An A+ Diet

While studying for the upcoming finals, most of us usually ignore the key ingredient for boosting the brain's activities- Nutrition! So here are few tips featuring a healthy studying diet:

1. Breakfast! Though thought to be a complementary meal, breakfast is a true study buddy. Just make sure it contains the descent dose of proteins and vitamins.

2. Stay Well Hydrated! Choose your beverages wisely, keeping caffeine and sugar at minimal levels while boosting your water and fresh juice consumption.

3. Eat Smarter! Fulfill your daily needs of vitamin and mineral requirements through fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding overdoses of snacks (chocolate, chips...) for they stimulate instant blood sugar spikes followed by drops that cause fatigue and lack of focus.

 

Wrong Direction

Technology, the word that we usually take for granted and most of us never bother to think of how this development affected us in just about every measurable way. For a start, lets define the term technology. Technology can be identified as the collection of processes and methods that we use in the production of goods and services. Everything you see, everything you touch nowadays relates its existence in way or another to technology. The daily use of technology changed the entire way we live each day. Wether some people may refuse to admit that technology contributed in the creation or discovery of new things, the fact remains that they are wrong, somehow. Give a burglar an ambulance to aid injured civilians and he will probably use it as a getaway vehicle. People misunderstood that technology was meant to enhance our daily performance and improve productivity. Take mobile phones for example, their purpose was to ease communication among individuals. However, the effect of this technology ruined the entire society, social life has been literally demolished and corruption spread all over society. Creation of super weapons that were meant to spread peace in mother earth have been used to annihilate it.Thats just one example of whats happening. The words can go on and on. In the end, I find it difficult to see a way out of this issue , all we can do is just cross fingers and hope that we realize the devastating result of the wrong use of technology, and by not doing so we are committing suicide and self termination.

The James WebbSpace Telescope

As a science freak, I presented a project on the LIU annual science fair about a hot topic in physics nowadays. The topic was a new telescope that would replace all the telescope technologies and inventions. The name of this telescope is James Webb space telescope named after James Webb the developer of this telescope. This telescope is expected to outstand the famous hubble telescope with its ability to penetrate dust due to its reliance of infrared long wave radiation. This telescope has cost till now a fortune from the US government with a budget of 50 billion dollars due to the high cost of the 50 huge mirrors it is made up from and the metal beryllium for its body.

The launching of this telescope aims at the discovery of the evolution of the universe and to detect nearby galaxies. This mission was considered impossible in the past, will James Webb space telescope make it? or it will fail? We are waiting.

The Ultimate Decision

The lebanese work force are currently searching for a way to leave their homeland and head somewhere else so that they would find a better opportunity where they can develop their skills and get a decent job that would sustain them in the future.

Finding a job nowadays is becoming more and more of a fight that very few are able to withstand and endure. The syrian crisis flooded the country with work force that affected and decreased the chance of getting a job. If u ask any teenager about his lifetime goal, it would be traveling outside to run away from the miserable situation that has plagued the country. What makes the situation even more unbearable is the wave of kidnapping and murder which naturally reduces investment in the marketplace. However, if you search hard enough , you will eventually find a job but nothing that would help you build your future and progress, its called living day by day. And if he chooses to travel he will face another set of issues that must be resolved. One of them is settling down and understanding why he is doing this. Many of them eventually return home because they weren't able to endure and survive.The current situation is beyond repairable , and every single day it gets worse. and this takes us back to where we started. Should you leave your country and head to another one , or do we stay home and try to fix the situation.

To My Beloved Palestine

 This poem was composed years ago at school to express love towards our nations:

                                     

                                 To My Beloved Palestine

 

Why so sad and glum, Honey Palestine, why so sad?

Your Martyrs are glowing like a star in the night,

Arousing your desperate voice to thunder for fight!

Prithee, why so sad and your tongue is sending Light?!

 

In your eyes, I see the bizarre trauma calling us,

Kids barely behold a lonely bus

In your broken smile, I see the slashing breach,

As of late demolishing every single beach!

 

So Shy momy Palestine, I can no longer cry

My eyes are apt to heart wreckage,

Lying in no place, waiting the turn to die

I’ll try my best to clean you and so you sigh!

 

I will be beside you to the rest of my life,

No more sadness is going to count to five

Wish to water your soil with my own blood sea

So you can say: “My son really LOVES me!”

21st Century

Over the past 20 years , the world witnessed extreme geological and political changes. The increasing demand for non-renewable energy sources increased dramatically. Individual consumption and lust for technology drove some countries to wage war against others. The main target for this attack was naturally the middle-east, as it possesses the largest concentration of non-renewable energy sources, fuel. These countries were viewed as threatening ones and a huge campaign of hatred and incite was launched. "Weapons of mass destruction" was the title that carried some of these campaigns, millions died in the process , lots of children lost their parents and were thrown on the streets , and those who were lucky enough to survive lost a child or an organ. The attacking side was viewed as being humanitarian and seeking to help these countries by ending the "current struggle" . No international decision was able to put an end to massacre, and right up to this day we are being viewed as terrorists who seek to establish fear and death among nations.All this effort is for the sake and pursuit to steal the remaining energy sources. Bravo for them , they are the heroes who will salvage the world from terror and discrimination and poor us who are still thinking of how to save enough money to get a new iphone and neglect our religion and traditions.

A Teacher for A Change

   I have always wondered how those who change do it. The word itself is vague, “change”. What qualifies to be described as a change anyway? Where can one meet a person who changes things? And why are such people so rare? The only answer I could think of was perhaps we are not finding the answer because we are, simply, not asking the right question. Instead of looking for this imaginary fountain of change that is nowhere to be found, maybe one is supposed to be that fountain herself. One should ignite it herself. 

   Then, from there on, I saw things differently. I have always thought when I was younger how these drops of rain hold so much life in them and I wanted to be no more than a drop of rain with the life in me. Life only goes on to the better as long as it is changing to the better and those who have the will to be part of that change have to find their role in it.

 

   Mine was in teaching. Teaching has always accompanied great events in history, and I chose teaching to be my contribution to this better life I think of. I think rather than dream, because I teach. Dreams are merely a run away, without the thought a dream is vain. 

 

   This is the noisy life that I want to start inside a classroom. This is the change by drops of rain I want to be with my teaching My previous wonders could be anyone’s, and the answer is quite simple. If you can teach for a change, do it. That’s what I am, a teacher for a change.

My Experience in Learning Physics

The characteristics of an effective teacher include both qualities related to the personality which are being warm and caring, and characteristics related to the cognitive abilities and knowledge of a teacher. The teacher must be knowledgeable with the material he’s teaching and has a general knowledge in pedagogy. (Arens, 2011).

During my intermediate and high school years I really found understanding physics very hard. I used to study a lot without getting any result and my grades were really disappointing. However in my terminal year I had a new teacher. This teacher started with us in a different way other than other teachers, since for example they gave us the analysis directly without passing in the lower levels of thinking first which include knowledge and comprehension. This teacher set the basis of knowledge and considered that knowledge is constructed based on previous experiences. He would start explaining each idea by reminding us with prior knowledge about it and by connecting it to the current knowledge and future implications and foreshadowing. Moreover he would set the basis for each new idea by starting with knowledge and facts, and then by comprehension, next he would move to application, analysis and evaluation. (Orlich, Harder, Callahan, Trevisan, & Brown, 2004).

Moreover this teacher was able to transfer knowledge from the book and notebook only to experimental work and he used a lot of cooperative learning techniques. The experimental work included many types of intelligences mentioned by Gardner and mainly the kinesthetic and visual intelligences. We also did some plays and acted some scenes in class that included the other types of intelligences like the auditory, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. (Council, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, 2000).

Moreover the teacher didn’t only care about the material coverage only by teaching the book; he expanded his activities to outside activities by using problem solving teaching methods. Those methods didn’t increase our levels on thinking but also made us know each other more and have better social skills. We also got high grades in the official exams which really made us proud of how much progress we made in one year, and proved that objectives coverage doesn’t always have to be direct instruction usually used by the teachers. (CRDP)

The positive effectiveness was also shown in the class discussions and group work that were fruitful. And this made me feel more accomplished and improved in the terminal class.

For me, I was able to overcome the struggle in the physics course and learn from my experience that nothing can be attained if I didn’t do my best and exert effort to understand the materials and transfer them to the real life examples instead of the raw material taught before. Negative experience can be changed into a positive when we believe that mistakes aren’t signs of weakness but they’re methods for us to improve and learn.

Works Cited

Arens, R. (2011). Learn to Teach.

Council, N. R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington.

CRDP. (n.d.). Retrieved from crdp.org: http://www.crdp.org/CRDP/Arabic/ar-curriculum/a_curriculum_objectives.asp

Orlich, D., Harder, R., Callahan, R., Trevisan, M., & Brown, A. (2004). A Guide to Effective Instruction. Boston, Newyork: Houghton Mifflin Company.

The Physics in Our World

Science laws aren't only those boring laws we learn in classrooms, but they can be redefined to explain many incidents that we experience in our daily lives. Newton's third law is a nature's fundamental laws that states:"for every action there's a reaction, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction." Most of the students memorize this law and use it in the exam only and they don't understand where they can apply it in their lives. In my opinion this law can be applied to relationships between people, for example if you respect others to a certain limit (that would be the action), so the expected reaction would be respect with equal magnitude or limit and in the opposite direction towards yourself.

Cloud Computing

On a seminar on cloud computing by Mr. Oussama Hatoum an instructor at LIU I noticed and learnt several points, however some points for people who share my intrests are useless and vague.

First, the lecturer reviewed some very well known information about the definition of the cloud and why it is used. Then the lecturer gave some new intresting information about how to make a slow computer a faster one usin yje cloud. Moreover he spoke about using the printer over distance without having to be in close physical contact with it.

On the other hand, the lecturer spoke deeply in technical and programming issues, which aren't in my scope of knowledge and my attention was scattered. 

Don't Forget to Smile :)

A smile isn't only a facial gesture, a smile can be a new biginning and a window to your soul. Here are some benefits of smilings:

Smiling (even if it was fake) secrets good hormones for your body 

You can actually burn fat by smiling, since it boosts you metabolism

Smiling is an indication of self confidence

People love and appreciate people with smiley faces

Smiling can ease your anger and make you calmer

So, how about you smile now before your teeth fall 

What's Next ?!

During man’s conquest towards better life, he created many new techniques to facilitate his life for example the phone, television, and computers. However he didn’t stop at this level and he managed to develop everything he invented.During this development has was able to shrink the size of his inventions.

In (Fig.1) a huge step forward in shrinking the size of removable storage devices from the over ton in mass with only 5 megabytes to only few grams with mass of few grams and storage of 65536 megabytes !

Fig.1: removable storage devices progress through years.

Scientists didn’t stop at this macroscopic level and they invaded the microscopic (10^-6 m) level by using micro-technological devices for medical application.

However further progress was made to reach the Nano-level (10^-9m). This is known as the nanotechnology or the manipulation at the Nano scale with atoms to produce bulk objects with new characteristics.

Nanotech was first refered to in Richards Feyman famous statement: “There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom”. However the word nanotechnology was first used by  Norio Taniguchi in 1974.

Unappreciated

Imagine having to wake up without your alarm (impossible mission) and not be able to use the faucet in the bathroom because it doesn't exist. Then imagine moving on with your day, no cars for transportation (you need to walk for work) , no electricity, no internet connection, no lights, no mobile phones and much more NOs.

Probably you couldn't imagine yourself in any of these situations. Well that's exactly how our life would seem without physics. Each branch of physics is directly connected to one aspect of our lives, for example: mechanics is responsible for transportation, the light domain is responsible for us seeing what's going around us. However physics is always unappreciated and considered boring. Those feelings do not come from the vacuum, they result from listening to prior bad experience in physics and boring instruction.

Therefore physics teachers are obliged to cultivate the students in appropriate conditions for learning physics and to follow various techniques in teaching and experimenting.