Education
Category archives for Education
A Labor Day Big Announcement
Posted by Ethan on September 5, 2011 “But I’m also talking about American businessmen doing what they were born to do. Make things. We’ve stopped making and become a country of consumers. Well, I, for one, am done consuming. And I’m ready to make.” -Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock I don’t normally write about what’s going on in my personal life, but this…
How to be a good GREAT teacher
Posted by Ethan on June 10, 2011 “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” -William Arthur Ward Every so often, people get up-in-arms about teaching and education in college. New studies come out, new methods are touted and tried, curricula get revised, and pretty much everyone gets criticized. Anyone familiar with the undergraduate…
On Being What You Want, and Bigotry
Posted by Ethan on May 13, 2011 “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery For me, personally, it isn’t the endless immensity of the seas that calls. It’s the endless immensity of…
Advice for Teachers as the Academic Year Ends
Posted by Ethan on April 30, 2011 “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” -William Arthur Ward Here at my college, as well as at all those colleges and Universities on the semester system, the academic year…
Whom Do You Trust For Your Science, Health, and Education?
Posted by Ethan on April 8, 2011 “School sucks, right? I mean you do what you can to improve it, but in the end, there’s a limit. Because it’s school. And ‘school sucks.’ Remember?” -Louis C.K. At every level, education always seems to be a hot button issue. Whether it’s in primary and secondary schools, where testing at every level is the…
Is College A Waste?
Posted by Ethan on January 21, 2011 “You can lead a boy to college, but you cannot make him to think.” -Elbert Hubbard If you listened to some of the headlines accompanying a recent news story, you might conclude that College is a waste of time, money, and resources for practically everyone involved. The three links above have, as their headlines: $80,000…
What is Science? What is Hype?
Posted by Ethan on December 16, 2010 “The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.” -Stephen Jay Gould Tuesday, I talked about an alternative theory to cosmic inflation. Whereas cosmic inflation gives you a uniform, flat Universe, that’s the…
Weekend Diversion: Kings and Queens and so much more…
Posted by Ethan on September 19, 2010 “On the chess-board lies and hypocrisy do not survive long.” -Emanuel Lasker Along with art, music, math, and sports, it’s well known that the game of Chess is one of the best activities a child can engage in to develop their mind. I can think of no better song than Kings and Queens by Loudon…
Advising: What do you wish you knew when you just started College?
Posted by Ethan on August 26, 2010 “You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have.…
Advice for Young Aspiring Scientists
Posted by Ethan on August 2, 2010 “The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.” -Antisthenes As many of you know, in addition to news about cosmology, space, astronomy, and physics, I’m also heavily involved in education. This includes, in various stages, teaching, curriculum design, and mentoring students. But I got the following…
