Flame Challenge 2014: What is Color? Alan Alda has kids judge scientists. Photo-illustration by Slate. Photo by Monkey Business Images/Thinkstock About six months ago, my 8-year-old asked whether fire was a solid, a liquid, or a gas. I am sad to confess that my answer at the time was: “A gas. ... No, a solid. … No. Dahlia Lithwick writes about the courts and the law for Slate. In 2012 the winning entry to the “What is a flame?” I asked Alda whether the impetus for the Flame Challenge was teaching kids to understand science or getting scientists to explain science clearly. I asked him whether, three years into the challenge, he was more surprised by the sophistication of the 11-year-old student judges or the heroic communication efforts of the scientists. I asked whether science has always been too technical and arcane to explain to an 11-year-old—Galileo wouldn’t have been able to explain science to a kid either, right? Still, Alda argues, when it’s important, scientists can speak to laypeople.
This conversation brings me inevitably to the creationism-vs. How to read and understand a scientific paper: a guide for non-scientists | Violent metaphors. Update (1/3/18) I’ve been overwhelmed with requests for the shorter guide, and the email address below no longer works. So I’ve uploaded a copy of the guide for anyone to download and share here: How to read and understand a scientific article.
Please feel free to use it however you wish (although I’d appreciate being credited as the author). I apologize to everyone who emailed me and didn’t get a response! If you would like to let me know who you are and what you’re using it for in the comments below, I’d love to hear! Update (8/30/14): I’ve written a shorter version of this guide for teachers to hand out to their classes. If you’d like a PDF, shoot me an email: jenniferraff (at) utexas (dot) edu. Last week’s post (The truth about vaccinations: Your physician knows more than the University of Google) sparked a very lively discussion, with comments from several people trying to persuade me (and the other readers) that their paper disproved everything that I’d been saying. “Be skeptical. Physics is a story – let’s teach it that way - physicsfocus.org. Physics isn’t fun.
Like Richard Feynman said, the pleasure is in finding things out. All too often, however, teachers try the ‘physics is fun’ approach. In my experience as a physics teacher and now as a STEM Ambassador, I haven’t seen that method have a lasting effect. Yes, it will grab a student’s attention during exciting demonstrations but it will not really get them to delve into the core of physics. Put simply, this is a style-over-substance way of learning physics: it’s going to work to a certain level, but might not make most students want to find out more about the subject.
Presenting physics as fun doesn’t do justice to the subject. To be fair, though, some teachers do go that one step further and talk about the journey physics can take us on, the challenges it faces, the ease with which it explains so many aspects of nature, the big questions it addresses and its relevance in almost everything we sense and observe around us.
Can you explain science in six seconds? Ideas for Improving Science Education in the U.S. Froguts Is a Wonder, but Maybe Students Should Get Their Hands Dirty | Best of ECT News. Froguts steps you through the dissection of a frog. First you have to pin it to your surface so it won't move around when you use a virtual scalpel to slice it open. You'll also use scissors to cut away sections and remove organs, as well as forceps to grab and remove tissue -- squeamish yet? -- and a microscope to take a closer look. The process is accompanied by slightly eerie background music. Webinar: The New PCI 3.0 Standard Learn the steps to take to get your company ready for PCI DSS 3.0 changes coming January 2015. This story was originally published on June 17, 2013, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series.
Froguts Frog Dissection HD for iPad by Froguts is available in the iTunes App Store for US$5.99. Dissecting frogs in high school biology classes used to be a rite of passage. With a real dead frog, though, the lesson seems to be larger than just the anatomy. Kind of Dead When I was in high school, our biology class didn't get to dissect frogs.