what's the right answer?

In her K/1 class (ages five to seven), the 'fuzz was doing "the weather" when an argument broke out between those who thought the clouds "move the Sun around" and those who thought the clouds "block out the Sun". She let the discussion proceed, encouraging contributions. In the end, the "move the Sun around" group got the consensus. What to do? You can correct them all, and then they learn that scientific truths are handed down by more knowledgeable authorities ("How do you know the Universe is expanding?" "I read it in a book."). Or you can let it lie, in which case they go home thinking they know something that in fact is wrong. Or (best, but extremely time-consuming), you can go through the process of having them turn their pseudo-scientific explanations into predictions about other phenomena, or have them extrapolate their model into other domains, and then see why or where it breaks. That's (to my mind) the only solution you could possibly call science, but it would require an absolutely radical replacement of the current curriculum and structure of school. The 'fuzz didn't have the right (it was someone else's classroom) to blow the schedule, and she didn't want to be a priestess, so she let it lie and moved on to the next activity.

Apollo 11

Pete Mao (Caltech) sent me a note for Newton's birthday, pointing out that all sensible transfer orbits to and from the Moon ought to have half-periods (transfer times) of about 5 days. And yet, as he also pointed out, Apollo 11 came back in 2.5 days. What gives? Did NASA waste fuel to improve the filmic value of the mission, or does the enormous tidal effect of the Sun change the sensible set of transfer orbits for some reason I don't understand?

(His note on this subject also had a nice discussion about what a 5-year-old wants when he or she asks a scientific question, and why just answering it is the wrong response.)

OLPC: the leading-order term

There was a meltdown on the One Laptop Per Child developer list because Negroponte (OLPC chief) said that they would work on a Windows version. In the ensuing discussion (which was, in fact, very enlightening and constructive), many issues came up, about code development and open-source and the educational value of having computers in the hands of children.

One point made by one of the developers, with which I strongly disagree, is that the leading-order term for the educational impact of the OLPC is that it gives children access to the web. Although I love the web (as my non-existent readers know), this is not the leading educational impact of OLPC, if OLPC is successful. If the main point is the web access, then give the students all ASUS or Nokia or Classmate low-cost computers and be done with it!

The leading-order term in the OLPC project is that the computer is a device that can be modified, programmed, altered, and made to do new things. The project de-mystifies computers and electronics and technology and software and the web. It is not access to the worlds information, but an introduction to the world's modifiability and opportunity for innovation. Unfortunately, I don't think everyone on the project agrees, and I don't think that the countries that are investing in OLPC understand. This may bode ill for what might be right now a marriage of convenience between constructivist educators and countries hungry for development (of the economic kind, not the code kind).

cosmology for kids

Today I started writing a short piece on the early universe for kids; maybe eight year-olds? I am not sure I have what it takes, but I thought I would give it a shot. No wonder I never get anything done!

One Laptop per Enthusiast

I am posting this content-free post from my brand-new OLPC, for which I am optimizing my planetarium and for which I hope to make an Astrometry.net client.

The tiny keyboard is going to take some practice! Here is a shot of me reflected in my office window, taken with the OLPC camera.