British newspaper The Observer gets it:
with a crunchy report that industry chiefs are demanding that school science teacher make science lessons more exciting so that we have a good pool of larval scientists to mature into B.Sc.s, Ph.D.s and fully fledged scientists.
When I was at school, Mr Cooper put sodium in water and lit the resulting hydrogen with an ear-splitting pop. No safety screen, just 'move back kids'. None killed, a few jumped. Now they're shown a video on health and safety grounds and because 'most state schools can't afford a well-stocked lab.'
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. CAN"T AFFORD A WELL STOCKED LAB? Health and safety neutering the science curriculum? Well, we intend to put a bit of excitement back into it: trans-oceanic voyages, climbing the ratlines to reef sails in advance of a blow, making sampling expeditions ashore in rainforests with unknown and known species, some carnivorous, some poisonous. The way Darwin, Wallace, FitzRoy, Huxley et al did it in less comfortable and more enterprising days when science was in its infancy and struggling to become and established, independent discipline.
The Observer says more in its leader, let's take a little risk for science.
When I was at school, Mr Cooper put sodium in water and lit the resulting hydrogen with an ear-splitting pop. No safety screen, just 'move back kids'. None killed, a few jumped. Now they're shown a video on health and safety grounds and because 'most state schools can't afford a well-stocked lab.'
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. CAN"T AFFORD A WELL STOCKED LAB? Health and safety neutering the science curriculum? Well, we intend to put a bit of excitement back into it: trans-oceanic voyages, climbing the ratlines to reef sails in advance of a blow, making sampling expeditions ashore in rainforests with unknown and known species, some carnivorous, some poisonous. The way Darwin, Wallace, FitzRoy, Huxley et al did it in less comfortable and more enterprising days when science was in its infancy and struggling to become and established, independent discipline.
The Observer says more in its leader, let's take a little risk for science.
1 Comments:
I'll never forget Tim Roberts spilling a beaker of naphtha over the Bunsen burner he was using to heat it. He set fire to a 30ft-long chemistry bench! He then proceeded to run the whole length of the bench and blow it out before the teacher (who was putting the rest of the naphtha away) noticed.
That's about the only thing I remember from chemistry mind you. (Apart from how to spell 'naphtha').
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