Stop Saying I Don't Know to Student's Questions

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Albert Einstein

The above quote is the challenge of every science teacher. My professor once told me that Einstein would walk up to people on the street to tell them about his theories and if he was unable to explain it to them or answer their questions sufficiently, then he felt he did not understand it well enough himself.

I am a big fan of the Mythbusters as well as books like There Are No Electrons which show us when our conceptual models are too limiting to our understanding. So when David Rudel, editor of the excellent ExploreLearning site (home of the awesome science Gizmos) asked me to review his book Science Myths Unmasked, I couldn't wait to check it out. I have to say I was not disappointed, in fact I would have written this review sooner but I was enjoying the book too much to stop.

Science Myths Unmasked takes the most common experiments and models that every middle and high school student encounters.  In Vol 1: Earth and Life Science, Rudel challenges some of the big questions that teachers encounter every day from students.

If you have ever had students question the genetics and evolution curriculum they are right to do so. Textbooks ask students to go from Mendel's pea pods and variation within the species to evolution into new species which leaves them wondering how Dominant and Recessive genes can accomplish this. With clarity and research to back it up, the book explains how evolution can occur as well as the modern viewpoints on the mechanism for evolution.

There are many other topics covered in the book like:

• How do clouds form?
• Why do my veins appear to be blue?
• What is the "greenhouse effect"

These topics are those that keep coming up in classrooms and from our own children, unfortunately the canonical explanations are often half true or completely false (the blood in your veins is not blue). These books read like a mystery novel rather than a textbook and you will find it hard to put it down.

I especially enjoyed Vol 2: Physical Science, having spent time as a 8th grade physical science teacher. Students are wonderfully skeptical and with encouragement will have no problem speaking out about it. When something doesn't match their view of reality they must ask WHY?

Unfortunately, our textbooks in an attempt to make things simpler often omit or erroneously explain natural phenomena. I have reviewed most of the textbooks out there and there is always one or two places where I reread a paragraph over and over because it just doesn't seem right.

I must admit there were a couple of times in Rudel's book where I thought, "Oh that's why, that never made sense before!" I too have misconceptions that I have explained away and it has been a great week to reaffirm and test my own understanding of Physics.

Some of the explanations include:

• Why does the water in an overturned jar rise when the candle inside burns out?
• Does electricity only flow in a "closed circuit"?
• What do we mean when we say a wave of light and why do we draw a sine wave to describe it?

The best part about these books is how accessible they are. They contain no additional math and the descriptions are clear enough to be read by anyone with an inquisitive mind. Rudel takes all of the questions teachers and textbooks sweep under the rug and finally bring them to light.

If you go to the book's website, you can download sample chapters. At the price these books are being offered, they make a great gift for the science teacher in your life.


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Snopes for Critical Thinking

How many times have you received an email that was alerting you that Coca Cola will pay you $25 to send this link to all of your friends or that Texas is going to secede from the US.? These are called chain mails and they are a powerful way of spreading myths, legends, and memes.

People of all ages are swept up in these which fuels them all the more to send them to their friends. They range from the interesting to the defamatory. More and more, students need to be aware of how to critically think in this day and age. Media is so powerful a presence in our lives with advertisements and opinions being sent to us in a constant stream, without the ability to distinguish between truth and fabrication we hand control to a very small group of people which can be dangerous to any society.

Snopes is the brainchild of Barbara and David Mikkelson who do an incredible job of researching and extrapolating truth from fiction. Whenever I hear about one of these urban legends I always ask, "Have you checked Snopes?" Almost every time, there is a post with research and links describing whether or not the point in question is correct or a fabrication.

When I use this in the classroom, I provide a few stories that I think might be useful. Some of them are not true, and some are true but equally absurd. Then I ask the students to underline which parts of the article provide evidence to the claims of the author, then write an analysis of whether this article resonates with their understanding of the world and common sense. Finally, we reveal the false articles and discuss what were the common parts that could be red flags that they were not true (e.g. sensationalism, fallacies, exaggerated numbers).

I could see humanities teachers being able to spend even more time analyzing and researching the media advertisements and Op-Ed articles. With elections always around the corner and so much mudslinging happening there is never a shortage of information to look through. It can be a lifelong lesson and skill to be able to research and ascertain what is truth and what is not.

The site is fun to browse through and see what legends are disproved. You will be surprised to find out that you have believed something for years which was simply a very powerful urban myth. I am grateful for the work done at Snopes to help the world fight ignorance, please share this resource with as many people and students as you can. 

Snopes.com