The Free-Ride offspring have been considering careers. This past week, they both got excited about the prospect of becoming veterinarians.
Elder offspring: I think I might want to be a veterinarian when I grow up.
Dr. Free-Ride: You could do that. You like science, you like animals, you like solving puzzles. I think you might be really good at it.
Younger offspring: I could be a veterinarian, too! I really like dogs and cats and rodents and birds.
Elder offspring: I think I might want to be a veterinarian at a zoo … but maybe not for the zebras. I heard that they can kick and bite, and really hurt the zoo keepers, and then I might need a doctor myself.
Category Archives: Kids and science
Friday Sprog Blogging: do hatching grunion eggs really go ‘pop’?
The Free-Ride offspring were on spring break last week. Since their mother was digging herself out of a pit of grading, they got to visit the Grandparents Who Lurk But Seldom Comment. Apparently it wasn’t all playing bucking broncos with the cat — they also visited an aquarium:
Dr. Free-Ride: You went to an aquarium? Do you remember which one?
Younger offspring: No, but it was a little far from [the house of the Grandparents Who Lurk But Seldom Comment].
Dr. Free-Ride: And what did you do there?
Younger offspring: This man who worked at the aquarium mixed grunion eggs and this sand-ish, dirt-ish stuff. And then he poured water into a bowl after he put the grunion eggs into it.
Younger offspring: I shook it for one hundred seconds or more, and they pop when they hatch.
Friday Sprog Blogging: psychoanimalists.
Of all the Looney Tunes characters, I was never a fan of the Roadrunner. (I liked Wile E. Coyote well enough, and wish him well in his lawsuit against the Acme Company.) However, there was one Roadrunner cartoon where the focus pulls back from the eternal struggle between coyote and prospective dinner and shifts instead to two little cartoon kids watching the Roadrunner on their TV. If I recall correctly, at least one of these kids expresses a less-than-favorable opinion of the Roadrunner. And, one of the kids (might be the same one) mentions that he wants to be a psychoanimalist when he grows up.
It should come as no surprise that the Free-Ride offspring are already running around practicing psychonanimalysis (psychoanimalism?) — without a license.
Younger offspring: We were playing bucking bronco, and I was the horse.
Dr. Free-Ride: Yes?
Younger offspring: And [the grandparent who lurks but seldom comments] couldn’t get on my back, because that would crush me. So he put the cat on my back.
Dr. Free-Ride: I see. What happened next?
Younger offspring: Well, then I bucked and the cat jumped off my back.
Dr. Free-Ride: So, do you think the cat enjoyed this experience?
Younger offspring: Yes! She ran away, but she had fun.
Dr. Free-Ride: So you’ve decided it makes sense in the cat psyche that running away is a sign of having fun?
Younger offspring: She always comes back.
Friday Sprog Blogging: are all traits adaptive?
Do you ever suspect that kids save their best questions for just before “goodnight” as a delaying tactic? Or is there some other plausible explanation for a kid regularly entering into deeply interesting territory on the way to dream time?
Dr. Free-Ride: Sweet dreams.
Elder offspring: Why are feet ticklish?
Scenes from the science fair.
Following up on an earlier post, I wanted to say a little about the Synopsis Championship that took place last week. It’s sort of a judge’s-eye view of the fair — from a very enthusiastic and impressed judge.
Friday Sprog Blogging: there’s *what* in the water?
This week, the sprogs came home from school with the annual read-the-local-paper- and-complete-activities -for-free-stuff- from-local-merchants assignments. While this program has the unfortunate effect of doubling the amount of newspaper spread out on the living room floor, I think it’s a generally good idea to get kids reading the newspaper on a regular basis. Some of the stories they read there, however, can make them anxious.
Elder offspring: I’m going to read this article on what’s happening to fish because of drugs in the water they live in.
Dr. Free-Ride: Good choice. I’ve been listening to reporting on that story on the radio this week.
Elder offspring: It says that some of the male fish have become “feminized” — they’re making egg proteins — or don’t have very many sperm. And that some of the female fish grew male sex organs.
Dr. Free-Ride: Mmm-hmm.
Elder offspring: And bass that produce sperm and eggs — in the same fish.
Dr. Free-Ride: Yikes!
Elder offspring: It’s kind of cool, but also kind of scary. That probably isn’t good for the fish populations, is it?
Dr. Free-Ride: I’m guessing it’s not.
Friday Sprog Blogging: lizards on the rocks.
Last weekend the weather got sunny and warm here, so the Free-Ride parental units decided it was appropriate to lead the Free-Ride offspring on a forced march along the creek.
Somehow, the sprogs didn’t get the memo that it was a forced march, since in the course of 2.5 hours neither of them complained at all. (What fun is that?)
Maybe they were distracted from their oppression by all the critters.
A cool science and engineering challenge for curious kids.
Speaking of science fairs, if you know of kids (grades 5-12) in the San Francisco Bay Area who are looking for a challenge, this one might be of interest:
It is not too late to participate in this year’s Tech Challenge. The Tech Museum of Innovation’s 21st annual Tech Challenge is designed to get at the heart of innovation for young people and is geared to the California Math, Science and Language Arts standards. This year’s Tech Challenge focus is on the need for safe clean drinking water. One in five people in the world do not have regular access to safe drinking water. The challenge: design a simple device to move water from the stream up to the village. With no electricity available, the flow of the stream needs to power the water mover.
An intriguing problem, no? Here are the challenge details:
Science fair judges needed.
For readers in the greater San Jose (California) region, I wanted to pass along a call for judges for the Synopsis Championship, scheduled to take place next Wednesday, March 12. Judges will be doing their thing from noon to 4:30 PM at the McEnery Convention Center in downtown San Jose. (Judges will be served a free lunch starting at 11:30, however.) Here are the details on the judging talent they’re looking for:
Talking with kids about drugs.
Abel Pharmboy and Drugmonkey are having a conversation that I wish I could approach completely abstractly, about what parents ought to be telling their kids about drugs (whether legal or illegal) and their use. (Also, Page 3.14 has a reader’s poll about whether teens can be scared off illegal drugs. Poll results will be published in the ScienceBlogs Weekly Recap newsletter, for which you can sign up here.)
Of course, having two kids who are not yet teens but don’t seem to be getting any younger, the issue doesn’t feel abstract at all. The clock is ticking.
Here’s what is currently shaping my strategy: