One of the most important things we can do to help students prepare to be creative scientists is to help them understand how science works. We need to share science that looks like science—unpredictable and full of questions—rather than simple exercises in direction-following. We need students to understand the struggles and dilemmas of scientists along … Continue reading
One of my favorite books about creativity is titled Beautiful Oops. It makes sense because creativity, by definition, means thinking in new ways—sometimes incremental changes, but sometimes a complete change of course, a different perspective. Sometimes that means recognizing that ways we’ve thought before don’t work any more. Sometimes we have to say “Oops, I … Continue reading
The Periodic Table is having a birthday! In March, it will be 150 years since the Russian scientist, Dmitri Mendeleev, took all of the 63 known elements and arranged them into a table. Today the Periodic Table contains over 100 elements and is found in chemistry classes and labs around the world. One of my … Continue reading
As I said last week, it has been quite a summer. The biggest adventure of the season was my trip to Antofagasta, Chile to meet with the wonderful teachers of the Tarpuq project. I thoroughly enjoyed my meetings there—including the chance to speak to an audience listening to a translation through headphones, and working with … Continue reading
When I look out my office window, there’s a pretty limited selection of wildlife. But always, even in a Michigan winter, there are birds. Birds are part of virtually every global ecosystem, and in urban landscapes they are one of the most visible evidences that even amidst concrete, the cycles of life continue. They also … Continue reading
Do you teach high school science? Do you like a capella music? Do your students? How about parodies? Amazingly clever lyrics? If you like any of these you really need to see the YouTube channel A Cappella Science. Like so many things, I was introduced to A Cappella Science via social media. Here’s one of … Continue reading
Do you know a young person who likes to build things? To help young builders move to the next level of thinking without the demand for high-tech gizmos or expensive materials, you might explore Engineer This! 10 Amazing Projects for Young Mechanical Engineers. In Engineer This!, Carole McBride and Francisco Gonzales have compiled projects including … Continue reading
Two of the key things creative scientists do are 1) Ask questions and 2) Gather data to try to answer the questions. This month, your students can gather with data-seekers around the world to help answer the question, “Is the earth flat?” Now, for those of you in globe-filled classrooms, that may seem a silly … Continue reading
Sometimes the creativity in the world just makes me chuckle. It happened this week as I reviewed the materials for the 2017 Dance Your Dissertation Contest. Yes, dance. For most of us who managed the dissertation process, any dancing that occurred was at a post-defense party at which we celebrated our academic survival. But the … Continue reading
Every significant creative project comes with struggles—at least mine certainly do. I’m in the midst of a large mosaic project, or, to be more accurate, I’m stalled. I only have one evening a week in the mosaic studio, and those have been rare lately. Other life circumstances have made even one day a week difficult … Continue reading
