Reminds me of the students who talk of Plato’s “Alligator of the Cave.”
I work for an outdoor education program where we teach 5-6 graders various science subjects for a week. This story was relayed to me by a fellow Naturalist:
Steff, the naturalist, was teaching the indoor part of her Astronomy Lesson to a group of about 30 kids. She had basically covered all the basics, and was doing a question-and-answer thing to give the kids a chance to ask about things they were interested in relating to Astronomy. One girl raised her hand, and when called on, asked
"You know that line that goes around a globe? How come we can't see it in real life?" Trying not to show her dismay, Steff patiently asks
"You mean the equator?"
"No, no, I know thats not real." the girl said, sounding amused by Steff's suggestion that she wouldn't KNOW the equator was an imaginary line. Steff tried again.
"Are you talking about the Prime Meridian?"
"No, no not that one I know thats an imaginary line too... Im talking about the big line that goes all the way around." Steff is running out of options.
"Are you thinking of latitude and longitude?"
"No, those are the ones that go criss-cross all over aren't they?" the girl asked
"Yeah."
"Nope, not those ones." For a few moments, Steff was completely baffled. And then, it came to her, and she reluctantly asked...
"Are you talking about the blue TAPE that holds the two halves of the globe together??" And of course, the girl responded with an enthusiastic
"YEAH, that's what I meant!!"
This same girl, in response to the impatient hint
“It’s something in outerspace… It’s black, and it sucks…” that Steff was throwing out there to try and get the kids to name a Black Hole, thrust her hand in the air and strained with the effort of being called upon, complete with "oooh ohhhhh"s. Hoping that the girl would HAVE to know the answer with as anxious she was about raising her hand, Steff called on her. Her immediate, totally confident answer was
“An Octopus!”
I have one of my own stories to add now, this one also taking place during an Astronomy lesson. I had divided the kids into groups and given them markers and a square of blank white paper, instructing them to create their own original constellations, drawing the constellation itself on one side of the paper, and a story that explains it on the other side.
I had just settled into a chair to let them begin working when one of the boys came up to me, paper in hand. I couldn’t imagine how my instructions would need any more explaining, so I was already expecting the worst when he asked me quite seriously,
“Do we write the story on the front, or the back?”
I actually had to take a few moments to compose myself before sending him off with a calm “It doesn’t matter, whatever side you want.”
Inside though, I was cradling my head in my hands screaming ITS A BLANK PIECE OF PAPER!!! THERE IS NO FRONT OR BACK!!! YOU’RE ALMOST A TEENAGER, ARE YOU SERIOUS?
still love my job though
BRRAIIINNSSS!
I think this is like the 3rd (1st really) thread on this subject that I’ve seen here.
Zombie. Closed.