Yesterday, we ventured to the Natural History Museum. In the car to the Metro station her friend and I discussed why we were making this trip. I suggested that young children, even first graders, can grasp concepts like evolution and she fully agreed that her little sister, a first grader, could understand the basic evolution concepts.
My daughter was getting a bit of pre-adolescent attitude about my insistence that she understand evolution. She was ready to whine and fuss, when her friend started playing with the exhibit interactives and suddenly she realized that it was okay to have fun. They watched the video clips, had their faces transformed into Neanderthal features, examined skeletons, tried to match up hand prints on the cave walls with their own. What really caught my daughter's attention (as she told me in the car on the way home) was the full skull of a Homo Sapien, that fell into two pieces when she touched it(she shrieked thinking that she had broken it). It exposed the brain underneath, so that the folds of the brain could be seen. Once she realized that it was supposed to open up, she relaxed and studied for a bit.
Her friend's favorite part was in the mammal section, the lion attacking a large ungulate, I don't remember which species. They both agreed that the massive crystals in the Rocks and Minerals exhibit were really cool.
Lunch was a bit of a challenge, I'm allergic to milk, cheese, most bread products (because they contain milk) and try to avoid simple carbs...guess what are the only things her friend eats...cheese and simple carbs. Pizza was out for me, burgers and any other meat and all veggies were out for her. Sigh. We walked up and down and around several blocks until we found a spot that could feed us both.
What I usually find the most interesting of these trips is that a few weeks after the trip something will come up in conversation that usually shows that my daughter was paying closer attention to details than I had originally believed. I'll have to be patient to see what surfaces.
Showing posts with label Museum of Natural History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Museum of Natural History. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Chickens, Evolution, Ice Cream and Jackson Pollock
The chickens are starting to look like mini chickens, not dinosaurs with proto-feathers.
They have been free-ranging for chunks of time over the past few days, they are still cute and curious.
The science education enrichment project is underway, we've watched, as a part of what we call "dinner theater"( an occasional evening when we will pop in a video to watch over dinner) Discovery School Evolution with Bill Nye. I've planted books in key spots around the house, so that she is likely to just browse through them. My favorite, we eat out on the screened porch all summer, I placed the book I was reading out there and underneath I placed two books that I wanted her to look at, making sure that they hung out a bit and were visible. As she came out to eat breakfast I went in to get some juice, by the time I returned she had opened one of the books and was leafing through it. We discussed science topics over breakfast. I went a little over the top and placed a couple in the bathroom, it was too obvious, especially since I won't permit her library books in the bathroom because they might get wet. She mounted her "do as I say not as I do" protest this morning and I 'fessed up that I wanted her to read them. I'll put a couple in the back of the car today, I guess I'm not all that subtle, but it works!! I have been planting books that I want her to read in her room for years, usually while she is a bit too young for them. They sit there for a year or two and eventually I will find her propped up on pillows on the couch reading them, they have been there so long that she doesn't realize that they are a plant. Oh, I usually find these books at thrift shops and yard sales for about twenty-five cents each, so the investment isn't very great.
Next week, we are headed to the Natural History Museum, with the thrilling Metro ride first (and last), of course! We're taking along a friend, whose parents have been given the heads up to the specific focus of the trip. We'll have lunch in a deli off the Mall and probably stroll the Mall eating ice cream (those of us who can eat it, at least), no need to make it a forced march. Maybe we'll step into the Hirshorn to see if they still have the Jackson Pollock up. My daughter has decided that she loves Jackson Pollock, which is great, as long as she doesn't follow him in his lifestyle. Maybe we'll use some of the leftover house paint I have in the garage and create something Pollock-esque, I know the painting will match the interior of the house that way! We can run through the sprinkler to clean up. I digress, but that is pretty much what the blog is about isn't it? My ramblings...
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| Ursula and Lucy |
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| Athena |
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| Even Paisley looks like a chicken now! |
The science education enrichment project is underway, we've watched, as a part of what we call "dinner theater"( an occasional evening when we will pop in a video to watch over dinner) Discovery School Evolution with Bill Nye. I've planted books in key spots around the house, so that she is likely to just browse through them. My favorite, we eat out on the screened porch all summer, I placed the book I was reading out there and underneath I placed two books that I wanted her to look at, making sure that they hung out a bit and were visible. As she came out to eat breakfast I went in to get some juice, by the time I returned she had opened one of the books and was leafing through it. We discussed science topics over breakfast. I went a little over the top and placed a couple in the bathroom, it was too obvious, especially since I won't permit her library books in the bathroom because they might get wet. She mounted her "do as I say not as I do" protest this morning and I 'fessed up that I wanted her to read them. I'll put a couple in the back of the car today, I guess I'm not all that subtle, but it works!! I have been planting books that I want her to read in her room for years, usually while she is a bit too young for them. They sit there for a year or two and eventually I will find her propped up on pillows on the couch reading them, they have been there so long that she doesn't realize that they are a plant. Oh, I usually find these books at thrift shops and yard sales for about twenty-five cents each, so the investment isn't very great.
Next week, we are headed to the Natural History Museum, with the thrilling Metro ride first (and last), of course! We're taking along a friend, whose parents have been given the heads up to the specific focus of the trip. We'll have lunch in a deli off the Mall and probably stroll the Mall eating ice cream (those of us who can eat it, at least), no need to make it a forced march. Maybe we'll step into the Hirshorn to see if they still have the Jackson Pollock up. My daughter has decided that she loves Jackson Pollock, which is great, as long as she doesn't follow him in his lifestyle. Maybe we'll use some of the leftover house paint I have in the garage and create something Pollock-esque, I know the painting will match the interior of the house that way! We can run through the sprinkler to clean up. I digress, but that is pretty much what the blog is about isn't it? My ramblings...
Monday, June 24, 2013
Spontaneous Generation Anyone? Thoughts on Science Education
A few days ago, while my daughter was reading over my shoulder as I was reading the news, some how Neanderthal man came up. My soon to be middle schooler didn't know a thing about Neanderthals, so we googled a few key words. She hadn't heard of Cro Magnon or Homo-erectus or any of the others. We spent some time in discussion about the progression from australopithecus afarensis to modern humans. We talked about how we share 99% of our DNA with bonobos. Along the way, I discovered that she had had some lessons on dominant and recessive traits and some lessons on adaptations, but little coverage was given to what happened to the animals or proto-humans if they did not adapt, if they didn't receive a mutant gene that provided an advantage, if their behavior was not flexible enough to change with the needs of the species. They died. Nooooo, can't talk about death in elementary school!!.
Her classes had done lessons on endangered animals, so she knew what extinct meant, but it had not been mentioned when discussing adaptations at school. Extinctions only happen when humans do something they shouldn't (according to the lessons)...despite the fact that 99% of the species that have ever lived are extinct-most died out before humans came on the scene. The extinction lessons always end up with an activity to reduce pollution, so they pick up the trash on the edges of the playground and do a "Reduce, Reuse Recycle" chant. ( "Reduce, Reuse Recycle" is important, and also incorrectly taught, sounds like a follow-up post in the making.)
The teachers were doing the easy lessons,the ones that no parent would ever be offended with (and the ones the district office likes, because the parents aren't throwing temper tantrums in their offices). The curriculum never puts the puzzle together. The students are not even made aware that there is a puzzle for them to figure out, everything is taught in such a disconnected way.. They dance around the big "E" word, that people have relegated to the "not polite conversation" category. I'm going to be impolite. I think Evolution should be taught in schools at a very early age, to everyone. Kids are fascinated by Paleolithic and Neolithic (stone age) man, the schools should use it to their advantage!
Biologists do not argue over whether or not evolution occurs, they flew past that a hundred years ago. What they do argue about is the fine detail in how evolution takes place. The folks the newscasters dig up who are supposedly from the science community who dispute it (to give equal time to both sides of the argument, when biologists are not arguing about it), enjoy the attention, their 15 minutes of fame, and muck up the science education of an entire nation in the process. They get their additional advertising dollars and general public gets the science of the bad old days before microscopes and DNA analysis. Spontaneous generation anyone??
My daughter is going to get a little supplementary science instruction over the summer. We will go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the National Zoo and watch videos and read books from the library on the topic of evolution, with a special emphasis on human evolution. It is one hole I can patch, I may or may not discover the other holes in her education that have formed during this "drill for the test" era of education, may it pass soon.
Her classes had done lessons on endangered animals, so she knew what extinct meant, but it had not been mentioned when discussing adaptations at school. Extinctions only happen when humans do something they shouldn't (according to the lessons)...despite the fact that 99% of the species that have ever lived are extinct-most died out before humans came on the scene. The extinction lessons always end up with an activity to reduce pollution, so they pick up the trash on the edges of the playground and do a "Reduce, Reuse Recycle" chant. ( "Reduce, Reuse Recycle" is important, and also incorrectly taught, sounds like a follow-up post in the making.)
The teachers were doing the easy lessons,the ones that no parent would ever be offended with (and the ones the district office likes, because the parents aren't throwing temper tantrums in their offices). The curriculum never puts the puzzle together. The students are not even made aware that there is a puzzle for them to figure out, everything is taught in such a disconnected way.. They dance around the big "E" word, that people have relegated to the "not polite conversation" category. I'm going to be impolite. I think Evolution should be taught in schools at a very early age, to everyone. Kids are fascinated by Paleolithic and Neolithic (stone age) man, the schools should use it to their advantage!
Biologists do not argue over whether or not evolution occurs, they flew past that a hundred years ago. What they do argue about is the fine detail in how evolution takes place. The folks the newscasters dig up who are supposedly from the science community who dispute it (to give equal time to both sides of the argument, when biologists are not arguing about it), enjoy the attention, their 15 minutes of fame, and muck up the science education of an entire nation in the process. They get their additional advertising dollars and general public gets the science of the bad old days before microscopes and DNA analysis. Spontaneous generation anyone??
My daughter is going to get a little supplementary science instruction over the summer. We will go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the National Zoo and watch videos and read books from the library on the topic of evolution, with a special emphasis on human evolution. It is one hole I can patch, I may or may not discover the other holes in her education that have formed during this "drill for the test" era of education, may it pass soon.
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