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Re: Middle School Physical Science Texts: dishonesty

This conversation reminds me of a Feynman quote (regarding "What is
science") <http://www.eiu.edu/~scienced/what/what_1a.html>.

-----------------------------

When I was still pretty young-I don't know how old exactly - I had a ball
in a wagon I was pulling, and I noticed something, so I ran up to my
father to say that "When I pull the wagon, the ball runs to the back, and
when I am running with the wagon and stop, the ball runs to the front.
Why? "How would you answer?

He said, "That nobody knows"

He said "It's very general, though, it happens all the time to anything;
anything that is moving tends to keep moving; anything standing still
tries to maintain that condition. If you look close you will see the ball
does not run to the back of thewagon where you start from standing still.
It moves forward a bit too, but not as fast as the wagon.

The back of the wagon catches up with the ball which has trouble getting
started moving. It's called inertia, that principle." I did run back to
check, and sure enough the ball didn't go backwards.

He put the difference between what we know and what we call it very
distinctly.

--------------------------------

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| Robert Cohen Department of Physics |
| East Stroudsburg University |
| bbq@esu.edu East Stroudsburg, PA 18301 |
| http://www.esu.edu/~bbq/ (570) 422-3428 |
----------------------------------------------------------

On Sun, 4 Mar 2001, Robert Carlson wrote:

Mark,

First, I think you might want to get a new keyboard. It seems to be stuck on
all caps.

<< Where did the "general rules" come from? QUANTUM THEORY.

And I suppose these had nothing to do with real data coming from experiments
involving the study of nature's rules. Quantum theory is just so much
mathematical poetry unless it accurately describes nature. That's the way it
is.

Do you agree with the rules? YES. THE PREDICTIONS OF QUANTUM THEORY ARE
EXTREMELY GOOD.

In other words, they can tell me that a red queen may be placed on a black
king below the aces in solitaire, but not above. They are a good model for
nature's rules, but if they don't work, then nature still rules.

Can
you explain them to me within any level of why questions? YES, BUT PROBABLY
NOT AT A LEVEL THAT A MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILD COULD UNDERSTAND.
Or, will you finally admit that these are the rules of the game, be as they
are? THE POINT IS THAT PROPERTIES OF ATOMS CAN BE UNDERSTOOD WITHIN THE
CONTEXT OF A VERY GOOD GENERALLY THEORY THAT REQUIRES A MINIMUM OF
ASSUMPTIONS.

So, if you can explain the rules, then, why is there matter? Why does matter
attract matter? Why do unlike charges attract and like charges repel?

<< Even for more basic questions where we don't have a pat answer, it
seems to
me that it would be better to say that "we don't know the answer to
that
question, but you might be the one to find out" rather than to tell the
kid
that "that's just the way it is".>>

What's wrong with saying, "That's the way it is," if this is the correct
answer? THE STATEMENT IS A TAUTOLOGY. IT CONVEYS NO NEW INFORMATION TO THE
STUDENT. IF I DIDN'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION, I WOULD SAY SO TO THE
STUDENT AND HELP HIM OR HER TO FIND THE ANSWER. FOR QUESTIONS WHERE WE
DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER, I'D SAY JUST THAT. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN LETTING
STUDENTS KNOW THAT THERE STILL ARE OPEN QUESTIONS.

There are always open questions. But, not always open answers. If a field
goal is worth three points, then it is worth three points. That is a rule of
the game. When the rules are well defined, what's wrong with telling
students they are well defined?

How do you explain the hydrogen atom having one proton and one
electron? I DON'T. THIS ISN'T THE ONLY STABLE CONFIGURATION FOR HYDROGEN.
DEUTERIUM (1 PROTON, 1 NEUTRON, 1 ELECTRON) ALSO IS A STABLE CONFIGURATION.

It's not that you don't explain why a hydrogen atom has one proton and one
electron, it's that you cannot explain it. There is no explanation other
than, this is a rule of nature's game.

<< The former is a good scientific answer, the latter is just ignorant
authoritarianism. But, I'm just being a bit irascible this morning.>>

Tell me what makes "we don't know the answer to that question, but you
might
be the one to find out" a good scientific answer. IT ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHY THINGS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE.
Why is it better than
saying this is what has been observed in nature (that's the way it is).
SCIENCE IS MORE THAN A COLLECTION OF OBSERVATIONS. CONNECTING OBSERVATIONS
TO THEORIES HELPS STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS SYSTEMATIC BEHAVIOR
IN NATURE.

You are correct, science is more than a collection of observations. But, not
telling students that the observations are what they are is a disservice.
Theories may not correctly model nature and nature couldn't care less whether
we understand her. However, if nature says something, then that's the way it
is. Listen to her, and test your models against what she says.

Also, I don't have any problem with there being an authority figure in a
classroom. I certainly hope the teacher is the authority figure.
Concerning
the ignorant part, this seems a typical response in the "intellectual"
community as part of an argument. Please explain. IN MY VIEW THE TEACHER
NEEDS TO GUIDE STUDENTS TO UNDERSTANDING, AND TO HELP THEM LEARN MORE. ONE
CAN BE AN AUTHORITY FIGURE WITHOUT BEING AUTHORITARIAN.

This sounds reasonable. However, I hope you are not considering the biology
teacher that was the topic of this thread a few days ago an ignorant
authoritarian simply because she supposedly told a student "That's the way it
is" in response to an electron configuration. This is unjust.

Bob Carlson