wabmester
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2003
- Messages
- 4,459
I was listening to a radio show tonight -- the topic was Intelligent Design (you know, the latest flavor of Creationism). I love this topic for a couple of reasons, but the one I'd like to rant about in this thread is the unpopularity of science, math, rigor, and rationality today.
Those of us who are now retired were probably educated in the post-Sputnik era. Many of us were engineers or other types of technoweenies. How much of our destiny was shaped by watching the first Apollo launch, the moon landing, Mr Wizard, and the birth of the personal computer?
Can you identify what turned you on to science and math? And tell me how we can provide that same inspiration to our kids.
For me, it was my monthly "Things of Science" kit that came in the mail (I especially loved lighting Mg on fire!), Estes rockets, Edmunds Scientific, Heathkit, great books and articles by guys like Martin Gardner, and probably the most direct influences on my career choice were getting an HP-65 in high school and an Apple ][ for HS graduation. It wasn't so much that they were cool computers (they were), but that they were fairly transparent and hackable (unlike today's super-pipelined machines with layers and layers of bloated OS and apps).
Most of the things I grew up with are gone now. I don't think I'm being nostalgic here -- I'm just looking for analogous stuff for my own kid.
Those of us who are now retired were probably educated in the post-Sputnik era. Many of us were engineers or other types of technoweenies. How much of our destiny was shaped by watching the first Apollo launch, the moon landing, Mr Wizard, and the birth of the personal computer?
Can you identify what turned you on to science and math? And tell me how we can provide that same inspiration to our kids.
For me, it was my monthly "Things of Science" kit that came in the mail (I especially loved lighting Mg on fire!), Estes rockets, Edmunds Scientific, Heathkit, great books and articles by guys like Martin Gardner, and probably the most direct influences on my career choice were getting an HP-65 in high school and an Apple ][ for HS graduation. It wasn't so much that they were cool computers (they were), but that they were fairly transparent and hackable (unlike today's super-pipelined machines with layers and layers of bloated OS and apps).
Most of the things I grew up with are gone now. I don't think I'm being nostalgic here -- I'm just looking for analogous stuff for my own kid.