A few weeks back i purchased a meat thermometer and it has quickly become one of my favorite possessions. Not only can i now confidently cook chicken without fear of killing myself, but also i now know the temperature inside of my freezer, how hot my toast gets, and the perfect temperate to drink my hot chocolate.
I think someone should make a chemistry textbook that exclusively uses the science of cooking to bring the world of atoms to life. If you've ever watched Alton Brown's Good Eats, you know this isn't much of a stretch. Learning about any subject is more interesting when you can see how it effects your daily life.
The disconnect between the real world and the classroom was discussed in an article i read for my writing class called Teaching modelling as an alternative approach to school mathematics by Tomoko Yanagimoto. The article points out that the math currently taught in classrooms was all solved hundreds of years ago and there's never a sense of excitement or discovery in its presentation. The truth is that there is a lot still be discovered about math. Additionally, the impression that, in math, there is only one correct answer is the wrong message to send to students. He (or she, i'm not sure) argued for dumping calculus and the like for fuzzy modeling. As it's name implies, fuzzy modeling tries to describe a system mathematically but leaves room for different interpretations. Teaching a math class that doesn't cover current areas of innovation is like covering the history of the United States but stopping at 1900.
Whether it's in math, chemistry, or some other class, the idea of motivating students by presenting information they can apply in their own lives is very interesting. Finding a way to get students to do homework, not because it was assigned, but because they actually want to learn is a worth while task.
Posted by Matthew at October 24, 2005 06:54 AMThis is sort of the way the math class I just finished was set up. We learned calc and stats and all that, but we had to apply it to situations in our own lives. Homework problems were things like finding a function to figure out our cell phone bill or gas milege. I hate math, but the class was very helpful.
Posted by: Kristi at October 25, 2005 10:02 AM