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 this discussion, which I find interesting (and another way we try to
understand the world is through language), reminds me of my favorite joke.

Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy were lying on a hill looking at the clouds.
Lucy remarked that if you looked hard, you could find pictures in the
clouds.  Linus: "you're right! There's Beethoven sitting at his piano!"
Lucy:  "And that one over there looks like Freud sitting in his study!"
Silence, then Lucy and Linus: "What do you see Charlie Brown?"  Charlie
Brown:  "I was going to say a duckie and a horsey, but never mind...."

I can relate to Charlie Brown.

Science is both process and product.

The more important issue to me is to remember that all you're adding, if
anything at all, is a teeny, teeny bit of language for a 7 year old to chew
on.  If I remember some of the early childhood stuff, they, meaning these
young children, aren't likely to be too good at abstraction.  So why sweat
it?

What answer do you think you would get from a 7 year old if you asked them
to define math?  Do you think providing a more cogent answer is going to
have a significant impact on their understanding of what math is?

That we all seem to have different variations on the definition, some close
together, some not so close, suggests that we create our definitions from
our own experiences - just what a constructivist viewpoint would suggest.

Oh, yeah.....my definition to my 8 year old would be:  Science is one of the
ways we use our brains to learn more about our world.  


Jeff Courtman
Exhibits & Special Projects Coordinator
251.208.6851
Exploreum Science Center
www.exploreum.net

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