Skepchick Sundaylies! WISE MEN, Active Learning, Other December Celebrations, and Skipping Santa
Sunday Funny: Turn the other cheek. (via Cyanide and Happiness)
The Physics Philes, lesson 124: Exploding Potatoes and Equations of State
Mindy explains how an exploding potato relates to the idea gas law.
Tracts in the Mail
Elizabeth shares the way in which her grandparents have chosen to try to convert her this year.
Gods! Christmas Edition (en español)
Silvia explains the origins of the December 25th celebrations.
Active Learning: Does Depth Outweigh Breadth?
The NYT is extolling the virtues of active learning again, but Peter Nonacs wonders if such approaches are worth sacrificing the amount of material one can get through in a traditional lecture.
Deriding Ease
Apostrophobia notes that there is a tendency in some quarters to dismiss or deride students who learn easily, when perhaps we should be figuring out how to share those students’ skillsets with their peers.
Skipping Scary Santa
One way that we let children know that we don’t give a damn about their consent is by making them sit on Santa’s lap and taking photos of their visible anguish. And for some reason, we consider these pictures “funny.” It’s time to take a step back and think about what we’re really teaching our children. (And if you feel yourself getting defensive, remember that we’ve all made mistakes and it’s important to think critically about these types of situations, even if this happened to you and you “turned out OK.”)
Lifetimes: Explaining Death to Children
Angela recommends this book for how to talk to children about death in a simple and beautiful way (and the book does not mention an afterlife so this is perfect for everyone, no matter your beliefs).
When Mommy Bloggers Divorce
Sometimes, choosing to let go of the past can be more freeing than you think. In Jenny’s case, she made the decision to not talk negatively about her ex because she wanted to preserve their co-parenting relationship.
Featured image credit: LadyDragonflyCC via Flickr