Archive for the ‘Ideas’ Category
An Inquiry into Inquiry-Based Learning
The Exploratorium in San Francisco’s Presidio district attempts to teach through the presentation of dilemmas. One exhibit, for instance, is constructed from alternating copper coils, one of which is warm and the other chilled. The coils wind around a cylinder, with the warm coil starting on the right and the cool one on the left. A hand placed at each end senses only one of the temperatures, while holding the cylinder’s center combines the two sensations. The result is unexpected. The brain signals a burning pain, and the observer invariably recoils from the exhibit, only to discover his hands unharmed. The exhibit thus asks: you sense searing pain, but without cause. Why?
