Topic: Science Education
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- Current Postings - 1999/2001 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996 - 1995
Name: Candi Corcoran
Username: ccorcora@coe.drexel.edu
Subject: The dread malaise
Date: Mon Jun 26 16:23:19 EDT 1995
Comments:
Hmmm...have you ever watched ³Vanishing Worlds² on the Discovery Channel?
Each show focuses on some ³primitive² tribe and its members daily lives.
The fascinating thing about this show is that when a tribe lives in an area
where both food and shelter are ensured, everybodyıs really pretty nice to
everyone else. And they donıt have a word for ³war.² And they donıt kill
more animals/harvest more food than they need. And they take care of the
children of the animals they kill and raise them as members of their
families. And everyone makes music and dances - no excuses. And everyone
makes some sort of contribution to the tribe in their own unique manner.
And so on. Vast generalizations aside, it seems we do indeed have minds
that think and explore and create...theyıre just buried away beneath
countless layers of necessity, of trying to fit into a harsh and nasty world
where people look at you funny if you donıt have a Good Job and if you spend
your life dreaming of better things. Who has time to dream when itıs hard
enough for the average person to just get by? So I guess, technically, I
fall into the ³thinking is a luxury² subset...but Iım not convinced that
thatıs so wrong.
You mention that the world wasnıt made for people, and perhaps thatıs where
you and I differ. I think people, just like most other species, spend most
of their time just trying to make ends meet and trying to get along
with the other animals in their neighborhood. I also think that once an
animal thinks it knows the best way to do something, it will tend to stick
with that system and get on to the next difficult problem, no matter whether
it applies to getting food, securing a place to live, etc. Despite all this,
I agree with you in that I believe that Really Thinking about how inane
most of our daily routines are would be quite useful, especially given the
brevity of our lifespans, but I also believe that as a society, Necessity
still keeps us a fair distance away from such introspection.
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: Brain and Beh. Inst.
Date: Mon Jul 24 15:13:01 EDT 1995
Comments:
This past week and this coming week approximately 20 of us, teachers in
the S.D. of Phila. have met to enjoy neurons, axons and food (Thanks Arthur!).
This has been a "virtual" learning experience for us all. Thanks Robin, Paul
and the rest of the Bryn Mawr faculty.
Please write back,
Jennifer and Wayne
Name: jackie,rich
Username:
Subject: Brain & Behavior
Date: Mon Jul 24 15:32:34 EDT 1995
Comments:
Dear Jennifer,
Richard and myself have enjoyed this week and will be sorry when it is over. I love the oatmeal cookies,Carl's jokes, Perrys' and mydeep discussion. Richard is speechless but he wants to remine everyone that we all have a soul and is looking forwards to the subject of addictions because we are all there. See youat the next beerfest which you can find on the net. Jackie and Rich.
Name: Carl Flaxman
Username:
Subject: THE FLOATING FINGER
Date: Mon Jul 24 15:41:59 EDT 1995
Comments:
A great experiment is the floating finger ( sometimes called hotdog) experiment.
Place your two index fingers pointing at each other at the height of your nose
and 10-12 inches from your eyes. Then, look at but above your fingers into the
distance. Surprize! What seems to be floating between your two fingers?
Now for the most exciting part ! Explain why this happens. Employ all the
wisdom gained from the Brain/Behavior Institute to explain this phenomenon.
Good Luck and your stipend depends on the correct answer.
C. Flaxman
Name: zoe cohen
Username: lpaul@opal.tufts.edu
Subject: thinking and ap bio class...
Date: Sun Aug 6 21:32:13 EDT 1995
Comments:
wow!
i can't say how much i agree with the statements made in the essay
about thinking and education. i have just graduated from high school
(and will be a freshman at haverford in the fall.. :)
and i spent the year doing a huge amount of thinking about life in
general, but usually about school and the nature of learning.
my experiances really do exemplify the " not enough thinking "
problem.
all my life i have adored science. i took a much-anticipated
AP biology course this past year in school, and aced the AP test
( the only one i aced) at the end of the year. i knew my facts
cold. however, i really did not enjoy my bio class at all. most of
the time, it really did feel like our teacher was just stuffing
facts down our throats, and not thinking at all about what he was
teaching us. as it turns out, i love to think even more than i
love science, and i often came up with rather complex questions
about the facts being thrown at us. unfortunately, my teacher
would never try to discuss my questions with me, in order to try
and answer them. either he knew the answer, or, (more often), he
didn't. this left me incredibly frustrated. most of my friends
(who are usually pretty astute thinkers) never understood
my frustration. it seemed that they had fallen into the pattern
of the bio class, which didn't include thinking about the facts
we were being taught.
one (among many) of my worries about college is whether or not
i will ever be "taught how to think" in a science course.
i took (and loved ) a beginning philosophy course in school last
year in which i learned a great deal about how to think ( mostly
from discussions with friends after class). but my science courses
have never taught me how to think, or even given me a chance to
practice thinking scientifically. if this continues, how on
earth could i ever be prepared to even try to begin research?
sure, i'll know the facts, but will i be able to think in such
a way that my research process will make any sense? i fear
floating without direction as a result of a completely fact-based
education.
so those are my comments...guess i'll go read other peoples' now.
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