söndag 12 augusti 2012

Why is Yale Supporting Nonsense Teaching?

The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute is an
  • educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools designed to strengthen teaching and learning in local schools and, by example, in high-needs schools across the country.
The Institute wants to lead young minds (in particular from non-academic families) into science:
  • The excitement of flying, though not as novel today as compared to the early 1900's, is not lost on any child. 
  • This natural enthusiasm to learn about the question, "How do airplanes fly?" that undoubtedly all children have asked at one point or another, will motivate students throughout the unit. 
  • By making this a fully interdisciplinary unit, there should be a way for all types of learners to feel connected to and inspired by the content of the unit.
This is what is offered as The Physics of Flight
  • Planes fly because they are lifted off the ground by a force called "lift." 
  • Lift happens because the pressure is greater below the wing of the airplane than it is above the wing. 
  • Air pressure is lower when the air travels faster, and air pressure is higher when the air travels more slowly. 
  • This can happen because of the shape of the wing. 
  • The wing of an airplane is usually flat along the bottom and curved on the top, and tapers to a point at the back end of the wing. 
  • Since the top of the wing is curved, the air has further to travel than on the bottom of the wing.
  • The same amount of air goes above the wing as below the wing, the air on top is spread out more and traveling faster, creating lower pressure above the wing. 
  • The air below the wing has a shorter distance to travel and travels more slowly, this air has a higher density, so this creates a higher pressure below the wing. 
  • When an airplane travels faster, the pressure difference becomes greater. In order for the plane to actually come off the ground and into flight, the lift force must be greater than the weight of the plane.
But this is all nonsense presented as science. Why is a major academic institution like Yale University supporting the teaching of nonsense science to meet the "natural enthusiasm to learn about how do airplanes fly"? 

No wonder that many children, in particular from non-academic families, lose interest in mathematics and physics. 

1 kommentar:

  1. "•When an airplane travels faster, the pressure difference becomes greater. In order for the plane to actually come off the ground and into flight, the lift force must be greater than the weight of the plane."

    Well this is about as wrong as it can be.

    D

    SvaraRadera