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Why Kids Should Be Building Rockets Instead of Taking Tests
An anonymous reader writes "MAKE Magazine founder Dale Dougherty has an article in Slate about how educators are missing the punchline when it comes to getting kids interested in learning. He describes a recent visit he made to a middle school: 'The science lab was empty, as were the library and the playground. It was not a school holiday: It was a state-mandated STAR testing day. The school was in an academic lockdown. This is what the American public school looks like in 2012, driven by obsessive adherence to standardized testing. The fate of children, their schools, and their teachers are based on these school test scores.' Dougherty's preference would be to more tightly integrate basic engineering projects into the science curriculum. 'I see the power of engaging kids in science and technology through the practices of making and hands-on experiences, through tinkering and taking things apart. Schools seem to have forgotten that students learn best when they are engaged; in fact, the biggest problem in schools is boredom. Students sit passively, expected to absorb all the content that is thrown at them without much context. The context that's missing is the real world."
They're doing exactly what they've been told to do by the system that politics has created. To fix our schools, you need to keep congress's nose out of the process, return responsibility to the individual states and local boards of education.
It may be a suboptimal result but it is at least a demonstrable result.
People like to whine about rote learning and facts, but before you start applying "more sophisticated thinking" you have to have a solid grasp of the facts.
You have to have something that can be measured.
Clearly this idea scares a lot of people.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Virtually useless, until someone invents a standardized student.
Education will suffer until the Powers-That-Be realize not every person learns the same way.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
You Sir, should watch 5 dangerous things kids should do:
http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_on_5_dangerous_things_for_kids.html
To fix our schools, you need to keep congress's nose out of the process, return responsibility to the individual states and local boards of education.
Would you also eliminate federal funding and let states and localities pay for their own schools? Unless you do, the feds are going to put conditions on what they're paying for, and justifiably so. Personally I'd like to see the feds out of many areas, including education, since their participation comes with a lot of strings.
My mom hit at least three of those with me at an early age. I just love the saying "Don't childproof the world, worldproof the child"
We seem to be raising generations of ever-less-capable people by trying to childproof the world
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
You already stretched the imagination when you imagined the rocket blowing up. Do you know how much work it takes to get the fuel in a commercial Estes model rocket engine to blow up? They're designed for maximum safety.
You sort of have the right idea, in that you should teach them in phases. You might start out with a demonstration to capture their interest: the teacher launches a rocket. Then, you teach them some theory - just enough for them to be successful. Then you have a construction phase, where you build models, and perhaps wind tunnel test them. Then you teach them range safety, just before taking them outside again for the launch.
The most important thing to teach them is that range safety is #1, and is not negotiable. Anyone violating it will be escorted away, no second chance to fire their rocket, and enforce that rule like iron, parents' whining be damned. As the adult, you'd be the range safety officer, and you'd always maintain the launch keys in your possession. Do those simple steps and it is not only far safer than gym class, but a fun experience they'll remember.
The most dangerous part? Asking parents to pay for the kits. Teachers don't have a lot of spare money for stuff like this, and bulk educational packets of rockets cost about $50 per 12 rockets. Multiply by 36 students per each overcrowded class, and you have to come up with $150 per class. About half your students will be from households where their parent(s) can't afford a $5 kit, so you need to find a beneficiary or you'll be paying that $75 out of your own pocket. If you go asking for money too often, the parents will likely complain to the principal and you'll find you're risking your job by just trying to be good at it.
John
Now...a rocket blowing up is not "little" by any stretch of the imagination. And usually it doesn't provide a second chance (the event)....kids should be allowed to do more things, but unfortunately rocket building is not one of them.
You, sir, are a fine example of what is wrong with America. You know not what you are speaking of, and consequently, you are filled with fear because of what you don't know.
At 13, I blew up a model rocket engine in my face. Guess what? I'm still here (23 years later). No scars. No permanent damage. No missing appendages. I'm FINE, albeit I have a bit more respect for warning labels and for not doing stupid things that I frikken' KNOW are stupid, and yes, I knew what I was doing when I blew up the engine that it was a Really Dumb Idea (the engine wouldn't ignite, so I ground it up into a powder and tried to light it with a match -- kids don't try this at home!). I flew rockets from about age eight (with my dad doing most of the work) through college (solo) with not a single injury other than the above incident. In fact, I've carried on the tradition with my own kids now that I'm a dad myself; I'm currently building a twin-engine D-size rocket to boost an Arduino, which I'll be using to measure air temperature, air pressure and acceleration. I've had far more injuries due to riding a bicycle than I have had flying rockets -- do you therefore want to ban bicycles, too?
There's a reason they call that science: rocket science.
Ummm...because it's science, and involves rockets? What NASA or Space-X does *is* really hard, because they are dealing with very, very large, very, very powerful and very, very complex machines, which have to fly very precise trajectories. An A- through C-size model rocket is many, many orders of magnitude less complex and less dangerous, particularly if you don't try to DIY your engines. Building and flying such a rocket is well within the capabilities of a jr. high school student; designing and building such a rocket is well within the capabilities of a high school student with a little supervision from a high school science teacher.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?