Happy Valentine's week ya'll. As I mention in S4theB!25, I don't much subscribe to Valentine's Day as a holiday. I'm sure if I had stock in Hallmark I might feel differently, but it just seems there's too much else in the world more important than finding a commercial means to express one's love to those one loves. I'm also a teacher, you know, of young children, and I must confess that my opinion is informed by years of watching students get hopped up on sugar and trade paper artifacts that beyond a question of a doubt lay around for a few weeks before getting thrown in a wastebasket destined for landfill. Why can't the image used as the universal symbol for a heart be more realistic (clipart from clipartheaven.com)??? Ooooooh, I don't rant often, do I? Alrighty then, to the meat of the matter: the Heart!!! Dr. Glenn McCombs, one of my many bosses-- and a cherished colleague--delivers several interactive videoconferences (IVCs) at the Center for Science Outreach, and this week we get to sit in on the tail end of one of them as he answers some very perceptive questions by middle schoolers who have partaken of Dr. McM's description of how the heart works. I am struck by the conversational tone of the exchange: Here's an educator who not only knows his subject(s) but also knows his students and their schema for understanding. Hear what I mean by downloading the show here! Visit the videoconferencing pages at the CSO website to peruse the offerings and see if one fits the needs of your science curriculum or those of your own children (it's perfectly okay for you to suggest CSO resources to your own kids' science teachers, ya know!). Music for today's podcast courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, a song called "Uptempo 14" from an artist named "Gary," an electronica wizard out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sheesh, I would like to be hanging out with him down there instead of chillin' my toes here in Nashville today (37 degrees with a dusting of snow on the ground!).