Re: A. Einstein and science-fairs

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, xxxxxx wrote:

> let me just say that unless the kid clearly say what question he or she
> is trying to answer, playing with neat science demos is doing just that,
> playing.


Ah, so "playing" is a bad word?

The only reason that I'm fascinated with physics, computers, electronics,
etc., is because it is all "playing."  I'm able to think rings around the
other engineers, and it's all because I spent my life "playing" with the
same things that they spent their lives "studying."

My entire website is *NOT* there for educational purposes at all.  It is
subversive.  It is there to seduce kids into becoming scientists by
showing them that science...

...is play.


Perhaps if I was a professional scientist, I would think differently.
Then I would know that Science is deadly serious stuff.  I certainly would
never mess with physics demonstrations (I'm not a teacher, so why would I
ever want to build an Important, non-playful physics demo device?)  And I
certainly would never have become a "science hobbyist."  Hobbyists do
things for the fun of it.  If science is non-playful, then by definition
"science hobbyists" cannot exist.

In my opinion, stripping the "play" from the science does the very
opposite of our goals: it drives kids away from science by eliminating
the whole reason why scientists do science: to have fun!  to mess with
absolutely fascinating stuff!

Here's a way to kill a subject.  Basketball, for example.  Force kids to
study it.  Make them sit at rows of desks and read from their Basketball
textbooks.  Test them and grade them, and make sure that the kids with low
grades know that they might fail Basketball.  Have a yearly "Basketball
fair" where kids make poster-displays about the Rules of Basketball (but
make sure that professional basketball players have no say in what those
rules might be.)  Bemoan the fact that little real Basketball is ever done
at these basketball fairs.  Make sure that any playful displays receive
low marks, since Basketball is serious stuff, and any playing must be
quickly stopped.

Then, after a few generations when Basketball is dead, blame the students.
After all, it is their fault that they turned away from such an important
and serious subject.

Right?

((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com                                  http://www.amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits          science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA   206-781-3320          freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L