Slashdot Mirror
A New Approach to Teaching Science
Gallenod writes "The Washington Post has an article on Joy Hakim, an author trying to re-write junior-high science textbooks to make them more readable. There are some interesting observations on how traditional textbook publishing houses control pretty much everything children read in school and her difficulties in challenging the status quo. However, she's already succeeded with an award-winning history textbook series, so maybe she'll rack up another win here."
They're rewriting history books? Dammit, now I'll have to re-learn all sorts of things, like who won World War II!
Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."
Just start the text books by explaining how science fiction has had many ideas that were later 'invented' by scientists.
Pulp scifi in the 1920's talked about ray guns, which all the established scientists ignored, knowing they were impossible. Now we have lasers.
Rocket ships. Same story.
As anyone who read much of Robert A. Heinlein's work knows, he wrote about a bed made out of a soft bladder filled with water. Now waterbeds are taken for granted.
Those people also read about all the beautiful and sexy women in the 'average' scientist's life. Nowadays we have breast implants, nose jobs, face lifts, liposuction, and every other procedure needed to make that a reality.
Finally, every male character, no matter their age, could please all those women all night. Viola, Viagra.
See how interesting they could make science if they really tried?
If I remember from my own experiences in public school, the current biggest problem with textbooks is the lack of photographs of beautiful, naked women.
Social Contract? I don't remember signing any Social Contract!
I'm gonna say that the Seneca Falls women's right meeting getting 15 pages is a little exaggerated. If your mother is their secretary..then I probably have it figured out.
WW2 definately deserve more than 3 pages, but not 3+ pages per battle. Get a book on the history of WW2 if you want that.
As for highschool kids, you guys got it easy. Wait until college when the guy teaching you wrote the book. When I was in college freshman year, my chem 101 teacher actually wrote the textbook..and it was some POS book, it was the nationwide standard for that course..a fact he never failed to mention at least once a week...I half-expected him to pull his wang out and wave it around like a sword whenever he mentioned it.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
...understand electrisity. Doing expiriemtns will...
...other than the enertainment of a hands on expiriemnt...
;)
Somehow, I'm not a teacher because I can't do it.
But anyway, I know some good spelling books you can get if you want to become a teacher
Lord of the Benzene Rings,
Burning Chromium, and of course,
Jurassic Park (Teacher's Edition).
Think, write, think, edit, think...then post.
"Don't bother with textbooks - just teach them hands-on. I had 10X as much fun combining chemicals that gave off smoke than I ever did reading some dumb paragraphs."
Says you. I lost a rather expensive TI calculator due to a former friend of mine playing with chemicals that created smoke. My dad wouldn't replace it because he thought I should have been a human shield.
Hey, I fucking turned out great, and I'll beat the shit out of anyone that says otherwise...
;-)
I see it didn't have any long term effects at all
Kidding! KIDDING! OW! OW!
Freedom: "I won't!"
Most of us have one or more lasers lying around the house, only they're today's replacement for the gramophone needle, and not for atomizing our enemies at a press of a trigger.
Extrapolating from this, I predict that in another hundred years, warp drive engines will enable us to build new, faster and more efficient washing machines.