Re: Supporting vs stifling curiosity

[Robert Cohen <Robert.Cohen@PO-BOX.ESU.EDU>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chuck Britton [mailto:britton@NCSSM.EDU]
> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 8:33 PM
>
> [snip]
>
> She was quite dejected to come home that afternoon to report that her
> teacher just 'didn't understand'.
>
> Many students seem to loose their excitement about math and science
> in junior high school. I wonder why?!

Your daughter discovered that people in authority are not always right.  As
Feynman said, "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts" (see
<http://www.eiu.edu/~scienced/what/what_1b.html>).  Isn't this an important
lesson in itself?

P.S. Unfortunately, sometimes this lesson is learned a bit too early I
think.  My son is in second grade.  The class was discussing the way water
goes down the drain, so my son observed the water going down all the drains
in the house over several days (weeks...months...) and concluded that it
goes down both ways (clockwise and counterclockwise).  His teacher said he
was wrong - it always goes down counterclockwise.  He has come to the
conclusion (with my help) that perhaps the teacher has mistakenly thought
that since the wind in a hurricane is always counterclockwise (in the NH),
the water in the drain must likewise drain counterclockwise.

____________________________________________
Robert Cohen; rcohen@po-box.esu.edu; http://www.esu.edu/~bbq
Physics, East Stroudsburg Univ, E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301