h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I actually taught up to level 3 of your example today! I'm a physics teacher in Budapest and my third class of the day was a year 11 IGCSE group. We had some time spare so I diverted away from the basic theme of radioactivity and, somehow, got onto Relativity. Doing this does reveal the need for the lie-to-children approach as it goes over the heads of most of the pupils (but not all). However, even if they don't 'understand' it (if anyone does) then at least it sparks their interest! My problem with Science teaching is that just as they get to a level where they can start to understand the stuff I find interesting (Nuclear, Astrophysics, Particle physics, etc) we have to get through loads of content for the exams! (Much of it very boring ... most of mechanics for example).

Anyway ... I'm rambling. Top article, by the way.

Excellent! Thanks *very* much for reading and commenting, it's especially nice to get a comment from someone who's actually made a career from the honourable pursuit of lying to children!

Cheers!

H.

I'm a trainee Lier and it is very strange, just starting out as a science teacher (lier?), to have to be telling children things which just arn't true.... Kin d of oges against instinct on those things that I do know about to a lot higher level, but, well, you'd quickly loose the entire class if you went for the :"real truth" and this all kind of ties in with coconstruction of knowledge, and children's misconceptions, great article;