From owner-chemistry@ccl.net Thu Aug 27 06:41:01 2009
From: "Andreas Bick andreas.bick_+_scienomics.com" <owner-chemistry:_:server.ccl.net>
To: CCL
Subject: CCL: And now something completely different!
Message-Id: <-40089-090827062910-29086-/XuwdWNfG2AtSUTC08/R8A:_:server.ccl.net>
X-Original-From: Andreas Bick <andreas.bick-*-scienomics.com>
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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:47:07 +0200
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Sent to CCL by: Andreas Bick [andreas.bick!A!scienomics.com]
Dear CCLers,

while I very much like the idea of the video, i.e. to showcase science 
in an attractive way to people who might be interested, the main problem 
in my opinion is that the message is just too much simplified. Students 
might get a rough awakening if they really take on science for their 
studies. To use everyday tools and surroundings to explain as done in 
the video is great, but to be a bit more precise in the message is 
probably a good way forward.

Best regards

Andreas

> Sent to CCL by: steinbrt+/-rci.rutgers.edu
> Dear CCLers,
> 
> while we are veering far away from computational into philosophical
> territory here, I would like to add my two cents to this and hope to get
> some feedback from people with more experience teaching science.
> 
>> science and encourage young people (e.g., high-school students) to learn
>> more. Moreover, we want to break the existing attitude that science is
>> boring and unattractive. Science is fun and doing science is cool - this
>> is the most important message of the film.
> 
> While I liked your movie, I dont believe that this is a good impression to
> convey to new or prospective students. It only sets them up for inevitable
> disappointment when they find out that doing and learning science is not
> really fun, but tedious, hard and often boring work (no one who ever
> debugged parallel code could disagree...) I don't want to depreciate my
> own profession, because obviously the results of doing research are worth
> every bit of effort. As an analogy, the Golden Gate Bridge surely is
> impressive, but I don't think it was fun to build.
> 
> Wouldn't it be more important to try to make students see the big picture,
> i.e. that mastering the skills of a scientist, while a huge investment of
> time and nerves, will 'pay off' in the end?
> 
> Kind Regards,
> 
> Dr. Thomas Steinbrecher
> Institut für physikalische Chemie
> Albertstr. 23a
> 79108 Freiburg> 
> 
> 


-- 
Dr. Andreas Bick
Scienomics SARL
Sales and Marketing
phone:  +492311385847
mobile: +4916096873623