Category: Article

I realize that the not-too-distant memory of pandemic shutdowns doesn’t make being alone a very comforting prospect. Nevertheless, we need solitude, at least a little, each day. We also need a guide if we are not only to endure but to thrive in the challenges presented to us in solitude. In this way, solitude can in due time reveal to us another way to view ourselves and the world that is like a bay window looking out on a seacoast with horizons extending to eternity. The wonder will be all…

The story of science is one that is often left untold in our classrooms today. This is an unfortunate situation, especially when we consider the words of Alexis de Tocqueville from The Old Regime and the Revolution describing the events leading up to the French Revolution. History… is a picture gallery containing a host of copies and very few originals.[1] The history of science is no different. Among the host of copies, we find scientists carrying out the normal processes of science to make slow and steady progress, but we…

In recent years, many writers have offered advice about how to manage a Thanksgiving conversation with friends or family members who hold very different opinions about politics, religion, or the newly radioactive topics of epidemiology and immunology. Most of these articles recommend that we avoid areas of known disagreement for fear of disrupting the emotional ecosystem of a holiday get-together.  But what should we do when we’re in the classroom, and the uncomfortable topic is historical rather than political? Specifically, what do we do about historical events in which some…

I heard on the radio the other day that 37% of people making $200,000 a year live paycheck to paycheck. I think they were trying to increase pity for people, like we all need to make way more money just to get by. But I didn’t get that message. All I heard was “people waste a lot of money,” and it saddens me that we are so pathetic. According to the World Bank, nearly half of the world lives on less than $5.50 per day.  Sure, things in the US…

Teaching the scientific method through a baking project. This lesson will help students: Understand modern science as an inquiry-based approach advanced by carefully designed experiments. Become familiar with the scientific method and how to apply this method in the real world. Analyze collected data and present findings to peers. Overall Objective Too often students learn the scientific process as bystanders, never sitting in the driver’s seat to see the path that lies ahead on the journey to exploration of their natural world. Many students can rattle off the steps of…

At the beginning of every year in physics, I start out with an overview of Aristotle’s ten categories of being: This diagram shows that the most fundamental category is “substance”: It “stands under” the other nine accidents, supporting them. It cannot be directly sensed by any of the five senses. Impossible to directly see, hear, touch, smell or taste a substance (we only see, hear, touch, smell or taste the accidents) The substance is only grasped by the intellect as the intellect abstracts from the information we receive from our…

The Story, As It Happened A few months back, I met an empty seltzer box in the kitchen. It was intriguingly green and not to be recklessly discarded. I just didn’t know what it was yet. So here’s what happened, one thing at a time:  My daughters thought it was pretty, and therefore to be cut up with scissors. I watched little bright shapes happen. Green was what? Grass, lawn, meadow. We glued green pieces to the rest of the box to make little lawns or rolling hills. Such a…

Introduction Science has done some remarkable things. From Thales’ prediction of a solar eclipse in 585 BC to the detection of gravitational waves in September 2015, from enabling heart transplants to enabling of the atomic bomb, science has made many impressive, useful, and powerful contributions that sometimes change history. Science also influences our day-to-day life in ways we rarely notice. Every time you turn on the lights, run the dishwasher, use your phone, or drive your car down the highway, it is an incarnation of multiple scientific theories. But what…

Many years ago I read two articles on what parents want from schools as it relates to their children. Both studies surveyed parents, and the topic was this: Do you want your child coming home from school happy every day or do you want your child to be challenged, even if the result is that he may come home feeling uncomfortable? This was fifteen years ago, and a majority of parents wanted their children to come home happy. Recently, I reviewed a more general survey of parents, and 72% of…

In 1984, film director Philip Gröning wrote the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse asking to make a documentary about their life at the monastery. Sixteen years – yes, years – later, they responded, and the result was the beautiful film Into the Great Silence. Most of us, if offered a movie deal, would consider ourselves restrained if we waited sixteen seconds before responding.  In sports, the phrase “speed kills” is popular. It means that the player or team that is quickest, fastest to act or react, is the winner….