*My Greatest Teacher
By Harry T. Roman
*
My Uncle Tony was a long-time janitor at Barringer, and for several years
before I arrived there, he was talking about my interest in the sciences and
engineering to Morris. When I arrived there, Morris talked with me and I
was tracked into his Integrated Science (IS) program. This course of study
was America’s answer to the Sputnik embarrassment; and designed to get more
high school students into the technical professions. So in junior year,
about 30 of us “techno-geeks” got initiated into what became the greatest
learning experience of my life, surpassing anything I would later experience
in college and graduate school.
Our class was a tight knit group that took most of its other classes
together as well. We could talk science and technology, and even thought we
understood it, until Morris, the science department chairman, introduced us
to Integrated Science. We soon learned that IS was science on steroids, and
it packed a punch that cut across the entire curricula.
Most high schools taught physics and chemistry in the last two
years. IS was a unique approach that taught both subjects together for two
years, moving back and forth between them, exploring their overlaps. It was
also my first experience with a double period class.
First and second period every day was IS. In the first hour, Mr.
Lerner would saunter in with his lab cart and conduct an experiment,
whereupon for the remainder of the hour, the class discussed its
observations. No mathematics were used…..strictly verbal discussions.
In the second hour, we explored the mathematics behind the
observations. It went on like this every day for the entire junior and
senior year. We were also required to set-up and conduct a detailed lab
experiment every week, and submit a formal written lab report. It was the
toughest and best course I ever took.
The first experiment he conducted for our class was unforgettable.
He simply took a candle, lit it and said, “You have one hour to write down
as many observations of this candle as you can. A good observer will yield
over 100 observations”. He walked out of the room and returned in an hour,
whereupon we complained that the best we could do was about 60-70
observations. His reply was, “That’s probably because what you observed was
only what you could see. What didn’t you observe?” By the end of the
second hour we all had well over 100 observations recorded.
As if this classroom rigor was not enough, we were required to
complete 3 research papers per year, at least ten pages in length with
formal footnotes and references. The topics selected for the papers were
our own choice, but had to deal with science and technology. This is where
the really big surprise came for our class. The papers were graded
twice-once for scientific/technical accuracy and once for English/grammar.
Mr. Lerner, “Are you kidding us here”, we protested, “Grading for
English in a science class!“
“Good ideas mean nothing if you cannot communicate them!” Morris
shot back.
He was tougher on us than our English teachers. We all soon started
carrying a dictionary and a thesaurus. It became very apparent he was not
coming down to our level. We were going to climb up to his.
Our term papers were also required to address the social and
economic impacts of the subject we were discussing. This was another unique
aspect of this incredible course. Here I learned how technological changes
influence history, art, music, society, government, and law; and
vice-versa. All this in a science class.
Current scientific/technological advances as reported in the
newspapers or magazines, were often debated in class. We were called upon
to marshal quantitative facts and figures in support of our oral arguments.
Could Morris be right? Is this really what science and engineering
was all about? Suddenly all my other courses paled in stature, almost
boring when compared to the intellectual challenge of his class. For the
first time in my education, all the subjects were being knitted together
into a tapestry, every single day, not just for a special project or term
report.
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