Month: July 2023

Imagination

Evey kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact” – Carl Sagan

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Socrates

Imagination and elementary teachers. It seems to me some of the most imaginative people I know are elementary teachers. I think that they “get it” from their students!

There is plenty of time to learn Physics and Math but only a short time to ‘learn’ imagination.

It is my opinion that we do not allow children to be children long enough. We want to dress them up as adults. We want them to consider things on our terms; not theirs. “Calvin and Hobbes” and “Peanuts” provide great models. They will enter the confusing years of adolescence soon enough; but that is an entirely different story.

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.” – Aldous Huxley

my thoughts Porch Ponders

Stories

“No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” – J.K. Rowling, author

I think it is critical that we learn to really read. It is critical that we learn that as soon as possible. However, I am coming to the view that storytelling is the key to learning. Every teacher I know, including me, will say they learned more from teaching than from being a student. I believe we all have at least one story to tell; we need to learn to tell it well.

When I was teaching, one of the most difficult things for my students to do was to restate a problem in their own words. I believe if you can’t tell a story, in your own words, you don’t own the idea. And perhaps the issue is with both the author and the reader as captured in quotes by Einstein and Feynman.

“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself” – attributed to A. Einstein

If you can’t explain an idea to an 8 year old, you don’t understand it. Can you explain basic logic to me in 5 minutes (about 500 words) in a way that 8 year old could explain it back to you? – R. Feynman

When we tell that story, we provide a listener, a reader, the opportunity to see an idea in a different way.

A quote I have used, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

my thoughts

Late Night with an AI

Late night conversations with chatGPT. A few months ago, like many others, I discovered chatGPT. While it is an interesting assistant in some research projects, I find often it is an interesting conversationalist.

Some of my reading has caused me to wonder about the interaction of different folks from history. For example did John Wesley interact with Benjamin Franklin? So I asked.

My Question, “Is it possible that John Wesley and Ben Franklin interacted?” chatGPT replied:

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There is no historical evidence to suggest that John Wesley and Benjamin Franklin had direct interactions or encounters with each other. While both Wesley and Franklin were significant figures in their respective fields during the 18th century, their areas of influence and geographical locations were different.

John Wesley, an English theologian and cleric, was primarily involved in religious matters and the development of the Methodist movement. He spent most of his life in England and had limited travels abroad.

Benjamin Franklin, on the other hand, was an American polymath, statesman, and scientist. He played a prominent role in the American Revolution and made significant contributions to various fields, including science, writing, and diplomacy. Franklin resided primarily in North America, with occasional visits to Europe.

While their paths may have crossed indirectly due to their prominence during the same era, there is no documented evidence of any personal interactions or correspondence between Wesley and Franklin.

[——————————————]

This, of course led to many other questions. I have become quite interested in this type of question regarding interactions among folks across disciplines, especially during the 17th and 18th centuries. It is difficult to find folks who also enjoy this conversation; especially at midnight.

education my thoughts

Equations Tell Stories

Mathematics is the gate and key of the sciences … . Neglect of mathematics works injury to all knowledge, since he who is ignorant of it cannot know the other sciences or the things of this world. And what is worse, men who are thus ignorant are unable to perceive their own ignorance and so do not seek a remedy. — Roger Bacon 1220-1292

How little we have progressed in 800 years. I can start with an example. Some of my first University students, “engineering students”, wanted numbers to ‘plug in’ to equations or they couldn’t understand the concept. At least that is what they said. I would submit that if you didn’t understand the abstract representation, you couldn’t really understand the concrete. It became clear that getting an answer, getting a grade for getting that answer was their goal.

So why is it that x = 3 is OK or better yet 2+2 = 4 is OK, but A + B = C is just too abstract of a construct? Or, I don’t understand A + B = C unless you give me values for A and B? While these are the most simple constructs of math, it seems to cause confusion.

This is not a lament on the poor state of math education, it is an observation that otherwise intelligent students fear and therefore don’t try to understand the value of math.

A math professor at the University of California addressed the following question, “Despite all this timeless beauty, many people dread mathematics. They say that they “hate math”. But if it is so beautiful as I claim, then why do people hate it?” Professor Edward Frenkel responded, “Imagine that you had to take an art class in which you were taught only to paint a fence or a wall but were never shown the paintings of the great masters. Would that make you an art lover?”

It isn’t enough to simply learn the tools of math, one must learn enjoy these tools and appreciate the power they provide. Math is at the heart of everything from music to space exploration. It is the language of the arts and sciences.