This weekend I did a bit of cloud watching while on the way to Cincinnati (obviously I wasn't driving) and I couldn't help but think of all the amazing things we can learn from clouds. I remember my first scientific discovery as a child and how remarkable it seemed. I was on a walk with my mom and I unmistakably noticed the clouds moving across the sky. Shocked, I reported this observation to her. She informed me that while the clouds do in fact move and change, they also appear to move because the Earth is rotating as well and if I watch close enough, I can see the turn.
Not much longer, my family was spending the summer at our family farm. Several of us had gone for a walk around the lake nearby just before dusk and fog was beginning to collect. My cousin and I saw a cloud sitting neatly upon the top of a knoll and we ran straight for it, obviously, in order to discover the inside of a cloud. Instead, we found nothing but misty air around us and ended up a little bit more wet and cold than planned. What a let down!
The important thing though, is that I was able to, with a little assistance from my mom, make discoveries and create knowledge on my own. It's amazing how much more I remember how astonishing this was to me, as simple as it is. I think it is so important to recall the things we learned as children and how we learned them in order to use these memories to develop lessons and teaching methods that will be most beneficial to our students. If we didn't enjoy it then, why should kids enjoy it now?
Not much longer, my family was spending the summer at our family farm. Several of us had gone for a walk around the lake nearby just before dusk and fog was beginning to collect. My cousin and I saw a cloud sitting neatly upon the top of a knoll and we ran straight for it, obviously, in order to discover the inside of a cloud. Instead, we found nothing but misty air around us and ended up a little bit more wet and cold than planned. What a let down!
The important thing though, is that I was able to, with a little assistance from my mom, make discoveries and create knowledge on my own. It's amazing how much more I remember how astonishing this was to me, as simple as it is. I think it is so important to recall the things we learned as children and how we learned them in order to use these memories to develop lessons and teaching methods that will be most beneficial to our students. If we didn't enjoy it then, why should kids enjoy it now?
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