Dr. Free-Ride: (sidling up to the younger offspring this morning with tape-recorder in hand) Hey, can I ask you about —
Younger offspring: I don’t remember them.
Dr. Free-Ride: Huh?
Younger offspring: I don’t remember the words to the brontosaurus song, and David won’t sing it for me anymore because we’re done studying dinosaurs. You’ll have to blog about something else.
Dr. Free-Ride: Have you been reading the notes on my computer?
Younger offspring: (innocently) I don’t know how to read.
Dr. Free-Ride: So you keep telling me.
Category Archives: Kids and science
Friday Sprog Blogging: dinosaur sing-a-long!
After some discussion with the younger Free-Ride offspring, I discovered that she does not know one dinosaur or dinosaur-related song; she knows three.
And, because I asked nicely, now so do I.
Friday Sprog Blogging: it is rocket science!
When the weather gets nice, a sprog’s thoughts turn to rocketry. Photos of the first mission of the bottle-rocket season after the jump.
Friday Sprog Blogging: thar be seamonsters!
The Free-Ride offspring have developed a serious penchant for nature programs. The latest one they viewed was Nature: Encountering Sea Monsters, and as you might expect, they have some thoughts (and artwork) to share. So, we follow in Tim Lambert’s footsteps by combining Friday cephalopods with sprog-blogging.
Friday Sprog Blogging: the world in a fig tree.
Last weekend, the Free-Ride family sat down to watch a nature program together: Nature: The Queen of Trees. The program looked at the variety of life around a giant fig tree. The central “relationship” in the program was between the tree and a wasp. From the program description:
The wasp and the fig depend on each other for survival. Without the wasp, the tree could not pollinate its flowers and produce seeds. Without the fig, the wasp would have nowhere to lay its eggs.
The younger Free-Riders were more captivated, however, by some of the secondary characters in the drama.
Scientific knowledge for the masses.
Over at Evolgen, RPM links to an article that lists ten “basic questions” to which ten different scientists think high school graduates should know the answers. (It was one question from each scientist, so it’s unclear whether all ten would agree that they are the ten most important questions, or even that all ten of these scientists could answer all ten to the others’ satisfaction.) RPM opines that the list seems heavy on trivia (or at least seemingly random facts) and light on really helpful scientific knowledge. He writes:
Let’s focus on two things: the hypothetical deductive method and essential information that you must know to be able to read the science section of a newspaper.
Well, I’m a bandwagon jumper-upon of long standing, so let me add some items I’d like the masses to be able to take on:
Friday Sprog Blogging: teeth, tongues, and feedbacks.
Dr. Free-Ride: Hey, did you learn any more science today?
Younger offspring: Yes! More dinosaur stuff.
Dr. Free-Ride: What kinds of dinosaur stuff?
Younger offspring: Stuff about dinosaurs with sharp, pointy teeth.
Dr. Free-Ride: Is there another song?
Younger offspring: Yeah, but I’m not ready to teach it to you yet.
Friday Sprog Blogging: dinosaurs!
Kids love dinosaurs. It’s one of those eternal truths. The elder Free-Ride offspring offers a list of nine cool things about dinosaurs and their ilk, while the younger Free-Ride offspring muses about the “meanness” of T. Rex. Plus, the best dinosaur handbook ever.
Friday Sprog Blogging: there’s a fungus among us.
It’s been raining here. A lot.
Elder offspring: Remember that huge mushroom we saw on the field after soccer practice?
Dr. Free-Ride: With all the rain we’ve been getting, we’ve been seeing a lot more mushrooms this spring.
Elder offspring: Rainbows, too.
Dr. Free-Ride: We should call Uncle Fishy and see if he’s interested in going “bird watching” with us this weekend.
Elder offspring: Or mushroom hunting.
Friday Sprog Blogging: germs!
Nature study has taken a turn from the macroscopic to the microscopic. Is it a coincidence that the Free-Ride family has also been passing around a cold? While your blogger felt sure she would be able to avoid catching it, the young Free-Riders are extremely effective vectors of disease.
Dr. Free-Ride: What do you know about germs?
Younger offspring: They can make you sick.
Dr. Free-Ride: Is that why I’m sick right now, because of germs?
Younger offspring: Yeah.
Dr. Free-Ride: Where did I get them?
Younger offspring: (looking just a little bit proud) From me!
Dr. Free-Ride: You’re sure about that, huh?