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Joan Feynman

Posted by Michael Gold - January 14, 2021 - Astronomy, Culture, History, Parenting, Physics, Psychology

Wow! Richard Feynman had a younger sister who also earned a PhD in Physics! Impressive! Cool! But, wow!, when she was young, her mom said to her “women’s brains can’t do science.” Good for Joan in being independent and dong science anyway! She also had to deal with sexist women teachers.

Teach Historically, Teach Inductively

Posted by Michael Gold - January 14, 2021 - Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Child Development, College, Economics, Education, Geology, History, Homeschooling, Logic, Parenting, Philosophy, Physics, Science

Teach historically. Students need to learn the logic, concept-formation, fallacy identification, induction (i.e., generalization), conceptual integration (i.e., making connections, or “theory building”), and thinking skills that only teaching historically (or in a related way) affords. In “Teaching Heat: the Rise and Fall of the Caloric Theory,” Dr. Michael Fowler (UVa), writes: In my experience, there […]

Feynman On Science

Posted by Michael Gold - January 13, 2021 - Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, College, Culture, Economics, Education, Geology, History, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Science, Statistics

“The job of a scientist is to listen carefully to nature, not to tell nature how to behave.” Dr. Richard Feynam, Nobel Prize winner in physics

ReasonRx Podcast Episode 25 Award-winning Teacher Scott Harris: What’s Wrong With Science Education and How To Fix It

Posted by Michael Gold - February 4, 2020 - Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, College, Culture, Economics, Education, History, Homeschooling, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Science

In this episode, Scott, Melanie, and Michael provide and discuss evidence that science education is broken and in need of help, then discuss some ways to fix science education (and education in general). Also available on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Deezer, Spotify, and Castbox. And more. To support the show and […]

Comment on the Nature of Science

Posted by Michael Gold - December 5, 2018 - Astronomy, College, Culture, Education, Gold Academy, Homeschooling, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science, Technology

Measuring the Angle of the Sun Above the Horizon

Posted by Michael Gold - December 27, 2017 - Astronomy, Education, Homeschooling, Mathematics, Physics, Science

Field Notes on Logic and Context 11-4-16

Posted by Michael Gold - December 5, 2016 - Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Child Development, College, Culture, Education, Homeschooling, Language, Logic, Parenting, Philosophy, Physics, Science, Statistics

Field Notes on Word Problems 11-15-16

Posted by Michael Gold - December 2, 2016 - Astronomy, Chemistry, College, Economics, Education, Homeschooling, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Science

Be Aristotelian, Not Platonic

Posted by Michael Gold - March 30, 2016 - Art, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Child Development, Economics, Education, History, Homeschooling, Logic, Philosophy, Physics, Science

An idea key to science and successful life — and good education — happens from about 1:24 to 1:56, in this video excerpt from the 1996 movie Infinity, about the great physicist Richard Feynman. “You got to look at the bird. You got to listen to the bird. You got to try to understand what […]

Etymology of “Second” (I.E., One-sixtieth of a Minute)

Posted by Michael Gold - February 23, 2016 - Astronomy, Language, Mathematics, Words

The interesting etymology of “minute” and “second.” I learned about “second” from Calculus Made Easy by Thompson. The word “second” came from the Latin “secunda pars minuta,” meaning “second diminished part.” ”one-sixtieth of a minute of degree,” also “sixtieth part of a minute of time,” late 14c. in geometry, from Old French seconde, from Medieval […]

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