Science in School
Anybody know how this (fill in your favorite technological device here) works? If America is to continue to be a world leader in innovation, you’d think we could at least program a VCR. Of course, we have now fixed that problem – we got TiVo and film studios are going to stop producing video tapes (I’m not making this up). So, get a DVD player to sit on your TiVo. Be happy, these things are made in China. What’s not made in China (yet) are too many clever new (profitable) ideas – like putting a KFC discount code in a commercial so that you have to learn how to stop and frame advance your TiVo to get the code. Who says we’re not ingenious?
In early December, I read Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) writing in the New York Times that he is not ready to cede the 21st century to China and India. He might be a touch late on that, since the week before he wrote this, the American Council on Education released a report indicating that people in the US are not so sure about the value of studying more math and science at the college level. We’re split almost evenly for and against more math and science. People are dismissing science because it’s too hard and might hurt their grades (or their kids’ grades, I guess). The kids would call this a lame excuse. Go review your trigonometry.
If we are not going to invent the next cell phone (which seems to be done in Finland by Nokia), then we had better get cracking on something else. Right now, that seems to be biomedicine and advanced materials. We don’t make the plastics, we make the plastics better (right, BASF?).
Seriously, though, we live in a world invented by engineers, scientists, and technologists and sold to us by business people. So, you’d think it would be good to know how this stuff works. After all, today’s problems are caused by yesterday’s solutions. Try to unscrew a cross-threaded nut, if you don’t believe this.
Here’s a quick quiz. See if you or anyone around you knows the answer to more than one of these.
How do cell phones work? And why did they stop working in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina? What’s the cell in cell phone? Or, why does your phone work in both Peoria and Petaluma? Extra points if you know the difference between analog and digital (phones).
Why is it cold in the morning (usually colder than in the middle of the night)?
How do they keep the fizz in Coke (or Pepsi)? And, why does it go flat?
Can you dry your socks in a microwave oven?
What’s the difference between natural gas, gasoline, and biodiesel?
Why do we need electron microscopes?
Why do you get yourself, your kids, and your dogs (and cats) vaccinated? (Hint: so they won’t get sick is not an acceptable answer).
Where does the water in your house come from, and where does it go?
Why do old people wear glasses? (Why do some young people wear glasses?)
This is pretty simple stuff, so get to work. Next week, we will ask you how to program a VCR.
Dick Pratt is Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.
In early December, I read Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) writing in the New York Times that he is not ready to cede the 21st century to China and India. He might be a touch late on that, since the week before he wrote this, the American Council on Education released a report indicating that people in the US are not so sure about the value of studying more math and science at the college level. We’re split almost evenly for and against more math and science. People are dismissing science because it’s too hard and might hurt their grades (or their kids’ grades, I guess). The kids would call this a lame excuse. Go review your trigonometry.
If we are not going to invent the next cell phone (which seems to be done in Finland by Nokia), then we had better get cracking on something else. Right now, that seems to be biomedicine and advanced materials. We don’t make the plastics, we make the plastics better (right, BASF?).
Seriously, though, we live in a world invented by engineers, scientists, and technologists and sold to us by business people. So, you’d think it would be good to know how this stuff works. After all, today’s problems are caused by yesterday’s solutions. Try to unscrew a cross-threaded nut, if you don’t believe this.
Here’s a quick quiz. See if you or anyone around you knows the answer to more than one of these.
How do cell phones work? And why did they stop working in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina? What’s the cell in cell phone? Or, why does your phone work in both Peoria and Petaluma? Extra points if you know the difference between analog and digital (phones).
Why is it cold in the morning (usually colder than in the middle of the night)?
How do they keep the fizz in Coke (or Pepsi)? And, why does it go flat?
Can you dry your socks in a microwave oven?
What’s the difference between natural gas, gasoline, and biodiesel?
Why do we need electron microscopes?
Why do you get yourself, your kids, and your dogs (and cats) vaccinated? (Hint: so they won’t get sick is not an acceptable answer).
Where does the water in your house come from, and where does it go?
Why do old people wear glasses? (Why do some young people wear glasses?)
This is pretty simple stuff, so get to work. Next week, we will ask you how to program a VCR.
Dick Pratt is Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.
posted by Dick Pratt at
8:56 PM
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