Fractals in the Classroom
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afternoon; during this period they are lucky to have time for lunch. Everything is done in a hurry. There is little time for reflection. Teachers are isolated from the In writing this column, my slant is dif- simplest requirement for scientific enrichment—free time. ferent from that of previous contributors. The need for a national focus on I am not a volunteer in the classroom, but a consultant on National Science Foun- retraining teachers rather than students is obvious: If we change the way one dation (NSF) grants aimed at bringing teacher teaches, this affects roughly 100 modern science into the high school students per year every year over the classroom. The teams I work with are teacher's career. And teachers affect their engaged in research on how to change colleagues. The chain reaction is obvious. U.S. science education. One primary goal What have I learned about designing is to investigate how best to introduce experiments for the classroom? Perhaps "advanced technology," i.e., computers, the first is to avoid "gee whiz" experiinto the classroom. Nevertheless, lessons ments performed as demos by the I have learned should prove valuable to teacher, or even as stand-alone activities scientists engaged in other outreach by the students. There are dozens of neat programs. and exciting experiments that can knock My training is as a theoretical conthe socks off students. But having done densed matter physicist. While a postso, what was accomplished? What did doctoral fellow, I organized undergraduthe students learn? What did the teacher ate experimental research projects in my learn? Will the students be able to transfield of interest, which is far-from-equifer their new knowledge to a different librium growth. Research experiments in problem? Do the students have a quantithis field can still be done inexpensively, tative sense of what happened? and without great technical overhead. To be concrete, I will describe the When the research money dried up, I development of our electrochemical found employment with education prodeposition experiment. This may appear jects funded by NSF's Applications of to be an odd experiment to bring to high Advanced Technology Program. One school students. In part, we were motiproject at Boston University (Prof. H.E. vated to adopt it by our mandate—to Stanley was the principal investigator), entitled On Growth and Form, is precisely bring modern research still pursued by research scientists to high schools. For a in my field of expertise. The experiences I number of years, I have done research on share below are from this project. the patterns formed by electrodeposits. I My principal task is the design of inexknow that at its simplest, this is a cheap pensive experiments to demonstrate and easy experiment. One needs two interesting pattern formation processes. plates of plexiglass with a hole in the cenThe experiments are intended to provide ter for the cathode, an anode surroundstudents with a hands-on experience ing it, an electrolytic solution between prior to investigating t
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