Science teacher

Yearbook signing time

doyle — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:35:00 GMT

Spent part of the afternoon sharing a few gallons of the Delaware Bay with a small pod of dolphins, including one younger than my garden's parsley--they were as aware of us as we were of them. And neither of us had a clue what that means.... Leslie and...(read more)

A note on "partial" deafness

doyle — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:18:00 GMT

I'm often labeled "weird," and I suppose I am, for a variety of reasons. The biggest, though, may stem from deafness. I can hear well enough. Took me a tad longer to learn how to talk, and I was a silent enough child to be dragged to a shrink while all...(read more)

Which apple will your child hold?

doyle — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:03:00 GMT

I agreed to review an iPad education app this week, which led me to thinking, which led to all kinds of problems--the review will have to wait. To learn something requires physical changes in the brain--this is not metaphorical. If your neurons don't...(read more)

Designed intelligence?

doyle — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:24:00 GMT

Back when I was still a tadpole, I took a metaphysics course with Professor Jaegwon Kim--he seemed interested in the natural world, he's a bright guy, and I was still naive enough to chase the unknowable. Within a few weeks things went south--we fussed...(read more)

Wordless in May

doyle — Mon, 27 May 2013 11:54:00 GMT

Mid-May, life strums, filling up on light and lives of others. A child does not need to live on a farm to see what all the fuss is about. The animals watch us, as we used to watch them. You've known this since you were a child, but you've chosen to forget....(read more)

Take Our Children to the Park...and Leave Them There Day

doyle — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:37:00 GMT

Today is "Take Your Children to the Park...and Leave Them There Day," founded by Lenore Skenazy four years ago. Makes sense-- kids spend well over 50 hours each week gazing at glass screens living in a world dominated by creepy adults who like to make...(read more)

May light, May death

doyle — Sat, 11 May 2013 13:25:00 GMT

Some years I fish, with joy and exuberance, ecstatic at the pull of an animal on the end of the line. Other years, I avoid it, acknowledging the pain and cost of life to the fish. It's not something I'm ever going to resolve.... T his was written two...(read more)

On reading Galway Kinnell again

doyle — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:47:00 GMT

Almost a quarter century ago, my eldest and I wandered around Liberty State Park in the shadow of the Lady herself, trying out various foods at an international festival. Folks were amused at her voracious boldness, I was amused at their amusement. I...(read more)

In the light, again

doyle — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:05:00 GMT

This was written a 2 year s ago, and it works again today. We only get so many Msys in a lifetime. "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Theodosius Dobzhansky I should be crafting a descent with modification (misnamed "evolution")...(read more)

My problem(s) with Kiera

doyle — Sat, 04 May 2013 10:35:00 GMT

The whole Kiera Wilmot kerfuffle made no sense at all until I saw her photo. Trying to blow things up falls under white male privilege. Kiera has too much melanin and chromosomal material to qualify for that club. See what kind of nonsense happens when...(read more)

Build, harvest, brew, be human

doyle — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:48:00 GMT

When I clam, I put a couple back. I know there will always be more when I do this. I am also keeping a promise to my niece, who has a habit of returning more quahogs than she actually rakes, though she eats them readily enough. (Hi, Claire!) When I build...(read more)

My children still live in our village

doyle — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:09:00 GMT

If you want to be universal, sing your village. -Leo Tolstoy Arne Duncan wants your children prepared "to participate in the global economy." I want our kids to learn a little bit about the natural world. I took the AP Biology students out to the Bloomfield...(read more)

Teaching a skink Latin

doyle — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:11:00 GMT

This week in my classroom, really my home... My lambs groaned as I ate a carrot a child grew from seed under the light of the weak winter sun--and a few wondered, out loud, if it tasted like a carrot. We fetched our salamander guy from our terrarium to...(read more)

To Serve Students

doyle — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:50:00 GMT

To Serve Students --with apologies to Rod Sterling As Arne and his cadre of Eraserheads mobilize our children for the global economy because, well, the whole point of education is to create a corps of corporate citizens, I keep thinking of Twilight Zone's...(read more)

On sunspots

doyle — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:11:00 GMT

Do not do any of this without the right equipment. Galileo likely did not go blind from his work with sunspots, but hey, it makes a good story. We took a walk along the edge of the bay at sunset, as we do, and I stared at the sun, as I foolhardily do,...(read more)