Aye Dave and Francis, Jerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Francis Graham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Meteorites" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 3:04 PM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Planet Definition
> > > --- David Weir <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Francis, > > > > What's wrong with teaching kids the actual facts, > > even if they aren't > > readily conducive to pigeon-holing? > > My old lunar friend Dave brings up something very > important. It IS MUCH BETTER to allow students to > decide what a planet is in their minds, and teach them > that Pluto, Xena, etc. are bodies that orbit the sun, > are approximately spherical, and are different from > Earth, Venus, Mercury, Mars because they are largely > made of ices and not rocky, and different from > Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune because they do > not have colossal hydrogen atmospheres. This would be > the better approach, much, much more informative. > But we all know what will really happen. Test item > on state-mandated proficiency test: "How many planets > are there in the solar system?" a. 9 b. 10 c. 14 d.8" > One right answer. > Such would be neither in the spirit of science or > scientific. But: state-mandated. > So Dave, I know where you heart is. > Francis Graham > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
