tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post8871540537903475759..comments2024-03-21T05:30:03.220-04:00Comments on Science teacher: The original God particle: the Rutherford atomdoylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-33696051072396153462012-07-11T17:18:42.974-04:002012-07-11T17:18:42.974-04:00Dear Jenny,
My responses are in such conflict wit...Dear Jenny,<br /><br /><i>My responses are in such conflict with their observations.</i><br /><br />Some days I worry that public schooling (or any formal education) does more harm than good just for this reason.<br /><br />I tend to spout off, too. I've been working on it. The kids notice.doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-29149339203180070942012-07-10T21:37:00.500-04:002012-07-10T21:37:00.500-04:00Honestly, I think kids probably grasp many concept...Honestly, I think kids probably grasp many concepts much better than we adults do. My daughters occasionally look at me as though I'm crazy when I answer their questions about the natural world. My responses are in such conflict with their observations. I'm trying to learn to ask more questions rather than spout off. It's tough for me but I'm working on it.<br /><br />Doug's point about the map and the territory is huge. I'll be mulling that some more.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04725549451973770515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-30461052633916272282012-07-10T07:54:10.381-04:002012-07-10T07:54:10.381-04:00Dear Doug,
We are leveling classes this year--I h...Dear Doug,<br /><br />We are leveling classes this year--I have been wrestling with how to start. We're essentially creating a new course.<br /><br />The more I look at this, the more I think this may be the theme for next year. The more I look at it, the more I realize how confused I am myself.<br /><br />I may bother you a bit more on this...doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-85044737276788701732012-07-10T07:49:05.111-04:002012-07-10T07:49:05.111-04:00Dear Mary Ann,
We understand empty space as a mom...Dear Mary Ann,<br /><br /><i>We understand empty space as a momentary lapse in judgment</i>.<br /><br />I was thinking a lot about private spaces yesterday, and how they're disappearing, but that wasn't quite what I meant to say, so I deleted a bit about that. And you nailed it.<br /><br />I may put up a variation of your words in class:<br /><i>Embrace empty spaces.</i><br /><br />I am tempted to combine all the comments so far in one post, and say "See? This is what I mean..."doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-12641129812346347572012-07-10T07:42:12.428-04:002012-07-10T07:42:12.428-04:00Dear Jenny,
I was thinking of your approach to yo...Dear Jenny,<br /><br />I was thinking of your approach to your students when I started on this, then got tangled up in all kinds of tangential nonsense, and almost deleted it because I missed both original points--which Doug nailed in a brief response.<br /><br />At the risk of sinking deeper into the muck, let me be less obtuse here:<br /><br />1) The concept can be grasped by a child--atoms are almost completely empty. (Alas, "empty" itself is confusing--an empty bottle is full of air particles.)<br /><br />I'm not worried about your students--you know what you don't know, a rare gift in a teacher. Somewhere along the line here in Jersey, kids are learning a bad model, which gets us to ...<br /><br />2) what Doug succinctly said. It is <i>critical</i> that someone a child trusts gets that these are <i>models</i>, maps of whatever it is that whatever is. <br /><br />Grasping the second part changes the way you look at the world--the transition is scary, and all of us resist it at times, and many resist it all the time.<br /><br />OTOH, knowing this elevates the idea of story-telling, which is what we do. And who is a better story-teller than a gifted elementary teacher?doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-88957410021036804582012-07-10T00:44:45.699-04:002012-07-10T00:44:45.699-04:00I suppose the key idea here is that, as you say, &...I suppose the key idea here is that, as you say, "Turns out you really don't need to know." If the model serves the purpose, whatever that might be, then it's done it's job. In school, "the purpose" usually has something to do with a grade. For teachers .... well, it's in the curriculum. So it goes. <br /><br />Recognizing the difference between the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation" rel="nofollow">map and the territory</a> is something we might want to learn for any number of reasons.Doug Noonhttp://wetwithrain.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-77906953083425842522012-07-09T22:12:53.965-04:002012-07-09T22:12:53.965-04:00We are mostly consumers. We understand empty spac...We are mostly consumers. We understand empty space as a momentary lapse in judgment--one that can be and is quickly filled with powerful versions of Baltimore catechism that we foolishly call our own.<br /><br />How can we embrace uncertainty when we're so practiced at 'the explanation'?Mary Ann Reillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14349201167828984708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-31047451300608280592012-07-09T21:57:15.567-04:002012-07-09T21:57:15.567-04:00The more I read from you (or from books you point ...The more I read from you (or from books you point me to) the more I want to completely avoid teaching science! Luckily, at first grade I can mostly allow students to observe, ask questions, test their ideas. There isn't too much I have to directly teach them in science. That stops being true by second or third grade unfortunately.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04725549451973770515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-27754823978891119562012-07-09T19:07:14.553-04:002012-07-09T19:07:14.553-04:00Dear Kathryn,
I think we're asking the imposs...Dear Kathryn,<br /><br />I think we're asking the impossible, and I don't mean that in a cynical way. This needs to be internalized at a young age, and our culture is stuck with a 1910 model.<br /><br />The more I learn about what happens at the elementary level, the more I think we should just stop pretending and limit "science" to observing, something few kids do well anyway. <br /><br />If nothing else, I wish the kids came up understanding that these are, indeed, stories. Useful, true, but still myth in the finest sense of the word.doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-12752688397483739472012-07-09T19:01:13.958-04:002012-07-09T19:01:13.958-04:00Every year, I try to get this concept across to st...Every year, I try to get this concept across to students - starting on Day 1. Sadly few can reliably demonstrate understanding that matter is mostly empty space. I am going to try art projects this year in which students must create one early atomic model and one wave-mechanical atomic model. I think it needs to be more tangible for them.<br /><br />I hold a poppy seed on the tip of my finger in the middle of my classroom - that is the nucleus relative to the electron cloud. I use baseball and soccer analogies. They can't see it so they don't internalize it. The discovery of atomic structure is one of the best scientific stories ever!Kathryn Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16757414380685368592noreply@blogger.com