It is that time of year again and there is just never a dull moment. I had two girls wanting to work with cats, one plant person, an exercise kid who did not want to work with people and finally a kid just wanting to chat with a scientist. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. He sat down with me and thumbed through his mini spiral notebook. He stopped very seriously at one page and asked, "So, you know how some people say they've seen a yeti?"
"Uh... yeah."
"Is it really a yeti or do you think it is just a human that looks like a yeti from a distance, or some other hairy animal type thing?"
Clearly this kid over estimates my knowledge.
I explain that no one really knows and then go over all of the reasons answering that question might not be the best choice for a middle-school science project.
He didn't care.
"Can you bring dead things back to life?"
Blank stare.
"Because I was watching the discovery channel and this guy said he ground up snake scales and sprinkled them on a mummy and saw the guy come back to life and stare down at his grave."
...
"Why can't you generate new nerves?"
...
"I heard that way back in the past there used to be gigantic snakes. Is that for real?"
...
"So if you took a person a put him closer and closer to the sun, would he fry or would he evaporate?"
...
This went on for a good 15 minutes until finally he said, "Okay, thanks!"
Apparently we were done.
"Wait! Are you doing a science project this year?"
"Yeah, but I haven't really thought about that yet."
I did finally convince him to brainstorm with me about potential projects and we went over things like bacterial cultures, sample sizes, temperature dependence on metabolic rate, independent variables, standardized variables, phase changes... I mean, I couldn't let this kid go home thinking that SCIENCE IS FUN! or anything.
"Uh... yeah."
"Is it really a yeti or do you think it is just a human that looks like a yeti from a distance, or some other hairy animal type thing?"
Clearly this kid over estimates my knowledge.
I explain that no one really knows and then go over all of the reasons answering that question might not be the best choice for a middle-school science project.
He didn't care.
"Can you bring dead things back to life?"
Blank stare.
"Because I was watching the discovery channel and this guy said he ground up snake scales and sprinkled them on a mummy and saw the guy come back to life and stare down at his grave."
...
"Why can't you generate new nerves?"
...
"I heard that way back in the past there used to be gigantic snakes. Is that for real?"
...
"So if you took a person a put him closer and closer to the sun, would he fry or would he evaporate?"
...
This went on for a good 15 minutes until finally he said, "Okay, thanks!"
Apparently we were done.
"Wait! Are you doing a science project this year?"
"Yeah, but I haven't really thought about that yet."
I did finally convince him to brainstorm with me about potential projects and we went over things like bacterial cultures, sample sizes, temperature dependence on metabolic rate, independent variables, standardized variables, phase changes... I mean, I couldn't let this kid go home thinking that SCIENCE IS FUN! or anything.
2 comments:
it's hard to say... you need to increase your sample size.
cool.
[no rio, we cannot bring dead things back to life. even if we have to hide behind a non biological explanation: it just goes against the definition of dead]
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