Category Archives: Kids and science

Monday grab bag (with important question to readers)

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Yeah, I’m grading. (Maybe you would be too if you weren’t reading the blogs, hmm?) But I wanted to check in.

  • I pulled my back loading the car for the last soccer game of the season. What’s the proper inference to draw from that (besides the obvious: that I’m getting old and all this grading is doing nothing for my muscle tone)?
  • How is it that if I make assignments at school they often are left undone, whereas if I make assignments on my blog, people do the work and turn it in? (Are we now awarding ScienceBlogs course credit?)
  • As much as I hate feeding capitalism (seriously, ask these guys) and consumerism, I do like nurturing the interests of the young in positive directions. So, to balance the bad stuff out there on the market, I’m putting together a round up of brain-friendly gift ideas for the youngsters. My question to you: What games, toys, or other giftables would you recommend for a kid who may or may not have an interest in math and science? Tell me by email (and expound on why your suggestion rocks), and I’ll compile a list of the favorites to go up in the neighborhood of Buy Nothing Day. (You can research on Buy Nothing Day, I think).

More when I emerge, victorious, from the stack of papers.

Friday Sprog Blogging: the power of words and the psychology of groups.

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This is not a “cute” story. It’s an infuriating story about a school climate gone mad. And, although I suspect an organizational psychologist could give a nuanced analysis of the situation, that’s not my area of expertise, so I’m just going to tell the story.
Elder offspring was sent to the Vice Principal’s office yesterday. When the office called Dr. Free-Ride’s better half about the incident, the crime they reported was “saying the B-word”.
I should say right now, if you’re in earshot of an elementary or secondary school as you’re reading this post, please don’t read it out loud! I would hate to be responsible for your incarceration in the Vice Principal’s office.
So, Dr. Free-Ride’s better half actually had to go to the Vice Principal’s office yesterday, largely because elder offspring was hysterical and unable to put together a coherent sentence to convey the kid’s-eye account of the incident. Needless to say, the Vice Principal interpreted this as elder offspring “knowing that was a very bad thing to say”. The Principal, thankfully, was much less willing to convict on such flimsy evidence. Dr. Free-Ride’s better half was able to calm elder offspring sufficiently to return to class. After school, a more composed elder offspring was able to communicate these details:

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Friday Sprog Blogging: make some noise

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This week, the elder Free-Ride offspring’s science class was reviewing for a test. (In second grade? Did we used to review for science tests back in second grade? Maybe things have changed since then.) One of the issues in the material they were reviewing was sound, which prompted a discussion that ran beyond the bounds of what will be on the test.
Dr. Free-Ride: So, what do you know about sound?
Elder offspring: Well, sound can travel pretty well through air, and also through a fluid like water.
Younger offspring: That’s why, in swim lessons, you can hear the teacher say, “One, two, three, turn and breathe!” even if you’re keeping your chin down like you’re supposed to.

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“Science” kits that teach stereotypes.

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It’s the time of year when the mailbox starts filling up with catalogues. At the Free-Ride house, many of these are catalogues featuring “educational” toys and games. Now, some of these toys and games are actually pretty cool. Others, to my mind, are worse than mere wastes of money.
For your consideration, three “science” kits targeted at girls:

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Friday Sprog Blogging: “Our kids are dumb!”

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Of course, we don’t really think the sprogs are dumb. Sometimes they just remind us that some of the things their parents find intuitive are not intuitive to them.
Dr. Free-Ride: (arriving home after an evening seminar) How were the kids tonight.
Dr. Free-Ride’s better half: They were fine. But, we had a conversation about boiling and … our kids are dumb!

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Friday Sprog Blogging: trying to understand Pokemon.

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Pictured above: Not anything to do with Pokemon, but rather an imagined scene from Okami, in which, as far as I can gather, a solar-powered wolf battles a garlic bulb.
Dr. Free-Ride: Can you explain some stuff about Pokemon to me?
Elder offspring: Sure! How much time do you have?
Dr. Free-Ride: Look, I don’t want to get into the issues of which ones are best in a battle or anything like that. I’m just trying to understand what kind of critter they’re supposed to be.
Elder offspring: OK, we’ll talk about battles another day.
Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah … we’ll do that.

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My (unhinged) plan for improving science journalism and the market for it.

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I’m blaming the folks at Three Bulls! for the post that incited this one. Indeed, I started my descent into what is clearly a delusional plan in a comment there.
The short version: Pinko Punko was disturbed at how very little actual communication of content was involved in a presumably science-centered media frenzy. The “journalists” in question neither sought actual informative content from scientists (let alone striving to understand that content), nor passed on anything like it to their viewers. To those of us who expect journalism to communicate actual content (or at least try to), this is disturbing.
Hoping that perhaps, from this brush with media frenzy, Pinko Punko could offer a more precise diagnosis of the problem, I asked:

Is it a supply-side problem — primarily, one of incompetent science journalists, or of journalists who think they understand more science than they actually do? If so, could this be the answer to our oversupply of science Ph.D.s (i.e., send them to the press conferences and the newsrooms)?
Is it a demand-side problem — with the public unable to get the least bit interested about science (at least when there’s a good Congressional sex scandal or a celebrity behaving badly), or interested but without the requisite understanding of the most basic details of science to really “get” the scientific findings they might be interested in?
Do the people on the supply end misjudge the interest or intelligence of the people on the demand end?
Can we lay this all at the feet of people who use print, audio, and video news to sell ads?

The diagnosis? Probably all of these are at work. That means it’s time for a cunning plan (which in its present form involves no turnips but possibly a little mind control). Here is a slight elaboration on the manifesto I posted at Three Bulls!

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Friday Sprog Blogging: random bullets edition.

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Dr. Free-Ride: So, what kind of science are you learning in school these days?
Younger offspring: I don’t know.
Dr. Free-Ride: You don’t know?! You have been going to school, right?
Younger offspring: Of course.
Dr. Free-Ride: When [Dr. Free-Ride’s better half] was in the classroom helping with the lesson this week, what did you learn about?
Younger offspring: About Fall, and pumpkins, and pumpkin seeds.
Dr. Free-Ride: There’s science in that, isn’t there?
Younger offspring: I guess.

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Friday Sprog Blogging: a forceful film.

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The elder Free-Ride offspring has been learning about forces (“pushes and pulls”) in second grade science class. Meanwhile, at home both the sprogs found a new favorite film, The Way Things Go. It’s about 30 minutes of nearly continuous Rube Goldberg machinery. There are a few visible cuts in the film, which seem to be pauses to let chemical reactions proceed (although it would be completely understandable to me if cuts had been required to get some of the more complicated mechanical interactions to work). The progress of the apparatus is presented without narration, which is just as well, since it would be drowned out by the giggles and belly-laughs. Here are the sprogs’ viewing notes:

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