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Science Documentaries for Youngsters?
An anonymous reader writes "My 7-year-old daughter is asking some interesting questions, such as, 'How did everything get created?' I've explained, in general terms, our family's non-religious views on the subject of creation and the Big Bang. I'd like to find some documentary videos geared to this age level that may explain better these concepts and theories. I've found a few PBS specials online - Stephen Hawking stuff - but they seem to be geared for young adults and older. Does anyone have recommended titles that might be better geared to children of this age bracket?"
It's not a video, but if you have a science-oriented child in your household, Symmetry magazine is a very good choice. It's published by Fermilab and discusses all sorts of things related to scientific discovery, from particle physics to the daily routine of scientists at Fermilab. It's a regular publication and it costs nothing, so it's only a positive for your kid.
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/
I'm not religious at all but still I see some mysticism in the Universe. To quote the Matrix: "Everything that has a beginning has an end.". Or to put it in human terms, we cannot comprehend something that did not have a beginning. And Turtles all the way down just doesn't cut it.
Shh.
Frank Capra did a series of science documentaries in the 50's that are quite amazing. Adults might find them a bit over the top, but for a seven year old they can be really mind bending. I know they had a big impact on me as a child.
Our Mr. Sun
Hemo the Magnificent
Unchained Goddess
The Strange Case of Cosmic Rays
are available on DVD. The whole series had nine films, but I haven't been able to find the others.
Winged Migration is also quite good.
oh, & wikipedia, NASA, etc. yup, that should keep a seven year old busy
as for books, try the library
Words to men, as air to birds.
This opening video should keep your child interested and fuel a healthy discussion. http://youtube.com/watch?v=5X4L-Q9MHCg
If you are OK with torrents, mvgroup.org is a highly recommended place to look for educational documentaries.
"The Universe" series on the history channel has some quality episodes about the origins of the solar system and the Universe. (http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Episodes&content_type_id=54042&display_order=7&mini_id=54036)
It's old, but its wonderful. It's truly Carl Sagan at his best. And when she's old enough, there's the companion book. And the whole thing is available on Netflix.
Absolutely the best nature documentary explaining evolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Earth_%28TV_series%29
The newer BBC Planet Earth is great too, but Life on Earth is far more educational. Just a great series.
After that I would say Carl Sagan's Cosmos would be good.
Go to MVGroup.org - its like THE torrent hub for docs.
If only it weren't full of lies...
It just happened! At one time there was nothing, an instant later there was everything in a very small space. In time that small space of everything expanded out to be the universe as we know it today.
That should put everything in the perspective a 7 year old can understand and not be anything less than our scientists told us. It just happened!
-- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
Search for "magic school bus" and they have an episode on the big bang.
in fact that tv show is good for chemistry, molecular physics, biology, etc....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Any of the "Once upon a time..." by Albert Barillé are great.
Sure, some are a bit outdated and a bit wrong here or there,
but all in all, they're the best for kids that age.
See, when we were growing up we didn't have science shows aimed at 7 year olds, so 7 year olds had to ask their parents or grandparents etc. And they chose the best answer they could find.
The best thing that you can do IMHO is to take your daughter in hand and go find the answer. She will learn two things at a minimum: The answer to the question as best as it can be answered, the fact that you care to do that for her, and the methods you use to find answers. That last one is way more important than you might think.
I used to hate hearing the words "go look it up" but it did lead to me looking for a lot of things... and finding them. When she learns from you HOW to look for answers, hopefully she will never stop looking for answers as long as she lives.
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Richard Dawkins explains it to the kids...
http://richarddawkins.net/article,826,Growing-Up-in-the-Universe-2-Disc-DVD-Set,The-Richard-Dawkins-Foundation-for-Reason-and-Science
When I was growing up (which wasn't that long ago, really), my parents got me a Ranger Rick subscription as a very little kid. Then they got me Kids Discover which I read until I was 9 or so, I think. National Geographic is also really good, and Scientific American, for when she gets a little older. In addition, the public library should have some nice glossy picture books about the planets and other things. I would recommend that she read as opposed to watching TV; she'll become a better reader and you can really get lost in books, stare at the pictures and let your mind turn on all of it - take your time as opposed to being rushed along as films too often do. But films are good too :)
When I was really young, I watched a lot of shows that weren't geared towards my age group and still enjoyed them a lot. She may not get all the concepts but that's ok I think. Kids in general are a lot brighter than most people give them credit for. Most of the science specials these days go overboard to keep it simple anyway.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
If Ben Stein couldnt keep a highschool class awake, what good is he going to do for a seven year old? Anyone? Anyone?
C.
"Doctor, it's not the voices I hear in MY head, but the voices I hear in YOUR head that really frighten me."
Barney and friends. Stop trying to overclock the tots brain
"Drawing closer to world domination, keystroke by keystroke."
"Growning up in the universe" is for children. It is available free online at the above adress and you can order dvds if you like.
Bill Nye The Science Guy!
But a repository of good multimedia clips and lessons aimed at children of different ages: http://www.teachersdomain.org/
This site is run by the PBS station WGBH. You might be able to find footage of what you are looking for here and questions that could spark and interesting conversation between yourself and your child.
i hate the way science is taught to children. its all so wrong, for example, in primary school your taught that everything is made up of round spheres called atoms. in year 9 your told that its wrong and these spheres are actually made up of a small sphere with electrons orbiting them in concentric circles. alevel your again told that its wrong and the nucleus is made up of even small particles, and these electrons are in fact in energy levels and dont follow concentric circle orbits. get to undergraduate physics - hang on thats all wrong again, the electrons are fermions and follow exchange symmetry and theres wave functions. the nucleus isent a sphere and the electrons are everywhere in space due to proberbilitys. and i havent even started on graduate physics and superstrings. my advice - tell your child the truth from the beginning - it will confuse them a lot but they will thank you in the future :)
sink, swim, score and be happy
ask her what she thinks, and try to nudge her responses in the right direction with specific questions. it's best for kids to try to form opinions for themselves before they become mindless sheep and accept everything that they're told
C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg
My wife and I were just at a talk yesterday in Austin TX given by the author of Parenting Beyond Belief. Much more entertaining and insightful than the dry "freethinker" lecture I was sort of expecting. He mentioned Carl Sagan's Cosmos series, and also talked at length on how to prepare your kids for the inevitable playground encounter: "your parents don't believe in God? They're going to HELL!"
You've got a golden opportunity here. Give your kid a little more credit. They can understand a whole lot more than we adults think especially with your guidance. Maybe their attention span is shorter but then just stop the tape after 30 minutes and pick it up later. If their into the content they'll ask for more. Cosmos and Connections are great.
Cosmos...
Let me say that again,
Cosmos with carl Sagan.
Beautiful wonderful series with Carl Segan.
They are kinda old, the science is on the edge of dated, the F/X are often paintings but the vision is compelling, the mysteries profound, the non-religious survey of creation deeper than you can imagine.
The series is available on DVD for some decent cash ($160?) but that's just three tanks of gas.
(Also, it's turtles all the way down.)
It's too bad there's no modern equivalent of 3-2-1 Contact or Mr. Wizard's World. Both (and I'm sure some others) were good shows aimed at teaching kids science on a good level. Newton's Apple was excellent too, although it was not aimed solely at kids.
Bill Nye and Beakman (especially Beakman) were not as good because they were too interested in being flashy and funny and catering to kids with no attention spans.
I don't know if there's anything comparable on TV today.
The Life on Earth series from the BBC.
I know it's fairly local (i.e. our planet) - but it is inspiring.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
The Planet Earth series by Discovery channel or Planet Earth by the BBC might be a bit more interesting then a generic creationalism vs evolution debate. I thought the series was great because after each segment we talked as a family generically about how "things came to be" with the idea that the kids should get inspired to find their own answers.
Errol Morris' documentary on nature/humanity/everything is facinating and compelling, and is sure to get both adults and children thinking. As a bonus, his documentaries don't skimp on the visuals, so you get lots more than just talking heads
There isn't a good answer. Not because she's 7 but because there really isn't a good answer. There never will be.
We can explain how lots of things got to be the way they are. We can explain the evolution of species, we can explain the formation of planets we can have at least a decent go at the formation of star systems but ultimately, "how did everything get created" gets us to a point where we say "well there was this explosion / thing
All it amounts to, and all it ever will amount to, is "Once upon a time there was stuff, and things have happened since then, but there's still stuff. The end."
Tell her it's a great question and you don't have the answer.
I realize this is a bit unheard of, but you could just admit that:
1. nobody is 100% sure about it
2. there are a few sides to it
3. explain what you believe in, and maybe other sides if you want to.
Seven seems like a good time to start hinting that there are differences in viewpoints among people. It may teach her to start thinking about it herself instead of merely parroting what you believe. That, right there, is true intellectual growth -- regardless of which side she is on.
And when you're discussing it, don't talk down to her. I think a lot of adults talk down to children - both in content and tone of voice. Discussing 'adult' issues with children in a manner where they feel respected is very empowering.
You can try these documentaries on dvd.
It was french made but everything has been translated to english.
Each episode of these animation series covers one specific subject or period of time, it may not cover exactly what you need right now and the first series are quite old (1978) but nevertheless it helped raise a generation of children.
Here is the credit title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM6Sbd1q_WI/
And the website of the producer where you can learn more about the different series.
http://www.procidis.com/
Make our children want to know, arouse their curiosity. Also treat them as people in their own right, who understand much more than adults would have us believe.They will be stronger for it and be grateful to you. -- Albert Barillé
you're explaining that the universe started with the big bang? you need to worry about getting an elementary science education for yourself let alone your child. what a gimp.
it simply amazes me how so many slashdotters run around like they have a grasp on things and they obviously can't grasp simple concepts. saying that the big band simply happened and that it's the start of the universe has about as much scientific credibility as saying that there was a supreme being who willed the universe into existence.
Check your local planetarium, if possible. They often have shows geared to younger children.
I took my niece (then about 6 years old) to one a couple of times after she showed interest in star-gazing. I think these days, she (now 9 years old) might be better than me at picking out constellations!
Nobody knows.
Try to explain the difference between religion, fact, and theory. Then move on to children's versions of the "good books". Allow her to make her own decisions but stress that she's also allowed to change her mind.
Finally, go back to point one; nobody knows. She's no better than someone who adopts an alternate view.
I just order the book "Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution". It is aimed at six to ten year olds. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618164766/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
"Where have all the good people gone?" - Jack Johnson
So rather than putting your child in front of a mind numbing spirit crusing television set, or computer monitor. How about you do a little reading and teach her yourself?
Back in the old day, my dad taught me all the things about electronics and science the real way. Talk, drawings on paper, and home electronics and science kits which we worked on together.
So why not try the same? Too busy?
My kid's 4 and a half and really enjoys any science documentary we throw at him, and seems to have decent retention. This is a problem when we were traveling recently and all we could find on the TV was a documentary on the ancient Aztecs and their propensity for human sacrifice. When talking about hearts later, he remembered that the Aztecs took out people's hearts. So you have to be careful, but any kid who's naturally inquisitive will probably enjoy any fact-based programming geared for any age, with a thoughtful parent to help interpret they parts they might not understand.
-- Of course I'm paranoid. I'm a sysadmin.
I find too often that people turn too early to documentaries for answers. While your daughter's curiosity has been sparked you should guide her into starting research on the subject. Some may consider it too early but surely there are books that she can read and try to obtain answers and opinions from. If she doesn't understand some specific items she can come to you for clarification.
"Where did things come from" is a subject area that can't be simply answered and understood without more investigation. While everybody wants a simple answer she's probably far too young and inexperienced to be satisfied with a simple answer. On the flip side there is concern if she's content with a simple answer.
Now is the time to launch her on the path of discovery and awareness without relying on the limited knowledge within a documentary.
internet like monkeys'
I would recommend the Eyewitness series. I recall enjoying them when I was younger. The downside is that they're not yet released on DVD (according to Wikipedia).
Not about the big bang etc, but as for biology this is a great series: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284735/
As the user comment on imdb says: "This animation TV series is simply the best way for children to learn how the human body works. Yes, this is biology but they will never tell it is." That's exactly how I remember it from when I saw it (and at the same time, a lot of the information stuck and came back later on when I learned about those topics in school).
There's a related one about space ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282303/ ), but as far as I remember that was less edutainment and more pure entertainment.
Donate free food here
There were several french animated series by the name "Once upon a time...", each focussing on a different subject, mostly historical ones. "Space" may not be what you are looking for (it's bordering a space opera), but "Life," at least is highly informative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Once_Upon_a_Time...Go to an important (for your kids) Wikipedia article, say one on Hannah Montanah.
Edit it. Add the fact that she has a dinosaur for a pet. Or the part about her having five elbows. Save. Show. (And then revert.) Ask your kid about the wisdom of using Wikipedia. (*)
I am actually proud of my kids' school, where they have banned wikipedia for use as a source.
(*) Extra Credit. Visit a free wifi coffee house. Try and deface the page for Jamie Lynn Spears, or Lindsay Lohan. Add some sort of scandal. Save the page. See if anyone was able to detect it the next day.
I have a 7 year old boy and he LOVES
The Universe -- from the History ch
and from time to time NOVA on PBS
Also APOD... Great site
The Horrible science books are fantastic for youngsters and have an added bonus of improving reading skills. Unfortunately they may not be available in the US.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Education comes from the latin word Educo, which means "draw out, lead out, march out, to foster." Instead of indoctrinating with the current status quo of whatever theory is popular this day of the week, it would be better to guide them to their own answers. You want to encourage her strength of intution -- she knows the destination, but doesn't how to get there, which is where you fit in as a father.
I understand that you want your child to believe what you want her to believe, but don't you think she should be allowed to think for herself? Yes, by all means, show her the scientific documentaries. But also let her read religious texts and go to church, as well as watch religious videos. Regardless of what I, you, or anyone else thinks is correct, she should be allowed to decide for herself. In other words, next time she asks, "how did everything get created," say, "well, no one really knows. Some people say this, other people say this."
I enjoyed the french animated series One Upon a Time... Men at that age! Really wonderful stuff for young kids.
http://richarddawkins.net/growingupintheuniverse
Don't assume automatically that certain material is too sophisticated for children simply because it has been developed for older people. Look for scientific content and good explanations in multimedia format. The combination of video and narration is particularly good for concept development in learners with little background knowledge--and perfect for seven-year-olds, who would be hampered in their reading comprehension if given a book. Curious seven year olds can benefit from short bits of NOVA videos. The key is to watch in short bits and to discuss. Don't just sit the kids down in front of the TV and leave for an hour. Remember that you don't have to even watch the whole thing. A good website that has been developed for intellectually curious youth is cogito.com. It's associated with Johns Hopkins University and its Center for Talented Youth. If you go to the sites section and enter "big bang," a university site on the cosmos is suggested. The beginning of this video might be just right for your child's initial question. Encourage curiosity, display your own sense of wonder, and don't push.
I don't know your daughter and wether she is a potential savant or not. Asking such questions at the age of 7 could indicate that. However, it is more likely that she's just like any other child. Meaning that at about the age she is in, normal healthy children ask questions for the sake of asking questions. They practice the task of asking. You can observe this when they repeat a question or when they inmediately follow up with another question without really pondering your last answer that much. Because they really can't fathom what you're saying actually. It's the general process of Q&A their interested in. That doesn't mean you should lie - just stick to answers that are low on the abstract and rich on images. And - honestly now - screw any conserved media. A wildlife documentary around the age of 10 or so every once and a while is ok - but it's not before well into teenage that children can really gain knowledge from these. Other means of education are far more important before that.
By far the biggest screwup of modern western education - with huge, seemingly unrelated consequences for society - is that it treats kids under teenage and even teenagers far to much like intellectually fully developed grown-ups. Appealing to pure reason and logic in a 7-year old does more damage than good, with consequences that show up far later in life (lack of will and motivation, concentration problems, undeveloped social skills, restlessness, etc. - we geek kids of the 80ties know all this). If here questions are of the usual nature (her *praticing* the process of questioning!) then see it as a game and follow along, even if it turns into seemingly strange circular Q&A sessions. Ask her repeating questions in return yourself - she's praticing the act of questioning, the subject hardly matters ("Where do you live?" and a few other related questions repeatadly asked and answered, is a classic for this sort of thing). You'll actually notice that this questioning goes away after a while and comes back during the teenages if it was dealt with appropriately at younger age.
The first specs of true scientific interest come at the age of about 9. And then a trip to the library or the zoo or a science park and you sticking to personal and live explainations (that needant be all that scientifically detailed) of real phenomenon (weather, "Where do rivers come from?" "How can a car drive?", etc.) are all she needs. And don't worry - if you give her the right kind of education at the right time, she'll be a bright kid all by herself when her intellect and her strength for own reasoning fully awakes. Usually at the age of adolescence - as parents all around the world know very well. In fact, her reasoning will be far more healthy and her own if she doesn't get intellectually challenged to early in life. And it will be supported by a healthy own will, if she has the correct treatment as a child to look back on. There are other things children need to develop before they can develop a healthym intellectual reasoning. It's for that exact reason that the question "What would you like?" often is totally misplaced towards a toddler or small child.
And FYI: Yes, that is an essential conclusion of waldorf education. An educational methodology sometimes considered heretic by other educational trends. I've found it to be spot on. Make you own experiences, but do your and your sibling a favour and don't burry your kid in all kinds of media to early before you know what's really going on.
My 2 cents as a father of a 10 year old daughter.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
A long, long time ago ... in fact around seventy-five million years ago, Xenu was the ruler of a Galactic Confederacy which consisted of 26 stars and 76 planets including Earth, which was then known as Teegeeack. The planets were overpopulated, each having an average population of 178 billion.[1][2][3] The Galactic Confederacy's civilization was comparable to our own, with aliens "walking around in clothes which looked very remarkably like the clothes they wear this very minute" and using cars, trains and boats looking exactly the same as those "circa 1950, 1960" on Earth ...
...
Click here for more enlightenment
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282303/
Il était une fois... l'espace
Once upon a time...
A great animated series, i loved it when i was a kid. Made me want to know more.
youtube has some clips
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/770611/big_bang_theory_for_dummies/
Heh, dot, explosion, expansion... (Parent's still aren't going to give you the money...)
But seriously, one of the nice things growing up in an learned family, was not having things "dumbed down". Add to that a more sophisticated video can be watched again in the future with a greater understanding of the more advanced concepts.
though not related to the question asked, i think this was good. http://krampf.com/experiment_vid.html the only think i would wish he did differently was to give answers in another video - I think more than the answer what is important is that the kids learn to ask questions and find theories (their own even if they are not right) and you could help questioning those. i dont like the documentary approach to help get answers to the kids curious questions.
The RI does a series of Christmas lectures for children and young people - they've been going for years - I imagine that you can probably get videos of them, or at least download them.
I was going to suggest Bill Nye but then I went to the Disney store and was shocked at the prices. Bill Nye the Science Guy Enhanced Classroom Edition DVD Complete Series (DVD) $3249.00. Time Enhanced Classroom Edition (DVD) $49.95. The discs better be gold-pressed latinum. Unfortunately, Bill Nye never did an episode on extortion. Might as well get the kid the complete series of Sopranos for $120.
Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" series is so visually beautiful, poetically narrated, and well paced that I think even a 7 year old would like it.
Sagan provides excellent narration over insightful visual presentations of his ideas. And he has a calm, rational and personable demeanor that is almost soothing (somewhat Bob Ross like). It's easy to end up watching most of the series in 2 or 3 sittings.
Carl Sagan has an exploratory and curious thinking style with which he patiently narrates and so the viewer naturally follows him along his trail of reasoning. And the visual presentation of ideas is insightful (watch for the DNA building scene).
Kids won't understand the entire show and I think that's fine, it's a big subject to perfectly understand in one sitting. If your kid really enjoys it, she'll want to watch it over and over again, thus will retain more with those repeated viewings.
Cosmos would be my first choice for a mature yet kid-friendly presentation on the origins of life.
-J_Tom_Moon_79
The child wants to know where she came from, what is "it" all about, etc?
The really big questions to which there are no real answers and if she doesn't get a satisfying answer from dad, she's going to get it from her little friend's preacher on some sleep over.
In fact that may be where her question came from in the first place.
I'm wholly unimpressed with dad's take on it and most of slashdot's as well.
Cosmos? Mr. Science Guy? Interesting but completely useless to this bright little girl.
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=542746&cid=23291690 is another good one, too.
If you think that there is a lack of science videos suitable for young folks, go ahead, make them yourself then upload to googtube. Your kids will then think you are *cool* as well. I suggest copying Mr. Lizard and blow some stuff up in every episode, this will insure they pay attention. It won't matter the subject, everything in science has a potential to be blown up! %^)
Bravo!
Resist fuzzy thinking and irrational thought where-ever you find it!
It's a bit advanced for a seven year old, but she won't stay seven forever. It's just what the title says: "A Cartoon History of the Universe". It's printed rather than video.
This combines basic cosmology (a bit dated now), some palentology, and mainly history or the world. One does need a pretty good vocabulary to handle it, but it's good.
Most of it originally came out as comic books (black & white only), but it's been rebound into some fairly thick books. (If you want, at the end of each section there's a bibliography of his sources, so you can check him for accuracy.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
anything by Richard Dawkins
Go to your public library's website. They will have lots of DVDs and for many libraries downloadable movie content as well. It's not your grandfather's public library anymore.
would the response be as muted if the OP had asked ".... I've explained, in general terms, our family's Judeo-Christian/Islamic views on the subject of creation ...." ?
I occasionally vandalize obscure articles on Wikipedia on purpose, just to test its integrity. No matter what I do, it's always reverted within a few hours.
There are a lot of smart, careful, and bored people who do nothing but watch the global changelog and review new edits.
I am actually proud of my kids' school, where they have banned wikipedia for use as a source.
Good for them. In the coming century, that policy will make it that much easier for my kids to outcompete yours.
Professor Julius Sumner had a good show called Why Is It So? I am not sure if you would even be able to find episodes of it beyond the twelve located on ABC's site http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/whyisitso/
I know some young kids refuse to watch anything in black in white, but depending on your daughter it may be suitable.
our family's non-religious views on the subject
You do realize teaching children real science doesn't have to conflict with religion. Religious teaching are interpreted by faiths as more of a metaphorical truth vs. science truth. But if 10000 year or so ago you wanted to write about all the teachings that have been passed down how do you start with the beginning of the world. If man was made on the 6th day then how would they know the rest took 5. It is made for good story telling. I guess the point was we were put on the earth later as an after though not a world built and modified for us.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Sometimes I wonder if this "age bracket" thing in science shows is really necessary. I don't know much about child raising or education, but let me tell you a story.
When I was in kindergarten, so I must have been around six years old, my mother once arrived early to take me home because a new science show was about to premiere on TV. To give you some background, there were only two TV channels in the country at the time, so any new show of any kind was an event. In any case, the show was probably targeted at older viewers, teens at least. It didn't matter. I understood what I understood, and I absorbed the rest as a "language given". What that latter thing gave me was that I was no stranger to new terms and concepts when I was old enough to understand them. In later years, while other kids fumed at teachers' attempts at giving them new knowledge and ideas at school, I had been used to the process already.
I'm sure the show wasn't the only contributor here but it certainly helped. This show had later become a great TV success and attracted pretty big audience. It was hosted by two academically active physicists who didn't dumb things down "so that the lay audience could get it". (Those who live in my country probably already guessed what the show was.)
Explaining that you adhere to the Big Bang theory as some kind of consequence of your atheism is a non sequitur. What does religious belief have to do with acceptance of a physical theory? Do you also explain electromagnetism to your daughter by pointing out that you are non-religious?
If anything this encourages the sort of illogical thinking which science tries to expose and eliminate. Religion and science are orthogonal to each other, as has been multiply observed for centuries by both scientists and religious leaders (the efforts of radicals on both sides to exploit it for political gains notwithstanding -- some people will fall for anything).
I recently held a series of events in my department looking at educational TV shows, and we included this show on the science TV day - I'd never heard of it, but we were all super-impressed. It's a "news show" type format, where they report on three or four sets of kids who have conducted experiments while trying to solve real-life problems. For instance, one group of kids lives on a reservation and they needed a lightweight yet fire- and water-resistant material to build houses out of. They tested out a variety of materials, and settled on I think it was bales of hay coated with cement. And then houses were actually built out of these!
There is content embedded in what the kids are doing, but the main focus is a) that "science" is how you solve problems in the world and b) kids can solve these problems.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
I know others have said this as well, but I have a 7 year old boy and he's been absolutely loves watching The Universe on The History Channel with me. After having watched almost all of the episodes over the past two seasons, he can converse far more intelligently about cosmology than most adults can.
When in the car, we also listen to the Astronomy Cast podcast. Dr. Pamela Gay does a great job of getting the science across in an informative and entertaining way without dumbing it down too much for us non professional physicists and astronomers.
Yes, a lot of it is over his head (heck, a lot of it is over my head), but he asks very intelligent questions about time, space, where everything came from, and where it's all headed, so I highly recommend those two sources.
We've tried watching reruns of Cosmos. It was an absolutely groundbreaking and stunning show 28 years ago. But by today's standards, the graphics are weak and some of the science is dated. It's amazing how much we as a species have learned about the universe we live in in that short amount of time.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
I used to watch this show as a kid and it was wonderful. Mr. Wizard has passed away but his family still sells DVDs that are a collection of his shows.
They are all black and white and shot in one continuous show with no commercial breaks (it was live TV back then) but he explains all sorts of chemistry, physics, and everyday things in ways that kids can understand. The show is based on demonstrations that kids help out with as Mr. Wizard explains the concepts and reasons.
On DVD, it's really easy to watch a show with a young person and pause it at appropriate places to discuss what Mr. Wizard is doing. It works great and my girlfriend's daughter even says the shows are way better than what they show at her school for their science class.
Getting a basic understanding of how things work is key to being able to learn the more complicated things. Plus, these kinds of things give kids confidence to excel.
Mr. Wizard DVDs are available at: http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/
It may be really difficult to get a modern kid interested in these shows. I watched an episode of Watch Mr Wizard with a group of adults (mostly in our late 20s early 30s), and we had to fast forward through parts because it was boring for US. I mean, what they were doing was cool, but the pace was not what even most adults today are accustomed to. We watched one episode each of that, Mr Wizard's World (which most of us grew up with), Bill Nye, and Dragonfly TV - it's really fascinating how the message of "what science is" has changed over the years. For Mr Wizard, science was mostly "neat tricks you can do;" for Bill Nye, it's content; and for Dragonfly TV, it's a way to solve problems in the world.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
And who is strangely unable to demonstrate these insights to anyone else in a repeatable manner.
Not true! Anyone who practices meditation intensely enough - with proper guidance - can reproduce the experience. People have been helping others to reproduce the experience of meditative insight for a very long time.
In Zen you are reminded that the mind plays tricks, and you are encouraged to ignore any bizarre mystical phenomena and stick to the task at hand, which is liberating the mind from the delusion of your limited identity - which is only a construction of the mind that thinks in analogies and pictures. Furthermore you are encouraged to question all your beliefs down to the most fundamental - indeed, the very foundation of belief itself - by applying doubt as a lever.
At heart, the truth of meditative insight is not a difficult concept! To believe that "I" am responsible for giving rise to "my thoughts" and "my actions" is to give in to the most pervasive delusion of all. The deeper truth of how our thoughts and actions arises can't become clear until you disengage and simply observe the phenomena of your thoughts, perceptions, and will.
All of this is demonstrable and repeatable, for anyone who wishes to look into it. Maybe it's not "demonstrable" in the way you would like, but you can prove it to yourself easily enough.
Science has already demonstrated that there is no central place in our brains where "it all comes together" and in that sense it's objectively demonstrable that the everyday experience of being a cohesive entity is an illusion. Practices like meditation hammer that home in the most direct way possible.
Now, I know your original point was that the results of meditative insight are typically not in the form of conveniently expressible strings of ideas or images. But that is not its effect or its application. You can defrag your hard drive, and you will discover that your hard drive can say little more about the contents of its files. However, the hard drive is now more efficient and "happier" as a whole. Meditation is more like that - it attends to the foundation that the expressible is built upon, but it is not itself expressible. Put another way, your hippocampus does talk to you all the time - it just doesn't speak English. It speaks in subtle symbolic ways that bubble up.
I think ultimately what meditation demonstrates is the kind of thing we know intellectually, but are unable to experience. Things like, although objects are separate in our space-time continuum, it appears that space is abstract and in fact energy - as waves or particles - is more holistic than discreet. Thus, when an individual disengages the part of the brain that says "i am separate" he discovers that the essential self doesn't end at the borders of his skull, but is in fact a drop intermingled in an ocean of energy.
Scientifically, we can understand that space may be a kind of "universal abstraction" and we can even model it, but experiencing that directly is something altogether different.
I agree that mystical experience does have some unfortunate fallout. People who aren't accustomed to such experiences are bound to try to interpret them in conventional ways, rather than let them be. So they decide they've communed with God or received the grace of Jesus, and - although it's true in a figurative sense... it's not literally true! There is no separate God that has spoken to them, and no Jesus entity has blessed them. It's just a natural fact that we are not separate from all that is, and that the experience of self-transcendence is quite amazing.
-- thinkyhead software and media
Don't go for videos. Take her to your city's science museum. Take her once a week or every other week. If she's asking these questions then there's an enormous amount of science and natural history that she'll lap up. And hey, dinosaurs.
I loved Bill Nye the Science Guy when I was a kid, it's a shame you don't really see this much of this stuff on TV anymore. The show can probably be downloaded or viewed online, but they're also available for purchase from the show's website (flash intensive!). The site is pretty nice if you can tolerate all that flash. It has simple experiments you can do at home, question of the week, and some other neat things.
When you have finished this cup of coffee your adventure will begin again.
As parent says, get the kid interested in books and magazines. Take them to public lectures. These are all typically higher quality than TV/video. Read up yourself and do some of that quality time stuff.
I'm a homeschooling parent and spend a lot of time having discussions on a wide variety of subjects with the kids. Sure, this is a bit more effort (I have to read up on stuff I don't know about), but that gives you a second chance at an interesting education too.
... And don't give me that "I don't have the time" BS. It does not take a lot of effort to read up on stuff, instead of watching crap on TV. If you don't have the time to interact with kids, get yourself sterilized.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Any general science questions could easily be directed to the Magic School bus. I grew up on that show and it taught me science better than the public school system until late high school.
Lots Online.
Also, Depending on their age. The western Tradition
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Thanks, but (-1: Annoying) for putting a URL in the subject instead of the body :-P
http://richarddawkins.net/growingupintheuniverse
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
And people wonder why kids these days are on Prozac?
Beats the heck out of Haloperidol, which is what you should probably be on.
Have them watch any documentaries that they are interested in. A certain show may be too complicated for them, but they will ask questions and learn much more than the possibly could from the drivel that is actually aimed at children. I used to always watch PBS with my family and pick up the books my father read. I rarely understood much at first, but I learned to think this way. My questions at first were silly, but after another year or so, I learned how to piece information together. I am a firm believer that if you treat children like children they will stay children.
The evolution of the standard atomic model is a perfect illustration of how the scientific process is one of continuous refinement. You can use it to introduce the idea that the Universe doesn't owe us an explanation of itself, and how there will never be a time of genuine "enlightenment" when we can stop asking questions.
It's a good way to give the kid antibodies against superstition and mysticism, in other words. "No, we don't really understand what stuff is really made from. Nobody does... not yet. But people know a lot more about it than they did I was your age, and we can do a lot of cool stuff with the knowledge we have."
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
James Burkes' original "Connections" series.
He approaches things with just the _right_ amount of whimsy.
You can't teach a kid science unless you also teach him or her a properly disrespectful attitude toward authority—a touch of skepticism.
I'd suggest starting with "Help! Mom! There are Liberals under my bed!" by Katherine DeBrecht.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
Bill Nye!!!!!!
Get her a Bible. Not only does it explain where we all came from and why, but it will teach her the value of life and give her life meaning and teach her ethics.
But there's a bit of a space between "earth cools to form solid land" and "survival of the fittest" that we largely dismiss as inevitable given low enough entropy. Unfortunately, its this murkey area, full of as-yet unverifiable speculation, where the interesting questions are answered.
when sally asks, "where do trees come from," we're really left with three possible answers. There's the unverifiable (though apparently satisfying) creation myth of your own choice. There are a few preferred theories of the origin of life--creation myths in their own right, though they have the advantage of being powered by statistical inevitability rather than by external influence; less satisfying than deity-driven myths due to the intregal role of random chance, though more consist with scientific observations.
And then there's the absurdly unsatisfying truth: nobody knows for sure. So when sally asks where trees come from, after exhausting the obvious answers ("from other trees"), hopefully the science-conscious parent will tell the truth: "We don't know." Nobody knows. Science doesn't tell us. And despite the vastness of human comprehension, we probably never will know for certain. An unsatisfying answer for sure, but the only one that's grounded on solid fact.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea...."
RFC 1925
I didnt see it posted in any of the responses, but consider PBS's "The Elegant Universe". Dr Brian Greene seems to have a knack for simplifying explanations of physics and astronomy, to the point of the content appearing to be geared towards a much younger audience, IMO anyaways.
I also recommend THC's "The Universe", though I dont think most 7 year olds would grasp the content.
There is no inspiration in replacing "We don't know yet" with "God did it." Replacing one unknown (the universe's beginning) with another unknown (supernatural deity) is intellectual sloth.
Browsing at +3 I see that nobody has mentioned Planet Earth!
Even my 3 year-old stays riveted for half an hour or more.
Not to mention it's by far the best nature documentary I have ever seen. I don't think it's a stretch to say it's for all ages. Although it's geared toward a general audience not specifically children.
Viewing it in HD certainly doesn't hurt either.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Any of the BBC's nature documentaries by David Attenborough. He practically invented the nature documentary. There are over 100 hours of enthralling video:
* Life on Earth (1979, 13 hours)
* Planet Earth (2006, modeled after Life on Earth)
* The Private Life of Plants
* Life of Mammals
* Life in the Undergrowth
But, as someone else said, best thing to do is to do as Feynman's father did. Go exploring with the kid, and teach her to think about things and figure stuff out for herself. That will last her a lifetime.
...have any meaning or relevance here?
Elementeo, anyone?
Hackers have long memories. It works both ways.
If you can't find a documentary with exactly the right age-group targeting for your child, perhaps you should instead use the next-best thing you can find.
... watch it with the child. Help them understand what they don't understand by listening to his or her questions, and then answering them in an age-targeted way, as best you can.
But... instead of just plopping them down in front of the TV and quickly leaving the room
Every christmas the Royal Institute of Great Britain runs science lectures on TV targeted towards young children; I'm not sure if they've covered the big bang (I've not watched them for many years, afterall), but even if they haven't, they're a very good collection of lectures for children, and I highly recommend them.
Old but awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCcZyW-6-5o
See if you can dig up some old Bill Nye the Science Guy videos. I'm pretty sure he covered the big bang in one of them. Very easy to understand and great for kids. :)
instead of throwing a bomb and then running off to hide. What's wrong with someone wanting a genuine answer to the question of what was the root cause of everything? Richard Dawkins is so quick to dismiss Intelligent Design, yet he's willing believe that life on Earth was seeded by aliens - an "Intelligent Designer," if you will. Well Mr. Dawkins, where did the aliens come from? You may not like the question, but eventually you will have to answer it.
when you first drew the goddamn circle, I wasn't looking. That _was_ the freaking beginning and you lifted the pencil. That was the freaking end. Now you ask me to go around in circle(sic) figuring how to get off it. Stupid you! I just have to stand up and walk out of it. I'm out side it. ;-)
And there the fsckin circle **ends** for me.
There!
Fixed it for you, you cheat
And for good measure, why the bloody hell did we start playing this stupid game of finding the end of the fscking tricky device you call circle?!?
I was surfing around ever so happily...
Hackers have long memories. It works both ways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmV664VvpW0
Richard Dawkings - Growing Up In The Universe
http://richarddawkins.net/growingupintheuniverse
Carl Sagan - Cosmos
http://www.carlsagan.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan-Jarom%C3%ADr-Hanzl%C3%ADk/dp/B000055ZOB/sr=1-1/qid=1161980072/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9655236-7556935?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
There is no inspiration in replacing "We don't know yet" with "God did it." Replacing one unknown (the universe's beginning) with another unknown (supernatural deity) is intellectual sloth.
Intellectual sloth is making the assumption that "God did it" and "We don't know [how] yet" are mutually incompatible propositions.
Or even the more simplistic assumption, "God exists", ergo "God did it", but that's probably too subtle a point to be introducing on Slashdot.
Anyway, my reason for posting my original remarks had nothing to do with questions of rigor, but rather with the frankly subhuman cruelty of burdening a young, fragile, innocent creature with such a manifestly horrible, nihilistic, suicidal outlook on life.
Within the next decade, expect this poor girl to show up in the local emergency room with slashed wrists.
And no, I'm not being facetious.
Try the 'Made Easy' series at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54?ob=1
From what I understand, to explain things to her in terms of how things were created is still based on Judeo-Christian religion (in a sociological or historical sense). I've been listening to these lectures by Alan Watts on iTunes, and according to him, the West's view of the universe as an artifact (something that was created) is rooted in Judeo-Christian religion (the creator who created the creation). There's a long and involved explanation for that, but I don't recall it (nor do I wish to type it). The Hindus view it as a drama that is acted out, and Asian cultures (at least some of them) view it as an organism. So, to give an example that Watts uses, while it's very natural for your daughter to ask "How was everything created?" (given the culture she is growing up in), that would be a very strange question coming from a Chinese child. It would be much more normal for the Chinese child to ask "How did everything grow?"
Just food for thought. I think it's very interesting.
Richard Dawkins has created an institute for the advancement of science or something. There's a video on YouTube where he explains evolution to very young children, so some of his stuff is probably appropriate.
Here is the first part of a documentary, I don't know if that part is in this or the second part, but they're both worth watching.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Suzy's World is great
http://www.suzy.co.nz/
My oldest daughter (4) watches these all the time. We have three, the moon and satellites, natural events like waves, tornadoes etc and one on animals. But there are many more in the series and the presenter is really good.
However, it is a NZ series so probably not available in the us.
Life Man There are others too.. ;)
THe 2 disc set called Origins, a Nova special hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Our daughter has loved a DVD set that talks about the future, in an evolutionary perspective. This certainly does not address such questions regarding the past, but it does address the question of what the world might look like in the future. Quite fascinating and educational and has opened lots of discussions about the world and where it's going.
Title: The Future is Wild (3 DVD set)
Distributed by: Image Entertainment
Enjoy
Seconded! I used to watch those when I was young.
I was probably 9 or 10 when I started watching The Mechanical Universe (biased article warning) with my dad. He'd seen it a few times, liked it, and taped it. I'd always wanted to know how things worked, and one time when I asked a particularly tricky question about my bicycle, he pulled out the episode about the fundamental forces of physics and sat through it with me. When he saw that I liked the show he asked if I'd like to watch another (one of the episodes that references Sagan's Cosmos), and it quickly turned into a weekly event.
I really have to give my father and this series a lot of credit for my academic performance from middle school on up, because it's not a dumbed-down "watch this go boom, it's science!" show, but a real explanation of college-level physics complete with the necessary math (animated math, even). As a result, I already had a grasp of algebra and even some calculus concepts before I ever took a course in them.
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
Everything We Still Don't Know is awesome :) Google videos I think...
I have two kids aged 3 & 5 and here are a few things that they've taken well to (even though they're a bit young for them, should be perfect for your target age group):
:P
Hyperspace http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273608/
I'm not a big fan of Sam Neill, but they've done a pretty good job making the basics interesting, even though they go quite a bit over the top sometimes.
Cosmic Voyage http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115952/
This is the updated version of that old "Powers of Ten" video you must have seen back in the 70s / 80s. It might be a bit slow at times, but it nevertheless helps fuse the "big parts" and the "small parts" of physics and astronomy together.
I was pretty surprised my kids took to this at all, since they're still at the stage where they usually tune out anything that's not a cartoon.
I pretty much learned about both of these through visiting the local science center. I just got the annual membership this year and it's been great... I can use it at just about any science / children's museum in the country and it pretty much means I never have to worry about having nowhere interesting to take the kids on a rainy Sunday. It's already paid for itself several times over the past few months.
Also don't forget Magic School Bus.
Of course, I have to admit that the thing that initially got my son turned on to space was from watching the Futurama episode where the Titanic gets sucked into a black hole. We've since gotten rid of Futurama from our repertoire once he learned to talk and imitate Bender a bit more, though
Most public libraries carry the "Bill Nye the Science Guy" videos & DVDs, my kids liked them through ages 5-9. Under a half hour each, wacky but with real science, built in experiments, and a rock video parody at the end of each. Oh, and from the library, free!
A.
The History channel series "The Universe" is great for kids. My daughter started watching as an eleven year old and watches each new episode avidly. It is available on DVD. Even a very bright seven year old is going to struggle with the concepts, probably need to be nine or ten to start understanding. I am talking about Piaget development steps for kids. Anyhow this series is a great introduction.
Sorry, whoever you are reading this comment, you do not know. Neither do the best minds in the world. We want to know, so we spent a lot of effort searching for information. We've got telescopes and microscopes. But the correct answer has not been found yet. (unless one of the guesses turns out to be exactly right)
Big bang, maybe
some sort of powerful god that exists outside of time, maybe
you are merely the contents of some creature's dream and will cease to exist when it wakes up... maybe
The most important thing to do is to keep an open mind. Observe everything you can and try to learn from other folk's observations. Be a scientist, and be aware that you walk on a planet full of people who look like you but lack your open-mindedness. When someone tries to make you share their beliefs, question their motives. Learn to cope with not understanding. A failed experiment is no reason to stop experimenting.
Fantastic 80s TV program from the UK which introduces how everyday objects work, starting with the vacuum cleaner, sewing machine, central heating, washing machines ...
There are 18 30 minute episodes kindly made freely available for download by the orginal author.
http://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/
Highly recommended for techies of any age.
Bill Nye videos are available from Disney. I've watched them and plan to get them for my daughter. Very good stuff.
More details from the site:
"Oxford professor Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. With brilliance and clarity, Dawkins unravels an educational gem that will mesmerize young and old alike. Illuminating demonstrations, wildlife, virtual reality, and special guests (including Douglas Adams) all combine to make this collection a timeless classic.
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children were founded by Michael Faraday in 1825, with himself as the inaugural lecturer. The 1991 lecturer was Richard Dawkins whose five one-hour lectures, originally televised by the BBC, are now available for the first time on DVD, courtesy of RDF."
It's a truly wonderful series tailored specifically for children.
Leave the child alone. Without any guidance she should find that the earth is flat, does not move, and was created be a greater being... God.
Oday ouyay antway otay ayplay away amegay?
Magic School Bus ftw
I wish for once the religious arguments would stop. Dawkins doesn't even go out of his way to attack religion in The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children. His lectures in 1991 were brilliant and inspiring.
If you want a solid, secular explanation of evolutionary biology, do yourself a favor and watch this series with your children. You can tell your children "God was behind it" or anything else that will make you feel better about it, but at least they'll have an accurate understanding of the facts and theory. They'll also learn a lot of interesting things about biology.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
It's a 180 minutes video from BBC made in 2002!
You will have more detail at this adress: http://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace/dp/B000060MTY
Marc
Try this 180 minutes video from BBC. It was made in 2001. ISBN: 0-7907-6610-8 The science seems to fit, the special effects (for the explanation) are realy nice and they keep it simple! It's cheap (about 20$) You will have more detail at this adress: http://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace/dp/B000060MTY
A PBS documentary that contains a lot of information on The Big Bang as well as an introduction into String Theory and Quantum Theory later on in the videos. Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/
Powers of Ten is a short film by architect Charles Eames and his wife Ray. It explores the scale of things from the very large scale to the very small, and back again. Quite an fantastic achievement for two people and a few intern/assistants in an era before computerized special effects.
The film is available on DVD.
Charles and Ray Eames were a brilliant husband and wife duo of American designers in the 20th century. They were pioneers in so many different fields that, upon Ray's death in 1988 the entire contents of their architecture and design studio in California was cataloged, crated-up, and sent to the Smithsonian National Museum for permanent safekeeping.
I'll let you check out the wikipedia entry for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten
I thoroughly recommend the "Blue Planet" series or also the more recent "Planet Earth." They will blow her mind.
Also, any of the "Nova" series ought to do the trick too. There have been several Nova documentaries on the big bang, string theory, etc.
This film is wonderful.
You can get these lectures on DVD from RichardDawkins.net or watch streaming versions on the computer. I'd also recommend James Burke's "Connections" series; you can see them on YouTube, I would assume that you can get them on DVD. Fascinating stuff, watchable by bright kids and adults alike.
Mr. Wizard, and 3 2 1 Contact are fantastic programs. They should be still on TV in syndication now, but sadly they are not. I would also recommend Cosmos w/ Carl Sagan. The Science Cannel has been re broadcasting that series. Hands down the best introductory science documentary series.
Mr. Wizard
3-2-1 Contact!
Cosmos on the Science Channel
You can always take a look at Nova.
I want my! I want my! I want my Eee PC!
Big Bang Sample Clip
The bit about God wanting parents to stone disobedient children to death is particularly useful; you can just tell her to shut up and stop asking difficult questions.
sometimes you need to tell your kids "I don't know, what do think?" If you answer all their questions with facts or give them shows to watch with facts then they will learn facts. But at the age of 7 when they are primed for learning music and language why feed them facts? There is plenty of time later for that. We started teaching our kids a foreign language from the earliest times and they pick it up so fast. From 6 months to 4 years old is a critical period for language. And then from 4-7 is an important time for them to pick up music skills like singing and playing a recorder. Hand knitting is also important at this age. But memorizing facts from a science show isn't. Yes, its important later but my point is there are critical periods were kids are primed to learn certain things. And the public schools in the US completely miss this. So if your kids are in public school...well, oh well. Forget about it. They won't start learning foreign language until its too late.
Books, for fucks sake. BOOKS.
Clever, but I don't get it. Why would a true statement be falsifiable? ;-P
Well if you want to get down to it, nothing can be proven to you until your senses and your reason have sifted it and found it to be consistent with your experience. In some cases an hypothesis will be so out of whack with your experience that no argument will be able to convince you of its truth, and you'll need to see for yourself.
Insight experiences are simply the most powerful example of this principle. The only validation to be found is in going to the very place where the answer lies and seeing for yourself. Because of the nature of the problem of self, direct investigation is the only way to gain the needed experiential parity to even come to terms.
And sure, in the end, you may fail. Or even if you manage to have an "experience" (which is not the point) you can choose to believe that there is no content in what you've experienced, and nothing will have been proven to you. And that's fine too.
I have to play two sides here, because I am well convinced that meditation plays an essential role in exercising areas of the brain and aspects of consciousness that habits like thinking simply can't. But on the other hand, I'm strongly averse to the kind of mysticism as described in this thread (being opposed to reason).
Obviously, practical problems require practical solutions; our everyday experiences require us to weigh and calculate. ("Trust in Allah - but tie up your camel!") Now, when it comes to the practical problem of the self ("Who am i?") meditation and related remedies are reasonably indicated.
It just happens that mystical experiences and insights often follow, in part because the mind is no longer anchored to self-talk as its mirror of identity, but also because of what we're made of -- probability waves, mostly empty space, pure energy... the nature of which is innate to us. The sense of self and other disappears of necessity - it becomes clear to oneself that separateness is a meaningless concept, but all one has to go on is an inexpressible experience.
One comes away with a sense of awe, understandably frustrated by conventional means of expressing oneself, and of reflecting on the world. When someone asks, "What is reality like?" the only useful answers seem to be in the form of analogies, poems, and cries in the wilderness of "find out for yourself."
I think it's a mistake to assume that people who have had mystical insights are necessarily abandoning reason. Reason is after all, very very useful! Me personally, I find that reason is very helpful to remind me that I can't walk through walls after all, despite being utterly "empty."
Now, science isn't totally unable to study mystical phenomena. Dan Dennett's heterophenomenological approach ought to suffice just fine! The individual reports by people of their mystical experiences can be taken as simply being subjective reports, and you use standard methods of quantification and analysis to derive data. Over a long enough period of time you can begin to build a picture, and then you can know how to take these reports.
I think that's an important key to many such problem. One can choose to take a critical stance in which mystical assertions are points on which you must choose to agree or disagree, or you can note down the subjective report of the organic system in question, add it to your data, and hold off your conclusions until enough information is accumulated.
Of course, all this presumes that one is interested in the subject enough to look more deeply into it. But for many people, their conclusions have already been drawn.
As for my part, I am staying open to the value of mystical experience, so called, and to not-knowing as a potent epistemological stance. In fact, I feel more empty and sponge-like already!
-- thinkyhead software and media
This Show is old but it is very interesting. How a silver rush in Czechoslovakia leads to telephone is amazing. History and science at its best. How one idea leads to another and how things are the way they are, you can't beat it. This guy is amazing and his shows explain some complex things in easy enough terms for a twelve year old. Maybe a bit more than your daughter but if she is asking questions then this is what you want. Truly an amazing historian. Otherwise tell her about Ada Lovelace, Ãmilie du ChÃtelet, Lise Meitner and Marie Curie. Amazing women of science.
The better thing to do would be to explain a little about what 'everything' is - stars in the night sky are distant suns, except the planets which you can tell apart becasue they don't twinkle.
Everything in our solar system orbits the sun (except the sun) Smaller objects always orbit larger ones.
Everything is made from atoms.
The earth's continents are in motion
Clouds are water vapour
Parents pass on their traits to their children, and so on
Armed with this kind of knowledge, the answers will start to make sense to your daughter, and better yet, she'll understand how to determine whether a given answer is correct or not. Without some kind of knowledge background the answers won't really gel, and she'll remain vulnerable to the various mind predators out there.
Bereishit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz
Growing Up in the Universe, produced some years ago, is another excellent contribution to science awareness from Richard Dawkins. www.richarddawkins.net has links to it and other material, much of it available online and free. I've been hit with the "I want to be a Rainbow Unicorn when I die" issue. My reply to our 5 year old twins, "Why wait? Do it now", is perhaps not very useful. Telling them that death is the ultimate end has been accomplished, but there's not much context. Time to get a pet that lasts about 6 months, me thinks, or just wait for me to drop.
Go to www.richarddawkins.net. Choose Forums - Atheism and then ask your question there.
but my 2 year old is very fond of anything with animals in it. - Planet Earth was very, very good. - Prehistoric Park & Walking with Dinosaurs are favorites as well. My son now wants to be Nigel Marven when he grows up. These shows also hold up over time for adult viewers. I consider that something of a bonus. Those of you who have had a 2 year old ask to see something again and again and again know what I mean.
Well, it all depends on how interested your daughter really is, but I viewed Cosmos when I was around 6 and it DID kick in. The mixture of science and history is amazing and you can always watch them with her and explain whatever she does not understand. It is not entirely up to date but still very good.
From wikipedia:
"In the first series, the episodes both satirised and paid homage to 1970s and early 1980s educational films"
Maths: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9UXw0fQmno
Do we really know whether those idols worked as intended at that time? What if their true purpose was e.g. to give courage to warriors going to battle or hunters against predators?Define "useful" please.
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The secret life of Machines is a 3 season torrent, legal too.
Excellent series.
If you can find old editions of the great egg race, thats another great science show.
Lawrence / www.shanghaiguide.com
I always found the BBC's Look Around You science series to be very informative.
The History Channel has some great documentaries on the origins of the Universe. They are graphical enough that they would interest the kiddies. They explain things fairly well but you would probably have to pause and explain things in easier terms. They also avoid all the religious nonsense, at least the ones that I'm thinking of. I don't have any titles for you I'm afraid. A look through their online DVD library would probably point you in the right direction. It was at least an hour long, maybe longer.
The TED lectures (the hype: "Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers") are very current, often fun, and generally fairly accessible. I wouldn't 'dumb it down' too much for your kid -- kids will rise to the occasion if the content is well presented. http://www.ted.com/
'Down the Rabbit Hole'
I highly recommend this one to children and adults alike. Very interesting stuff presented in an easy-to-understand way. With friendly cartoon animations and all.
http://www.amazon.com/What-Bleep-QUANTUM-Three-Disc-Special/dp/B000FKO3JO
This book by Lawrence Kraus http://www.amazon.com/Atom-Single-Oxygen-Journey-Earth/dp/0316183091/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210017388&sr=8-2 is a very good. The book is simple enough you can understand it, and probably help your child understand it as well. The thing that I have been confounded by with my kids is that the concept of lots is kind of difficult for them to grasp. A lot of jelly beans they get, but the concept of 100,000, or 1 million, much less 1 billion is just beyond their ability at 8 or 10 years old. They will nod their heads, but with probing, I find that they don't really "get" how many that is. On top of it being a good book to read with your kid, it is a good book to read and you will get some pretty cool amount of info in there present in a somewhat entertaining way. I wouldn't sick my kids on this book without me, but we will probably read it together in the very near future (since we finished Ender's game....)
You could also try the website Red Nova - its a site geared to all things in our galaxy and on earth. I signed my kids up with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Labs', when they were about the same age as your daughter. Both sites have areas that are kid friendly, and with your help are easy to navigate & understand. You might also try www.sci-am.com - its a magazine thats really into science & how it affects our lives. Maybe you'll find some help there.
I read the title as Science Documentaries for Gangsters
-and do not trust anyone over 30.
I grew up on esoteric family arguments, pulp fiction novels, science fiction novels (Asimov), close best friends (serial monogamy/pair programming), computers, and some baroque music. I wish I would have paid more attention to other peoples interests - they seemed dull (pop music) or prohibited (women) at the time. School and university are just creches - giving you what you already should have. That is a good sound bite I mean what you should already have such as access to fellow specialising knowledge travelers, access to young adult societies (for learning to organise and be organised) and women. Another case of someone taking the foot off your face and saying you have been given something.
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i remember Cosmos. It was sometimes difficult to understand without adult interaction, but such excellent presentation. And, would always encourage extra reading in the study, digging though encyclopaedias.
http://www.tv.com/cosmos/show/29633/summary.html
A few years later i was introduced to David Attenborough's "The Living Planet" (1984). This man has produced enough entertaining, educational content to satiate even the most inquisitive mind. Though it is mostly earthbound, it shouldn't be missed. Start with the older shows and work your way though the Life series. Save "Planet Earth" for a special Blu-ray occassion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough#Television_work
Cheers.
Yet Socrates himself is particularly missed.
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed.
http://www.pbs.org/kqed/oceanadventures/
I have 3 boys, ages 1.5 - 8. We got "Voyage to Kure" from Netflix, and the entire family sat entranced through the entire DVD. The visuals are stunning.
My boys also enjoy the "Eyewitness" videos. Also, try the "NOVA: Origins" series with physicist Neil Degrasse-Tyson.