Success in the New Year: Time Management

Photo by Dafne Cholet, ©2011. Some rights reserved. Licensed by Creative Commons Public Works License

Photo by Dafne Cholet, ©2011. Some rights reserved. Licensed by Creative Commons Public Works License

With New Year’s Resolutions abounding, the JumpStart and Math Blaster blogs are working together to help you put your 2015 goals in focus. Between the two, we cover everything from eating right and getting active to time management for work and school. Check out our Time Management tips below and then head over to the JumpStart blog to see our recommendations for living a healthy lifestyle!

Continue reading

Tips for Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick

Photo by mt23, ©2009 Some rights reserved. Licensed by Creative Commons Public Works License

Photo by mt23, ©2009 Some rights reserved. Licensed by Creative Commons Public Works License

The New Year brings many things, one of which is New Year’s Resolutions. Often times, we set lofty goals for our future selves and by February or March, we’ve abandoned our resolutions for one reason or another. There isn’t a science to New Years Resolutions, but we’ve got a few tips that may help you with yours! Check them out below.

Continue reading

Get Inspired for Easter

Family, laughter, and fun—another Easter holiday is around the corner! How will you be celebrating? Many of us gather with family and friends to celebrate this time of the year and also enjoy much of what the spring season has to offer. Make this year a memorable one for your little ones and try new things. Whether it be new crafts to share with your loved ones or bringing the colors of spring indoors with decorating, there are so many ways to that you can set this Easter a part from the previous ones. Your kids will have a blast and so will you with these inspiring Easter ideas from Math Blaster!

Photo By Elana Roussakis

Photo By Elana Roussakis

The best part is that you can turn any simple activity into a mini math lesson teaching basic concepts that your kids will learn through hands on practice. Whether it be counting out treats to place in goodie bags or learning proportions and shapes while folding origami bunnies, your kids can strengthen their math skills and have a stellar time while doing it!

 

Counting Whales from Space

Who knew there are high tech gadgets to help us count whales? Scientists created a new, high resolution satellite technology to not only just count the number of whales, but to estimate their population size.

Photo by Isaac Kohane

Photo by Isaac Kohane

It has always been extremely difficult and costly to estimate whale population size of marine mammals. This new method is revolutionary in the sense that it is much more accurate and it can cover larger areas at the same time, which is very beneficial for conservation efforts to protect the whale species.

This technique has a 89% chance of identifying probable whales in space. This semi automated method however, still need some manual input to give the most accurate results. Future satellite platforms will provide even higher quality imagery.

Build Your Own Planet

What is a simply DIY craft project that you and your space-crazed kid can complete together? Try making this easy, mess-free solar system to hang in your Blaster’s room!

Materials

The materials you need to complete this galactic task are as follow:

  • Color paper
  • Scissors
  • Compass or several circular objects (mugs, bowls, plates, etc.)
  • Pencil
  • Fishing line
  • Stapler
  • Glue
  • Star-shaped stickers (optional)

StackedStapledFishing Line

Steps:

  1. To create our hometown, Earth, you will need blue, green, brown, and white colored paper.
  2. To be precise, you can set your compass’ width to be 7 cm, which means the diameter of your circles will be 14 cm in total. Or you can use a large mug instead, and trace the outline onto the colored paper by using your pencil.
  3. Using your scissors, cut out the circles. Then, fold them in half.
  4. As shown in the image, stack the paper and staple across the crease that you just folded to keep the paper intact
  5. Then, fold the paper backwards to create a 3-dimensional shape.
  6. Tie the fishing line around the center seem.
  7. Tie a knot and your Earth is completed!
  8. Optional: You can purchase star-shaped stickers and use it as a label for the planet and to cover up the knot you tied in step 7.
  9. Repeat steps 1 to 8 to create Saturn, but this time, use orange, yellow, brown, and white colored paper instead, and set your compass’ width to 10 cm, or find a bigger circular object.
  10. To create the ring, simply create two circles in white and brown respectively that are just a tiny bit smaller than the ones you did to create the spherical shape of Saturn.
  11. Glue them together by slightly overlapping them, and slide it over the 3D Saturn.
  12. Repeat steps 1 to 8 to create the other planets, but make sure you alter the measurement of your compass slightly to show the scale between the different planets.

Complete

Note:

  • The more circles you cut out, the more detailed your planets will look, but it will also be harder to staple all the paper together.
  • Assist your kid when using the compass – the sharp tip can be hazardous.

The Engulfing Power of Underwater Waves

We know that your Blaster likes to explore the galaxy and accomplish great dreams, but it is a great idea to encourage them to learn about the mechanics of their home, Earth, starting by learning the basics of Oceanography.

Recently, researchers found that the origins of the giant underwater waves that essentially has no effect on the surface of the ocean has an immense effect on the Earth’s climate and the marine ecosystem.

Photo by neekok.fi

Photo by neekok.fi

These internal waves resembles the shape of the towering waves we can see on the surface, and due to the temperature and density differences between the waves and the water around it, create a boundary between the bodies of water that produces changes to the ocean’s natural behavior.

As it is very difficult to detect these underwater waves, the new evidence found is profoundly important to help investigate this phenomenon further. The latest testing occurred at the South China Sea, and researchers found that the internal waves found here are the most powerful thus far, describing it as “skyscraper-scale waves”.

Discovering the origin of these waves can potentially reveal its possibility as the key mechanism for transferring heat from the upper part of the ocean to its depths. Therefore, it is important for the researchers to find out how these great waves are generated and perhaps shed some light on the research on global warming.

New Ability Discovered in Dogs

Did you know that men’s best friend has capabilities beyond affectionate licking and compulsive tackling of their owners? New research has shown that dogs are able to sense the irregular and tiny changes in Earth’s magnetic field, indicating that they prefer a body-alignment along the magnetic north-south axis.

Photo by Tom Godber

Photo by Tom Godber

Although there doesn’t seem to be a prominent usage for this kind of orientation ability, this new discovery does help to explain why most dogs are good at navigation, meaning they excel at recognizing and remembering routes. Research revolving the magnetic sensibility of animals is limited. Therefore, this new piece of evidence does shed light on future projects.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 155 other followers