Post AFJCsmuntw4KF94CgK by ajroach42@retro.social
(DIR) More posts by ajroach42@retro.social
(DIR) Post #AFJCsm1VDXphTdC2U4 by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:31:01Z
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How is it that the american public school system managed to make chemistry and physics feel so stale and boring? I'm so angry about that. Like, we could have connected history to science by tracing the developments of various technologies through human history, and followed those up with practical demonstrations. Built up to modern technology in schools to understand how society formed. In the process, you learn Math, History, Physics, and Chemistry, plus you get to Make Stuff.
(DIR) Post #AFJCsmTrW6WAtaSggi by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:31:12Z
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Instead, we teach children to hate school.
(DIR) Post #AFJCsmuntw4KF94CgK by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:43:19Z
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Imagine that on day one of class in fourth grade your teacher walked in and said: "This year, we're going to recreate 20 major technological advancements of human society from Ancient Rome through the industrial revolution." And then every week, you did that?
(DIR) Post #AFJCsnSprPI5wgzNj6 by amerika@noagendasocial.com
2022-01-10T20:48:08Z
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@ajroach42 week 10:all the poor people, minorities, and transsexuals are deadcivilization is moving forwardwe have a strict social hierarchy, a culture, and religionwe have made a ritual sacrifice of our teacher to the gods of the sun
(DIR) Post #AFJCso7FR9cJy1teiW by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:46:18Z
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Like, we did lemon batteries, you know?But my teacher couldn't even explain what we were doing or why it worked. We did basic circuits with switches, but again, it was just "do these things" We could have learned about geology by collecting various elements from various locations (Field Trips! The school system loved them, most of them were just corporate bullshit) and then watching as our teachers/volunteers refined those elements and taught us how they would have been used.
(DIR) Post #AFJFH2KoQJ0KvMvFke by skyfaller@jawns.club
2022-01-10T21:07:36Z
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@ajroach42 Then the kids might grow up to be the sort of people who build makerspaces, repair their gear instead of just throwing it out and buying it again, who aren't entirely at the mercy of systems they don't understand. That might not be good for capitalism and consumerism.They might have some ability to survive without money, and they might start to question why they allow the machine to keep grinding them down for someone else's profit.
(DIR) Post #AFJFHt5OINA0Wt7BZY by Ricardus@mastodon.sdf.org
2022-01-10T21:15:04Z
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@skyfaller @ajroach42 Yup.
(DIR) Post #AFJKGYUvr5Sg9rFIlU by elb@mastodon.sdf.org
2022-01-10T22:10:51Z
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@ajroach42 Have you seen the video of Cliff Stoll measuring the speed of sound with an oscilloscope and a mic? I think maybe it's a TedX talk or something (?). I'll try to look it up later. Anyway, he says the same thing, basically; it's only boring because we make it boring. This is also kind of Vi Hart's thesis about math.
(DIR) Post #AFJPBdH7AMN3ITFqmu by rgegriff@mastodon.lol
2022-01-10T21:00:00Z
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@ajroach42 The point of modern education is to take the most dangerous, most enlightening, and most liberating ideas and hide them in plain sight. Force people's eyes and minds to glaze over when they engage with the ideas.
(DIR) Post #AFJTDcQZggAl43skpk by elb@mastodon.sdf.org
2022-01-10T23:51:11Z
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@ajroach42 https://ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_the_call_to_learn
(DIR) Post #AFKJz43byRqBz15Pu4 by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:46:31Z
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We didn't even grow beans.
(DIR) Post #AFKJz4VcIKF5NsBmYS by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:48:36Z
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Anyway, I have a makerspace now.
(DIR) Post #AFKJz4xGdWMOld7rea by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:54:18Z
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So I'm playing with this idea of a math/science/history curriculum for adults that tracks the foundation of modern technology/society from pre-history to the foot of the industrial revolution, and then another that starts at industrialization and tracks forward to the information age.
(DIR) Post #AFKJz5Mn6cmE2n4FRA by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T20:57:41Z
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Pre-history to the roots of industrialization is straightforward. If you focus on food, commerce, and war you can cover basically every major advancement over the course of like 10 months? With each one building on the last. Industrialization to the information age is harder, because things get more complicated and because the demonstrations and applications get harder. Combinatory Explosions.
(DIR) Post #AFKJz5rHHHABZLKaxM by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T21:00:14Z
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I can probably build a furnace and do basic smithing well enough to demonstrate how it works. Everything in the pre-industrial age is pretty much like that. Time, effort, and tools, but it's reachable. But in order to unlock lots of the industrial and post-industrial age stuff, we're looking at a level of finesse that will require that we cheat. I think that's fine. If I'm going to build a film camera, for example, I'm going to use modern tools to do it. Laser cutter, 3D printer, etc.
(DIR) Post #AFKJz6KLXCPp1UvoGW by ajroach42@retro.social
2022-01-10T21:02:23Z
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But more than that, if I'm going to build a film camera, I'm going to be buying film. I might demonstrate the rough principle, and do a daguerreotype style wet plate process, but I'm not making film. We might build a wire recorder, or make basic magnetic tape, but I'm not going to invest the time and energy building the machinery it takes to make magnetic tape for audio and video (except that I totally might, but that's another story and unrelated to my frustration with education.)
(DIR) Post #AFKJz6lzsOX8PFrtMe by observer@hackers.town
2022-01-10T21:35:18Z
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@ajroach42 it's not making the film itself, but Caffenol developer (made from coffee & other household ingredients) would go great with a homemade camera projecthttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffenol