Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Rebecca's picture

The dillemma of the color yellow

As I read Professor Grobstein’s account of the production of science, I found it very similar to mine.  More than once I have tried to explain to friends and family members (who are extremely intimidated by science), that science is not a black and white search for the truth but rather a process of trying to make theory that is more correct.  I had never really considered science as a narrative or story until this semester but I think it is a great way to present science. 

 

            I also found the section discussing “wrongness” in science very interesting.  It has always bothered me that science projects in high school and elementary school are so cookie cutter and, contrary to my personal research experience, they always work.  I think it would be interesting to create science experiments that would “fail” on purpose so that students could hypothesize about why the outcome of the experiment was not as expected and could attempt to recreate the experiment.

 

            Finally, as I read Anne’s piece it reminded me of a mind boggling experience from my childhood- when I realized that the color yellow I was seeing may not be the same color yellow that everyone else was seeing. I tried to figure out a way I could test this (for example: we could both look at a yellow object being reflected in a mirror-lol). I soon realized that no matter what color we were seeing, we had all learned to associate the word yellow with it.  This was a bit distressing as a child, however, now I think it's a beautiful idea.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
9 + 6 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.