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By Christopher Moore
The San Fransisco Chronicle reports that a Quaker math teacher was fired for refusing to sign an oath of allegiance. This is not necessarily physics news, but having gone to Guilford College and having a background in the Society of Friends, this is an interesting story to me.
Marianne Kearney-Brown, a Quaker and graduate student who began teaching remedial math to undergrads Jan. 7, lost her $700-a-month part-time job after refusing to sign an 87-word Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution that the state requires of elected officials and public employees.
You see, Ms. Kearney-Brown did the following each time the oath was presented to her:
Each time, when asked to “swear (or affirm)” that she would “support and defend” the U.S. and state Constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Kearney-Brown inserted revisions: She wrote “nonviolently” in front of the word “support,” crossed out “swear,” and circled “affirm.” All were to conform with her Quaker beliefs, she said.
She refused to sign the statement unaltered, and she was fired.
You see, Quakers have this little hang-up on non-violence. It’s nothing big, really, it’s just sort of one of the foundations of the religion. The oath as written is like asking a Hindu to swear to defend the constitution from all enemies, including cows. Also, the statement is vague. Very vague. What constitutes an enemy of the constitution? I claim that a large majority of our Representatives in Congress are “enemies” to the constitution. Who defines “enemies”? And what constitutes “defend”.
Ms. Kearney-Brown makes the following point:
All they care about is my name on an unaltered loyalty oath. They don’t care if I meant it, and it didn’t seem connected to the spirit of the oath. Nothing else mattered. My teaching didn’t matter. Nothing.
By Christopher Moore
Epsori Space Systems announced today that its Free Seeds Experiment will be flying aboard the Up Aerospace SL-2 launch, scheduled for Saturday, April 28 th 2007 . Epsori Space Systems will distribute the experiment to 2500 classrooms in the fall of 2007. The payload contains 22 ounces of mixed vegetable seeds. Teachers in grades 3-5 will be offered a free experiment along with approved curriculum, student workbooks, and packages of seeds that have flown into space. The experiment allows students to compare the growth of seeds in a control group, to the growth of the space seeds. Students are taught classic techniques of scientific observation and record keeping during the experiment’s two week execution.
Epsori Space Systems executives believe its pioneering approach of flying experiments to space to teach fundamental science skills in the classroom provides a fun way to connect children with space science. Quoting Jerry Hilburn, founder of Epsori Space Systems:
By placing seeds which have flown into space in the hands of our children, we engage their minds, excite their hearts, and make science fun!
Teachers are encouraged to visit the site to learn more about the experiment. Epsori is now accepting applications from teachers for the free program.
Epsori Space Systems was founded in 2007 with the mission of delivering affordable space based experiments to classrooms across America . Based in the heart of the New Space industry in Southern California , Epsori plans to launch thousands of experiments onboard emerging New Space commercial spacecraft in coming years. Up Aerospace is the first “public access to space” company to provide a low cost method of placing our experiments in space. Quoting co-founder, Joshua Johnson, “We are excited to be onboard SL-2 and look forward to flying payloads with Up Aerospace for many years to come”. Epsori Space Systems will launch a new social network website for teachers and students in September, which will provide a platform for reporting experiences, research findings, classroom photography, and video content of the experiments execution. Distribution of the seeds experiment will begin September 1st , 2007 .
The Epsori Space Systems media team will attend the launch in New Mexico on Saturday, April 28th, to record videos of the event and interviews of key participants. All news, photos, and videos will be posted at www.epsori.com and ilovephysics.com will provide coverage, as well.
By Christopher Moore
NASA scrubbed its “Teachers in Space” program after the tragic Challenger accident that led to the death of Christa McAuliffe. The program was reintroduced nearly a decade later, only to be slowed to a near halt along with the entire shuttle program with the break-up of Columbia over Texas. I was teaching high-school right before the last disaster, and with the backing of administrators at my school, I was preparing an application to become a teacher in space. Although NASA has stated that the program will go on, I doubt we will see teachers floating in NASA space shuttles anytime soon. (They have been floating in planes, though.)
Ahhh, but while they may not be floating around in NASA shuttles, they could find themselves strapped to private rockets such as SpaceShipOne or Rocketplane Kistler. The Space Frontier Foundation’s Teachers in Space program has been announced, though there are very few details.
Cosmic Log has this:
The privately organized Teachers in Space project got off to a good start in April, when Armadillo Aerospace, Rocketplane Kistler and XCOR Aerospace announced their participation.
Eventually, the Space Frontier Foundation would like to see a federally funded $20 million program to put teachers on suborbital spaceships - which would help prime the pump for private enterprise in space travel. For now, however, organizers are happy with every privately donated seat they can get.
“Rides to space are what we’re about,” Bill Boland, project manager for Teachers in Space, said in this week’s news release. “Masten Space System’s generosity means another teacher will have the experience of a lifetime. It’s great to have them onboard.”
I’m not sure why SFF would necessarily need federal funds. It seems like private companies are falling over each other to offer free flights to qualified teachers. Of course they are! It’s business. If a private space flight is only supposed to cost ~$250,000, then that’s a small price to pay for some pretty serious national press. The first few flights are guaranteed to be national news, and every flight thereafter will at least make local news in the teachers home area.
My only hope is that they will consider college level teachers as well, so that I may revisit old, nearly forgotten dreams. 
By Christopher Moore
Here is an interesting story about a group of teachers floating in freefall during the “Weightless Flights of Discovery” program, sponsored by the aerospace company Northrop Grumman in cooperation with Zero Gravity Corp.
On one level, the exercise gives educators a chance to demonstrate the laws of physics in an environment like nothing on Earth: Objects in motion (like those plush toys) really stay in motion rather than falling to the floor. Surface tension turns those squirts of water into floating, glistening spheres. CD players and bicycle wheels go into a stable spin like gyroscopes.
“That’s the way physics teaching is all the time,” said Jeff Klein of Cleveland’s Gilmour Academy. “We’ve got great toys.”
Great toys indeed.
Hey, Northrop Grumman — if you need a physicist blogger to float around for a few hours, then I’m your guy.
By Christopher Moore
A Florida physics teacher has been nominated to represent his state for the 2005 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Luther Davis will attend a ceremony on May 1st-6th in Washington, DC. The winner will be chosen among the 50 states and will be announced by the President.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
“I am humbled, but proud of what I have been able to accomplish,” said Davis.
Davis, 32, who has taught at the school for seven years, wows his students with his classroom demonstrations that illuminate physics principles.
In one demonstration, he lies on a bed of nails, holds a cement block against his chest and has a high school football player smash the block with a sledgehammer. Now, let’s talk about the mysteries of applying force to surfaces, he tells his stunned class.
Now that’s my kind of teaching! When I taught high-school, I used to do this demonstration every year for every physics class in the school. But I was never quite brave enough to allow a student to wield the sledgehammer.
Congratulations Mr. Davis.
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