Re: 2 million teachers in 2007!

[Chuck Britton <britton@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

When in the fourth grade, out family went out one night about
midnight to see a total lunar eclipse. My teacher was 'explaining'
how it occurred when I asked 'then why doesn't it happen EVERY
month???'

She clearly didn't have an answer but said it would be a good
question to study.
My two older brothers tried to help me 'understand' the answer. I
remember the word 'wobble' being used. I'm STILL not sure I have a
complete handle on all the orbital planes in the solar system, and
MOST importantly, I appreciate her willingness to say 'I don't know.
Let's try to find out.'

DOES the moon's orbit lie in the equatorial plane? Clearly not, since
it varies from High to Low in the sky. It also can't orbit in the
same plane as the earth's orbit or we WOULD get monthly eclipses. So
I guess it DOES orbit in some intermediate plane??

> it is also the case that the
> teachers in elementary and middle school classes are more likely to get a
> large range of questions from their students that are not likely to fall
> conveniently within the much smaller range of topics covered in 'inquiry'
> courses.  In the best of both worlds such teachers would have taken a survey
> course to get a feel for the breadth of the topic and an 'inquiry' (or
> similar) course as a depth or 'methods' course.  In the real world where it
> is an either-or proposition, it remains to be seen if being able to better
> guide students towards the 'methods' of scientific enquiry concerning a few
> topics produces better and more enthusiastic students at the H.S. and
> college levels.  I would hope that the teachers would expand their science
> knowledge beyond the few topics covered so as to better serve their
> questioning students.

  -.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .-.     .-
    \   /   \   /   \ N /   \ C /   \ S /   \ S /   \ M /   \   /   \   /
     `-'     `-'     `-'     `-'     `-'     `-'     `-'     `-'     `-'
Chuck Britton                                   Education is what is left when
britton@odie.ncssm.edu                          you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math         you learned in school.
(919) 286-3366  x224                            Albert Einstein,        1936