Hi All!
It turns out that chemistry teachers are having to show videos of experiments to students instead of letting them actually do it.
I'm not talking about explosions and stuff but really basic chemistry like putting lithium in water. This is because although all the risk assessments have been done and given to them, teachers do not have the confidence to either perform the experiments themselves, or allow the students to do it.
To this end they even have a sodding helpline for the teachers to ring, probably crying, saying how they just don't understand the experiments and cannot teach the class. Even though, and this is the shocking thing, they have just spent the last 4 years in teacher training camp and the previous 8 years of study to be able to teach.
What is more shocking is that these incompetents are actually allowed to represent the science that they are claiming to be confident enough to be able to teach. I'm sorry, but do fuck off. If I wanted that, I'd bloody teach my kids myself.
It is no wonder to me that kids in this country are not interested in science. If you see a teacher, as a kid, looking nervous and umming and ahhing, and they are supposed to be your mentor, and they are supposed to be teaching you, you would quite honestly say:
"Blow this for a laugh, even my teachers can't do it, and most science is watching some expert from the 60's having all the bloody fun."
I had a great time in science, I had an awesome teacher. He knew what he was doing, he blew shit up, and then taught us how to blow shit up. Then we did the real work. And I tell you something, you show kids the magic, and they will all want to know how you did it. You show kids a video...they kick each other under the desks. I want to see a return of experiments to the classroom, health and safety to sod off, and the return of the apprentice system. Those who can, do. Those who can't, can't possibly teach it.
Thanks for reading
Showing posts with label who. Show all posts
Showing posts with label who. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Sunday, 5 October 2008
5 Stages of Evolution
Hi all,
I was thinking to myself the other day on the birth of social evolution (yes I am that type of person)and then thought occured to me that evolution occurs in 5 easy stages, and they are the 5 questions we are taught at a very early age. I remember sitting in an old victorian building being force fed times tables, phonetics, numbersand all other sorts of useful stuff, and the 5 most important questions that you can ever ask.
If you haven't already guessed they are Who?, What?, Why?, When? and Where?.
The reason why these are so important to social evolution are as follows.
We are strange creatures, we are probably the only animal that asks itself "Who am I?" Some famous Greek bloke said "I think, therefore I am" It is the first stage of Evolution. "Who am I?" is not just a question of your name, but a realisation that you are more than just an entity, that you have self-realisation, you have a purpose and life and the ability to ask that question. You don't see Dogs asking that question, they are not self-aware. They don't think to themselves "I am a Dog, I am a four legged animal that likes pissing against lamp posts." They live for the moment, they have no purpose other than to just be a Dog. So the first step in any Social Evolution is, Who?
Now we know who we are, the next step is to "discover" the world we live in. The next logical question is "What?" as in, "What the hell is that I've just stepped in?"In order to fully understand the world you live in you need to ask questions like "What?" You name things, and personify them in order to get a grip on what the world is like around you.
Closely followed by "What?" is "Why?". All parents dread this word coming from their childrens lips, as the amount of "why's" is limitless. Even scientists today are asking themselves why certain things happen the way they do. "Why?" is always the start of investigation. We have named everything now, so lets find out why things are the way they are.Why is it that when you are standing at a bus stop, and the bus is late, that you can light a cigarette and within 2 puffs it arrives? That's a small why. How about...Why is it that a photon is released from the sun, takes 8 minutes to get to Earth, avoiding planets, dust, metorites, satellites, gets reflected by the Earth's atmosphere, at the right angle, while the Earth is rotating at 10,000MPH, missing all clouds and other atmospheric debris, then comes down through the air and through a gap in your curtain 4mm wide and manages to shine right into the very centre of your eyeball, 1 hour before your alarm goes off? Thats a big why. And when I find out why, I'll buy new curtains.
Next one is "When?". To quote Douglas Adams, "Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so".Time has always been strange, it has always been around, but it wasn't until recently that we created "time zones" for various places round the world, and actually worked out what "time" it actually was. Before all this we went by the stars, sunrise and sunset, phases of the moon. But the reason why this is important in the evolution is because it made us realise that there was a pattern and a rhythm to all things, and there was a regularity to everything. This was important for agriculture, sciences, and all sorts of other applications that caused us to move forward as a species.
Last is "Where?". When I came up with this idea, I found it increadibly hard to fit this pattern in with my thoery of "Social Evolution". But then I had a brainwave."Where shall we have lunch?". Let me explain. We've been through all the other questions, we know who we are, what other things are, why they are, and when we can do things. A where question assumes that we are discovering our literal place in the world, as well as everything else. But to forward our evolution, we need somewhere to socialise. To pass on information, and where better than a Resturant?Someone else has thought "Who shall I get the food from?", "What shall we get off them", "Why do I need these ingredients?", "When shall I open?". All we need to know is "Where shall we have lunch?". All the hard work has been done for us. We have reached the final stage in Social Evolution. We never hear of Dogs saying "hmmmm, where shall I have lunch?" because they haven't gone through all the other stages.
So there's my theory. Comments are open,
Thanks for reading!
I was thinking to myself the other day on the birth of social evolution (yes I am that type of person)and then thought occured to me that evolution occurs in 5 easy stages, and they are the 5 questions we are taught at a very early age. I remember sitting in an old victorian building being force fed times tables, phonetics, numbersand all other sorts of useful stuff, and the 5 most important questions that you can ever ask.
If you haven't already guessed they are Who?, What?, Why?, When? and Where?.
The reason why these are so important to social evolution are as follows.
We are strange creatures, we are probably the only animal that asks itself "Who am I?" Some famous Greek bloke said "I think, therefore I am" It is the first stage of Evolution. "Who am I?" is not just a question of your name, but a realisation that you are more than just an entity, that you have self-realisation, you have a purpose and life and the ability to ask that question. You don't see Dogs asking that question, they are not self-aware. They don't think to themselves "I am a Dog, I am a four legged animal that likes pissing against lamp posts." They live for the moment, they have no purpose other than to just be a Dog. So the first step in any Social Evolution is, Who?
Now we know who we are, the next step is to "discover" the world we live in. The next logical question is "What?" as in, "What the hell is that I've just stepped in?"In order to fully understand the world you live in you need to ask questions like "What?" You name things, and personify them in order to get a grip on what the world is like around you.
Closely followed by "What?" is "Why?". All parents dread this word coming from their childrens lips, as the amount of "why's" is limitless. Even scientists today are asking themselves why certain things happen the way they do. "Why?" is always the start of investigation. We have named everything now, so lets find out why things are the way they are.Why is it that when you are standing at a bus stop, and the bus is late, that you can light a cigarette and within 2 puffs it arrives? That's a small why. How about...Why is it that a photon is released from the sun, takes 8 minutes to get to Earth, avoiding planets, dust, metorites, satellites, gets reflected by the Earth's atmosphere, at the right angle, while the Earth is rotating at 10,000MPH, missing all clouds and other atmospheric debris, then comes down through the air and through a gap in your curtain 4mm wide and manages to shine right into the very centre of your eyeball, 1 hour before your alarm goes off? Thats a big why. And when I find out why, I'll buy new curtains.
Next one is "When?". To quote Douglas Adams, "Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so".Time has always been strange, it has always been around, but it wasn't until recently that we created "time zones" for various places round the world, and actually worked out what "time" it actually was. Before all this we went by the stars, sunrise and sunset, phases of the moon. But the reason why this is important in the evolution is because it made us realise that there was a pattern and a rhythm to all things, and there was a regularity to everything. This was important for agriculture, sciences, and all sorts of other applications that caused us to move forward as a species.
Last is "Where?". When I came up with this idea, I found it increadibly hard to fit this pattern in with my thoery of "Social Evolution". But then I had a brainwave."Where shall we have lunch?". Let me explain. We've been through all the other questions, we know who we are, what other things are, why they are, and when we can do things. A where question assumes that we are discovering our literal place in the world, as well as everything else. But to forward our evolution, we need somewhere to socialise. To pass on information, and where better than a Resturant?Someone else has thought "Who shall I get the food from?", "What shall we get off them", "Why do I need these ingredients?", "When shall I open?". All we need to know is "Where shall we have lunch?". All the hard work has been done for us. We have reached the final stage in Social Evolution. We never hear of Dogs saying "hmmmm, where shall I have lunch?" because they haven't gone through all the other stages.
So there's my theory. Comments are open,
Thanks for reading!
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