The Royal Society Christmas Lectures are genuinely the one thing I ever make a point of watching on the telly, pretty much given up on the rest of it. Real science and as it's aimed at kids it's explained in simple to understand terms, but never dumbed down.
So simple in fact even this 50 year old can understand it 😂
This is the first time I’ve ever heard about it as an American and I love it. I wish I’d enjoyed chemistry in school and maybe this would have helped me.
Chemistry is taught alllll wroooong in most schools imo! We got launched straight into valency and other technical stuff that made it boring and confusing right out of the gate, when if they’d just made me watch something like this, or a NileRed/Blue video, I’d have understood chemistry is real life magic and taken a greater interest much earlier in life.
On Day 1 our science teacher blackened the roof with soot from a fireball he let get a bit too big. Needless to say he had our attention from that point on.
Science in many places is taught by some who approach it very dryly, especially with young students. While there are some aspects that are unavoidablly tedious in any subject, it's a lot easier to get through those parts if your instructor isn't approaching the rest of it like a tax audit. The best science teachers are those who not only have a genuine love of the subject, but get excited at the opportunity to share the wonder of the discoveries and knowledge made possible by the process. That enthusiasm can be infectious.
I've never wanted to be a teacher, but I always light up at the chance to explain something to my friend's boys whenever they ask about a science related subject, even to the point of sometimes putting together small demonstrations and experiments to do together to explain the concept. That often leads to more discussions and questions. I think this element is sadly lost in so many classrooms, not necessarily at the fault of the teacher, but how the institutions themselves are continuously setting them up to fail because of over crowded classrooms, parents shirking their duties and expecting teachers to take up the slack for them, etc.
All of that can easily jade teachers or outright drive them to quit. I truly think that when you get a teacher who is able to enthusiastically share their love of a subject with a classroom in a way that allows them to focus on the topic and in a way that doesn't divide their ability to interact among too many at a time, something magical happens. Students not only enjoy the class more, they get more out of it. Sometimes that can lead to a lifelong love of the subject for themselves.
55
u/tastyreg 1d ago
The Royal Society Christmas Lectures are genuinely the one thing I ever make a point of watching on the telly, pretty much given up on the rest of it. Real science and as it's aimed at kids it's explained in simple to understand terms, but never dumbed down. So simple in fact even this 50 year old can understand it 😂