I am concerned and so should you about the decline in science in our schools. When I talk to young people today, it is clear that they don't know anything about basic science. I know that most of the world has gotten better while our kids have gotten worse. That means that our gap in science is getting worse at double the rate that most people think and that has got to change if we expect to have any type of quality of life in the future. That is the point of this blog.
How about starting off with a story? When I was in about the 5th or 6th grade we had a speaker come to our school to talk about, I don't know what stuff, but he did say some thing that I still remember and which had a significant affect on my thinking. Here is what it was. He said to hold our hand up in front of our mouth and with tight lips, blow out on your hand. He said that it will fill cool and it did. Next, he said to open our mouth and breath out on our hand and this time it will feel warm and it did. Now he gave us all a challenge to figure out exactly why that was since the air came from inside our warm bodies each time. I took that challenge and did find out why this strange thing happened and what the science behind it was. I give the same challenge to you. I know the answer and if I told you, it would not have the same affect that it had on me and that is what I want to happen.
The other thing that happened to me was in about my freshman year of high school. One of my math teachers asked the class this question. If we had a girl and a boy standing at each side of the room and we asked them to move half way to the center of the room every 5 minutes, how long before they would both be in the center of the room? I have to admit that my class was smarter than most and all answered that they would "never" meet in the center. The whole class laughed at the simple question and the correct simple answer. The teacher quickly responded to the class that in less than an hour the girl and the boy would be close enough for "all practical purposes". The whole class laughed again when we realized that there was a big difference between the theoretical answer and the "practical" answer.
I think that is the lack of situations like the above where our modern teachers miss the boat when it comes to teaching science. If they don't plant the seeds of curiosity why would a student want to learn why the air was either hot or cool? Why would they see the difference between theoretical and practical? When my kids were little, they used to ask "why?" all the time. Kids today do not seem to be interested in "why". I know that kids can learn anything if they want too. It is the "want too" that seems to be missing. Kids used to build things, but they don't any more. We built tree houses, rafts ham radios and the best gift that we could get for Christmas was a chemistry set. When was the last time you ever heard a kid ask for a chemistry set? It has been a very long time. Kids don't even use paste or glue to make things. We used to make our own paste out of flour or corn starch, but kid do not do that anymore either. When a parent buys a toy, they cut out all the fun of creating the toy. How about model airplanes or railroads? They are collector items today, not the kinds of things that kid create and learn from. We are on the wrong track and "we" have to change it before it is too late.
How about starting off with a story? When I was in about the 5th or 6th grade we had a speaker come to our school to talk about, I don't know what stuff, but he did say some thing that I still remember and which had a significant affect on my thinking. Here is what it was. He said to hold our hand up in front of our mouth and with tight lips, blow out on your hand. He said that it will fill cool and it did. Next, he said to open our mouth and breath out on our hand and this time it will feel warm and it did. Now he gave us all a challenge to figure out exactly why that was since the air came from inside our warm bodies each time. I took that challenge and did find out why this strange thing happened and what the science behind it was. I give the same challenge to you. I know the answer and if I told you, it would not have the same affect that it had on me and that is what I want to happen.
The other thing that happened to me was in about my freshman year of high school. One of my math teachers asked the class this question. If we had a girl and a boy standing at each side of the room and we asked them to move half way to the center of the room every 5 minutes, how long before they would both be in the center of the room? I have to admit that my class was smarter than most and all answered that they would "never" meet in the center. The whole class laughed at the simple question and the correct simple answer. The teacher quickly responded to the class that in less than an hour the girl and the boy would be close enough for "all practical purposes". The whole class laughed again when we realized that there was a big difference between the theoretical answer and the "practical" answer.
I think that is the lack of situations like the above where our modern teachers miss the boat when it comes to teaching science. If they don't plant the seeds of curiosity why would a student want to learn why the air was either hot or cool? Why would they see the difference between theoretical and practical? When my kids were little, they used to ask "why?" all the time. Kids today do not seem to be interested in "why". I know that kids can learn anything if they want too. It is the "want too" that seems to be missing. Kids used to build things, but they don't any more. We built tree houses, rafts ham radios and the best gift that we could get for Christmas was a chemistry set. When was the last time you ever heard a kid ask for a chemistry set? It has been a very long time. Kids don't even use paste or glue to make things. We used to make our own paste out of flour or corn starch, but kid do not do that anymore either. When a parent buys a toy, they cut out all the fun of creating the toy. How about model airplanes or railroads? They are collector items today, not the kinds of things that kid create and learn from. We are on the wrong track and "we" have to change it before it is too late.
