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Grex > Agora46 > #144: Machines get smarter, Americans get dumber | |
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| Author |
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| 13 new of 112 responses total. |
gelinas
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response 100 of 112:
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Aug 29 04:02 UTC 2003 |
Re 97: Doc Barry or Dr. Berry? Dr. Berry taught first-year chemistry at MTU
a _long_ time ago.
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jep
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response 101 of 112:
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Aug 30 03:28 UTC 2003 |
Dr. Myron Berry at Michigan Tech retired from his position teaching
chemistry in the early 1980s, and opened a rock shop in, I believe,
Eagle Harbor.
He was immortalized in the MTU Engineer's Fight Song:
I died at MTU and was buried in the snow,
They laid a slide rule at my feet in 33 below,
They told Doc Berry that I'd died and had been laid to rest,
I'd have to come at a later date, to take the chemistry test.
Now, old Doc Berry being the good old soul he is,
searched me out in Hell and gave me the chemistry quiz.
Satan said (with no surprise), "Doc Berry's come again,
He's been messing up the freshmen since I can't remember when."
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jep
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response 102 of 112:
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Aug 30 03:31 UTC 2003 |
In Clinton Elementary, both of my boys were taught that science is
memorizing facts, with the process of discovery being completely
passed by.
My son, who just started 2nd grade, had a science class where the
teacher demonstrated that, if you stuff a paper towel into a cup, turn
the cup open side down, and press it into water, the paper towel will
not get wet. The kids didn't get to do it themselves; they just
watched the teacher do it.
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rcurl
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response 103 of 112:
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Aug 30 05:21 UTC 2003 |
So, none of them went home and tried it?
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mynxcat
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response 104 of 112:
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Sep 3 18:35 UTC 2003 |
They were demonstrated to, so they did get to see it happen. What
would have been bad was if they were just told about the existance of
air, with no proof whatsoever.
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rcurl
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response 105 of 112:
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Sep 3 20:15 UTC 2003 |
Yes, they were apparently shown the experiment - BUT DID ANY OF THEM
GO HOME AND TRY IT THEMSELVES? That is the test of whether any sense
of a scientific method had been conveyed. Did your son show you the
experiment before describing it, jep? Or was the lesson that only the
"authority figure" can perform experiments?
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gull
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response 106 of 112:
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Sep 4 02:59 UTC 2003 |
Budget cuts. They couldn't afford cups and paper towels for everyone. ;>
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jep
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response 107 of 112:
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Sep 4 23:16 UTC 2003 |
My son told me about it in the car so he couldn't show it to me. We
strained his linguistic skills in getting him to describe it to me, so
it wasn't a complete waste. I don't know if he tried it at his
mother's house.
He was able to explain why the paper towel didn't get wet. ("Air
takes up space so the water couldn't get in.") That's as much as you
could expect him to learn from an experiment like that, I would
think. He seemed to understand it, and I wasn't displeased by that.
My point was just that the kids didn't do the experiment in school, as
I'd have expected; the teacher did it and they just watched.
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rcurl
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response 108 of 112:
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Sep 4 23:24 UTC 2003 |
And my point is that *verifying* a reported, or even demonstrated, finding,
is at the heart of the scientific method. But I'm glad your son was
impressed enough to at least report it to you.
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scott
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response 109 of 112:
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Sep 5 04:13 UTC 2003 |
I've taken a few demonstrations on faith before. As long as he understands
the explanation he's learned something. Maybe you could play around with it
at home, possibly relating it to the inverse demonstration: An upside-down
cup of water which stays full as long as the open bottom stays below the water
level in the sink.
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rcurl
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response 110 of 112:
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Sep 5 05:43 UTC 2003 |
Now you're getting the idea. At that age it should be mostly play. I haven't
been suggesting that this be made heavy - no need to mention the "scientific
method" unless it comes up naturally. But discovering things about the
world is fun but teachers (including parents) can help kids learn something
from their play.
Incidentally, there are many "demonstrations" of the substantuality of air,
such as paper gliders, windmills, etc. The glass experiment is nice, though,
to show that air also resists compression. You can even show the relative
compressibility of air with it, although that takes more careful observation.
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gull
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response 111 of 112:
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Sep 5 13:22 UTC 2003 |
When my dad taught science classes, he used to do the experiment where
you fill a glass completely with water, then put a piece of cardboard on
the bottom and invert it. Air pressure will hold the cardboard in
place. He used to hang the glass from the ceiling afterwards. The kids
always got a kick out of trying to guess how long it would stay full
before air leaked in and let the water fall out. Usually it was a week
or two before the cardboard disintegrated enough for the seal to fail.
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gelinas
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response 112 of 112:
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Sep 5 16:22 UTC 2003 |
On the bottom, or on the top? I guess I'll have try it myself. :)
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