Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Slacker Astronomy this week has an interview with Dr. Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy. It's great, and I highly recommend the Slacker Astronomy podcast in general.

Pamela of SlackAstro, however, made a statement as part of a larger discussion of the lack of critical thinking skills in the average American:

"Astronomy is a gateway drug to wanting to learn."

You know, this is really really true for me. It was my first engagement with astronomy and space at a young age that really translated into a real love of science. Yes, as soon as you get a little bit into astronomy, all of a sudden you realize you want to learn mathmatics, geology, molecular biology, quantum physics, computer science. Astronomy has that powerful driver that ties all these things together at this huge and beautiful and awe inspiring scale. This may be the most powerful soundbite I have heard in years.

In all our discussion about "No Child Left Behind" and how the US is absolutely abhorrent in math and science these days, I have to wonder: why don't grade school kids take astronomy classes?

I still remember middle school science classes. They were completely lame. Yeah, you learn some stuff that sticks with you, but in real terms, what kid is actually going to get "on" over cirrus and stratocumulus clouds? Who cares about calculating when train A will meet train B when you could be figuring out how long it will take a space ship to reach Mars? Astronomy was always an end of the year, one chapter in the back of the textbook can you name the planets from wrote memory if the teacher gets around to it because it's not on the state boards kind of thing.

This is completely wrong. Astronomy should be up front. It should be the first thing you start with because it is beautiful and engaging and once you get hooked on that THEN you WANT to know how to do the math, you want to understand the Newtonian physics, you want to grapple with Hawking radiation and black holes.

Not often enough is the question asked, "Is our children learning?" This is a secondary, idiotic way of looking at the world. The point isn't to chain our kids to desks, strip search them, tell them to shut up and force feed them what they need to know to pass a test at the end of the year.

The question we should be asking is, "Do our children want to learn?" If we instill that in them, then the amount of "educational product" offered in our schools won't stop them. Hell, I was well into college before I had a science class that I felt challenged by. That's because I spent my spare time learning about computers, physics, math. That is what we need more of -- kids with a passion. A bad teacher can't stop a passionate kid from learning, but a bad curriculum can make them resent it