportunity for imaginative exploration. For children, play and activity is about make-believe, discovery, amusement, and socialization. The difference between free and guided play is gentle adult guidance to lead towards the learning goal, while allowing the creativity to be nurtured.  This innovative approach to making learning an active experience has shown to be a successful pedagogical tool in a variety of subjects, particularly mathematics and science.

Parents, educators, and policy makers want to ensure that today’s youth will grow into tomorrow’s successful adults. The time for childhood development is short, and the expectations are increasingly high. Traditional learning is direct instruction, typically using flash cards, repetitive lessons, and over explanation with a lack of discovery.  Playful learning through guided play supports children taking a lead in their instruction, while being directed to the points and concepts that are vital to education standards and goals. Current and expanding research shows that guided play provides and delivers the same outcomes in children’s learning as traditional teaching, while being a more effective teaching tool.

Research finds that children who engage in guided play activities were more likely to learn target information. Additionally, they are more likely to retain abstract themes than the children who were given direct instruction, while children engaging in free play, without any adult support, overall are less likely to stumble upon the same realizations. A study with preschool aged children taught about shapes using guided play, free play, and conventional instruction. The children who engaged in guided play lesson were able to identify more atypical shapes than those who participated in direct lessons, and more shapes overall than those who participated in free play. The role of adults in guided play is to support the children’s choices, asking open-ended questions to gently shape behavior without controlling it.

Here at High Touch High Tech, we see the value of a hands-on, discovery style of learning. Each day we get to see students come to realizations, all the while using an active imagination. Teachers and the curriculum they abide by have yet to admit guided play and aren’t given the tools to do so. Our students lead in their own education, and it provides them an autonomy of their actions. Students are just learning how the world operates by using their imagination to dream of the possibilities and discovering new information each day.  STEM education is the key to making sense of our world, thus being the single greatest influence on the innovations which will change the world.

 

High Touch High Tech

800.444.4968

Info@ScienceMadeFun.net

~September’s Limelight School of the Month~

 

 

Congratulations to First Baptist Church Academy for being the FIRST Limelight School of the 2019-2020 school year!

Hello Scientists, I hope that everyone had a fantastic summer filled with amazing activities and memories with the family.  I have to say, it sure is great to begin a new season of High Touch High Tech’s addition of our Limelight School of the Month! Not to mention, that this year is a very special year for us at High Touch High Tech as it is our 25th BIRTHDAY.  YAY!!!

We are starting the year off strong by visiting many NEW schools as well as seeing some old friends.  This week, I had the opportunity to visit a new group of students at First Baptist Church Academy.  The four year old’s in Miss Kaitlyn’s Pre-K class were simply amazing.  We had sooooo much fun using our observation skills in order to examine several different fun materials while using a magnifying glass in order to take an even closer look.  At one point during the class, as I was helping a group of kids, I hear one child yell out, “This is so fun.”  It is always a wonderful feeling when you are able to hear the excitement of children having the opportunity to learn and be excited about science.

Our next experiment involved making gas by mixing a solid and a liquid.  You may visit our Facebook page in order to see the children back up from their tables as we were able to measure and observe just how much gas was created.  It was so funny to watch this unplanned reaction.

I would like to thank Miss Kaitlyn and Mrs. Amy for having High Touch High Tech be a part of the monthly curriculum at FBC Academy.  I am so excited to what the rest of the year brings.

 

Until next time, this is “Meteor” Martin blasting off!

800.444.4968

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info@ScienceMadeFun.net

Difference Makers

 

Difference Makers

 

At this moment, somewhere around the world there is a High Touch High Tech instructor teaching a group of excited children! They are delivering “hands-on” science programs that encourage fun learning in an innovative way. Providing these types of services brings joy to students, instructors, and faculty. This joy and excitement are why High Tough High Tech so successful today. All educators play a very important role in a developing child’s social and academic life. They are providing knowledge, applicable skills, and guidance to their student’s day in and day out. There is a sense of fulfillment that is associated with making a difference for the better in your students’ lives. We at High Touch High Tech, and all educators, are difference makers.

From kindergarten to medical school, instructors hold a vital role in a student’s academic journey. A teacher is a person who aids in acquiring knowledge, competence, or virtue. They educate on basic academics in various topics and studies around the world, working with students individually or in larger groups. Teachers are often willing to “go the extra” mile to ensure a student’s success.

Teachers serve as important role models, teaching students to be social and productive members of society. They encourage positively and creativity, making it their goal to motivate and inspire students to be interested and invested in their education. Educators help develop valuable skills within a student and actively engage in their academic strengths and weaknesses.

High Touch High Tech is honored and privileged to be an education provider for the last 25 years! We have been able to share this practice and message all around the world. We have been able to assist many learning intuitions, families and students by providing them the opportunity to participate in what we value the most; making a difference in a student’s life by valuing, engaging, and nurturing their academic milestones. Our role in the lives of our students is our greatest contribution to the world.

 

High Touch High Tech

800.444.4968

info@ScienceMadeFun.net

 

 

 

Source: www.pearsonedu.com
Source: pixabay.com

From the Field

“From the Field”

Summer Science

Hemlock Hayden, High Touch High Tech of WNC

As a new Scientist to High Touch High Tech, having the opportunity of engaging and inspiring young minds to think about and get excited about science has been a very new, yet extremely rewarding experience. Not just doing fun experiments themselves but seeing the faces of the students light up just when seeing us enter the building gets me excited to teach even more!

In one particular case this summer, I had the opportunity to go to Emmanuel Lutheran’s Summer Rocks! Camp every day for a full week. Starting off, the kids seemed disheartened that they were going to have to learn more outside of school and during a summer camp, but once we started off with explaining all the cool things scientists do and performing a WOW! experiment, they instantly became engaged and wanted to learn more. After that first visit, the students lit up with excitement, yelling “Yay! Science time!” when I would walk through the door.

 From doing actual chemical reactions to make chalk and slime in programs like “Mystery Science”, to physics and engineering programs dealing with robots and rocket flight in programs like “Flight Command”, each experiment engaged the students more and more and pushed them to think harder about how each experiment worked on a scientific level. After each day, a new student would walk up to me, explaining how the experiments of that day were so fun and interesting to them, and that it made them want to pursue that respective branch of science when they were older.

Moments like these are truly the moments that make me love working as a Scientist for High Touch High Tech. Inspiring the next generation to even be just A LITTLE more interested in general science than they would have been, to me, is extremely important in an ever-changing world. Science doesn’t have to be hard, or scary. As long as you have an interest in it, then science is FUN!

High Touch High Tech is…..Science Made FUN!

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Shark Awareness Day

Shark Awareness Day

 

 

Did you know that almost 100 million sharks are killed each year for their fins? That’s just one of the many facts I learned while doing some research on Shark Awareness Day and became aware of exactly what sharks do for our oceans.

 

 

 

Sharks have been around for roughly 400 million years and there are nearly 500 different species of sharks in the world today. They are divided into 8 classifications. Out of 500 species of sharks there are only 3 species of sharks that are responsible for the most human attacks; the great white, tiger, and bull shark. Also, the odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million! You might have a better chance at winning the lottery!

Sharks have a streamlined body and fins that help swim through water, fast. Their gills take in oxygen directly from the water and they never need to surface to breathe. They also have an outrageous number of sharp teeth that when one is lost a new one grows back.

 

 

Did you know…
– Their noses have a sensory organ on it that picks up electrical signals from its potential prey?
– Their eyes are larger if they live deeper in the water?
– They can sense vibrations?
– They have a two-chambered heart in the shape of a “S” that is in the head region?

Sharks are known to have some of the largest brains of all the fish species and are at the top of the food chain in every part of the ocean. Sharks also play a large role in the ocean’s ecosystem, even more than fish.

They eat everything they can in the ocean, from dead carcasses to sick prey, which helps keep the population healthy. They also keep marine life population at the right size so that one species does not become too populous in the ocean. Through this control, sharks indirectly maintain the sea grass and coral reef habitats as well. If sharks did not play such a vital role, or had a decrease in numbers, or started to become extinct, the oceans would be out of balance.

Shark Awareness Day was designed to provide education and awareness of how important sharks are to the ecosystem of our oceans. These informational programs are here to help people decipher shark myths from facts and identify which organizations you can work with to help make sure sharks avoid extinction!

info@ScienceMadeFun.net

800.444.4968

 

Pic Source: Pixabay.com
Source: worldwildlife.com