Mark Vondracek
@mvondracek.bsky.social
Teacher, physicist, lover of nature
Global Teacher Prize Top 50 Finalist, 2015
https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_vondracek_a_quantum_revolution_in_education?subtitle=en
Global Teacher Prize Top 50 Finalist, 2015
https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_vondracek_a_quantum_revolution_in_education?subtitle=en
Reposted by Mark Vondracek
As summer approaches, some high school students will look to do independent #science #research. For topics and original research questions that can be done outside of professional laboratories, check basement-science.blogspot.com.
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
CABS - Center for Advancement of Basement Science
basement-science.blogspot.com
March 25, 2025 at 5:31 AM
As summer approaches, some high school students will look to do independent #science #research. For topics and original research questions that can be done outside of professional laboratories, check basement-science.blogspot.com.
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
Go here to find deeper dives into how Quantum Mechanics changed my view and mindset of who my students are (and humans generally), which needs to happen with all educators across the country. See my TED talk about some of this. vonscience.blogspot.com/2025/11/insp...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
Inspired by quantum mechanics, how I think about my students (and humans in general)
Yes, this title is correct. I've been inspired by quantum mechanics to develop a different mindset about how to think about my students, an...
vonscience.blogspot.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Go here to find deeper dives into how Quantum Mechanics changed my view and mindset of who my students are (and humans generally), which needs to happen with all educators across the country. See my TED talk about some of this. vonscience.blogspot.com/2025/11/insp...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
Go here to find deeper dives into EELS as class pets, where EELS stands for Everyday Essential Life Skills and a renaming and rebranding of SEL: vonscience.blogspot.com/2025/11/thou...
#SEL, #education, #teaching, #learning, #lifeskills, #SuccessSkills
#SEL, #education, #teaching, #learning, #lifeskills, #SuccessSkills
Thoughts on why EELS should be a classroom's class pets! Let's call SEL skills what they really are
SEL, or Social-Emotional Learning, has been a guiding framework and set of ideas and skills students (and all human beings) should be expos...
vonscience.blogspot.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Go here to find deeper dives into EELS as class pets, where EELS stands for Everyday Essential Life Skills and a renaming and rebranding of SEL: vonscience.blogspot.com/2025/11/thou...
#SEL, #education, #teaching, #learning, #lifeskills, #SuccessSkills
#SEL, #education, #teaching, #learning, #lifeskills, #SuccessSkills
This is a project to help #schools in #Malawi, #Africa, grow their own crops, in order to feed students for the entire year. Now working with 24 different schools/villages, ANY amount of donation, even $5, helps feed some 8000-10,000 children each year! #nutrition
www.gofundme.com/f/eths-for-m...
www.gofundme.com/f/eths-for-m...
Donate to Help Feed Malawi's School Children, organized by Mark Vondracek
We are raising money to help Andrews Nchessie and his colleagues continue to expand … Mark Vondracek needs your support for Help Feed Malawi's School Children
www.gofundme.com
August 31, 2025 at 11:56 PM
This is a project to help #schools in #Malawi, #Africa, grow their own crops, in order to feed students for the entire year. Now working with 24 different schools/villages, ANY amount of donation, even $5, helps feed some 8000-10,000 children each year! #nutrition
www.gofundme.com/f/eths-for-m...
www.gofundme.com/f/eths-for-m...
One of my favorite TED Talks; Dr. Schmidt does the best job I've seen explaining how #climate #models work, and why we have confidence in them to predict future climates based on conditions we put into the computer models. A great one to show skeptics & non-STEM people.
www.ted.com/talks/gavin_...
www.ted.com/talks/gavin_...
The emergent patterns of climate change
You can't understand climate change in pieces, says climate scientist Gavin Schmidt. It's the whole, or it's nothing. In this illuminating talk, he explains how he studies the big picture of climate c...
www.ted.com
July 5, 2025 at 3:20 PM
One of my favorite TED Talks; Dr. Schmidt does the best job I've seen explaining how #climate #models work, and why we have confidence in them to predict future climates based on conditions we put into the computer models. A great one to show skeptics & non-STEM people.
www.ted.com/talks/gavin_...
www.ted.com/talks/gavin_...
Reposted by Mark Vondracek
#Teachers, if you have students looking for #research project ideas for the summer, hundreds of possibilities can be found at basement-science.blogspot.com. These are projects that can be done in a HS lab or in one's basement using common equipment and materials.
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
CABS - Center for Advancement of Basement Science
basement-science.blogspot.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:03 AM
#Teachers, if you have students looking for #research project ideas for the summer, hundreds of possibilities can be found at basement-science.blogspot.com. These are projects that can be done in a HS lab or in one's basement using common equipment and materials.
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
As next-generation #nuclear power plants are being researched, designed, and built, the US is still behind other countries when it comes to disposal of the #nuclearwaste - some 90,000 metric tons of it. Here is a brief update on this story.
www.sciencenews.org/article/supr...
www.sciencenews.org/article/supr...
A Supreme Court ruling on nuclear waste spotlights U.S. storage woes
Court ruling allows interim nuclear waste storage in Texas, but the U.S. still has no long-term plan for its 90,000 metric tons of spent fuel.
www.sciencenews.org
July 5, 2025 at 3:11 PM
As next-generation #nuclear power plants are being researched, designed, and built, the US is still behind other countries when it comes to disposal of the #nuclearwaste - some 90,000 metric tons of it. Here is a brief update on this story.
www.sciencenews.org/article/supr...
www.sciencenews.org/article/supr...
#Teachers, if you have students looking for #research project ideas for the summer, hundreds of possibilities can be found at basement-science.blogspot.com. These are projects that can be done in a HS lab or in one's basement using common equipment and materials.
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
CABS - Center for Advancement of Basement Science
basement-science.blogspot.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:03 AM
#Teachers, if you have students looking for #research project ideas for the summer, hundreds of possibilities can be found at basement-science.blogspot.com. These are projects that can be done in a HS lab or in one's basement using common equipment and materials.
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
#curiosity #science 🧪💡
#Stereotype threat is a contributing factor to academic achievement and opportunity gaps at all levels of #education. Doing activities involving growth #mindset of students, such as before taking tests, tend to help reduce the effects of this threat.
www.simplypsychology.org/stereotype-t...
www.simplypsychology.org/stereotype-t...
Stereotype Threat: Definition and Examples
Stereotype threat is when individuals fear they may confirm negative stereotypes about their social group. This fear can negatively affect their performance and reinforce the stereotype, creating a se...
www.simplypsychology.org
March 25, 2025 at 5:49 AM
#Stereotype threat is a contributing factor to academic achievement and opportunity gaps at all levels of #education. Doing activities involving growth #mindset of students, such as before taking tests, tend to help reduce the effects of this threat.
www.simplypsychology.org/stereotype-t...
www.simplypsychology.org/stereotype-t...
Reposted by Mark Vondracek
In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
www.theatlantic.com
March 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
As summer approaches, some high school students will look to do independent #science #research. For topics and original research questions that can be done outside of professional laboratories, check basement-science.blogspot.com.
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
CABS - Center for Advancement of Basement Science
basement-science.blogspot.com
March 25, 2025 at 5:31 AM
As summer approaches, some high school students will look to do independent #science #research. For topics and original research questions that can be done outside of professional laboratories, check basement-science.blogspot.com.
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
#scienceprojects #basementscience #inquiry #projects
americasfavteacher.org/2025/mark-vo... Consider helping me help fund projects to get fresh produce to families in need, keep Malawian children in school by not being hungry, & developing a model for breaking down achievement gaps in communities. These are all student led! #education #teachers
Is Mark Vondracek America's Favorite Teacher?
Without teachers, there is no advancement of society, and a child's access to opportunities in life dwindle. There is nothing like teaching!
americasfavteacher.org
March 3, 2025 at 4:19 AM
americasfavteacher.org/2025/mark-vo... Consider helping me help fund projects to get fresh produce to families in need, keep Malawian children in school by not being hungry, & developing a model for breaking down achievement gaps in communities. These are all student led! #education #teachers
#STEM activities/labs for schools w/ nearly NO resources, equipment, or electricity; they use the bare minimum of materials! We developed this to help train teachers who'd never done such labs or lessons, to help change how science is taught. @miriam0907.bsky.social sciforallstudents.blogspot.com
Science Experiences for Every Student Around the World: SEE-SAW
Imagine teaching science without equipment and materials to do lab or other hands-on activities. Imagine your science classroom not having electricity, let alone Internet access. What types of active ...
sciforallstudents.blogspot.com
January 12, 2025 at 2:01 AM
#STEM activities/labs for schools w/ nearly NO resources, equipment, or electricity; they use the bare minimum of materials! We developed this to help train teachers who'd never done such labs or lessons, to help change how science is taught. @miriam0907.bsky.social sciforallstudents.blogspot.com
There is a good summary of the data in the provided link, showing a variety of aspects of #climate change and what the trends have been over decades.
Note that the 1.5 degree C threshold is what we wanted to avoid since the Paris Climate Accord was signed in 2016...instead, continuous heat records.
Note that the 1.5 degree C threshold is what we wanted to avoid since the Paris Climate Accord was signed in 2016...instead, continuous heat records.
2024 was the first year in recorded history that Earth’s average temperature was higher than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. climate.copernicus.eu/global-clima....
January 12, 2025 at 1:53 AM
There is a good summary of the data in the provided link, showing a variety of aspects of #climate change and what the trends have been over decades.
Note that the 1.5 degree C threshold is what we wanted to avoid since the Paris Climate Accord was signed in 2016...instead, continuous heat records.
Note that the 1.5 degree C threshold is what we wanted to avoid since the Paris Climate Accord was signed in 2016...instead, continuous heat records.
If one truly learns and understands a topic, one should be able to think about and use it in multiple ways.
#learningtool #education #physics #science #teaching #mastery
#learningtool #education #physics #science #teaching #mastery
December 28, 2024 at 8:58 AM
If one truly learns and understands a topic, one should be able to think about and use it in multiple ways.
#learningtool #education #physics #science #teaching #mastery
#learningtool #education #physics #science #teaching #mastery
For #physics & #STEM teachers and students, looking for primarily AP Physics C related videos.
www.youtube.com/@mvondracek
www.youtube.com/@mvondracek
Doc V Physics
Videos on various physics topics and problems, with a focus on AP Physics C (i.e. engineering level mechanics and EM), made by Doc V, award-winning physics teacher and a Top 50 Finalist in the Global ...
www.youtube.com
December 28, 2024 at 8:38 AM
For #physics & #STEM teachers and students, looking for primarily AP Physics C related videos.
www.youtube.com/@mvondracek
www.youtube.com/@mvondracek
Whether it's #equity, #racialjustice, or simply #education ur interested in, I think the fundamental issues we must address are academic achievement & opportunity gaps, primarily between white students & students of color. Some thoughts & past results here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWJC...
Academic achievement and Opportunity gaps - looking for a conversation
YouTube video by Doc V Physics
www.youtube.com
December 28, 2024 at 8:14 AM
Whether it's #equity, #racialjustice, or simply #education ur interested in, I think the fundamental issues we must address are academic achievement & opportunity gaps, primarily between white students & students of color. Some thoughts & past results here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWJC...
#Educators - if you know #STEM teachers looking for original #science #research projects that don't require university or professional labs, 100s of ideas can be found at basement-science.blogspot.com.
CABS - Center for Advancement of Basement Science
basement-science.blogspot.com
December 14, 2024 at 10:42 PM
#Educators - if you know #STEM teachers looking for original #science #research projects that don't require university or professional labs, 100s of ideas can be found at basement-science.blogspot.com.
Some initial thoughts about a change in mindset in how we think about #students. We are complex, unique blends of emotions, moods & intelligences, and our environment helps determine which ones are present in a given moment...similar to particles in #quantum science.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
A Quantum Revolution in Education | Mark Vondracek | TEDxNorthwesternU
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
www.youtube.com
December 14, 2024 at 10:03 PM
Some initial thoughts about a change in mindset in how we think about #students. We are complex, unique blends of emotions, moods & intelligences, and our environment helps determine which ones are present in a given moment...similar to particles in #quantum science.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZo7...
Some interesting possible discoveries this year, which need more study:
www.sciencenews.org/article/2024...
#science #discovery #STEM
www.sciencenews.org/article/2024...
#science #discovery #STEM
These discoveries in 2024 could be groundbreaking — if they're true
Did microbes ever live on Mars? Did an "elevator" help build Egypt’s first pyramid? Some signs pointed to yes this year, but confirmation is still needed.
www.sciencenews.org
December 14, 2024 at 9:56 PM
Some interesting possible discoveries this year, which need more study:
www.sciencenews.org/article/2024...
#science #discovery #STEM
www.sciencenews.org/article/2024...
#science #discovery #STEM
Many students & #educators seem to have #SEL fatigue; it's also been politicized, w/ some states wanting to forbid doing anything w/ SEL in #schools. I think we got the letters in the wrong order - colleagues like it when I call it what it is, ELS - Essential Life Skills! What do you think?!
December 14, 2024 at 9:49 PM
Many students & #educators seem to have #SEL fatigue; it's also been politicized, w/ some states wanting to forbid doing anything w/ SEL in #schools. I think we got the letters in the wrong order - colleagues like it when I call it what it is, ELS - Essential Life Skills! What do you think?!