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Mar 4,
1999 |
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By Dr. Leila Gonzalez (and friends)
I’m a doctor, but not a medical one. I’m a
scientist. Some scientists are called “doctors” because they
have a doctoral degree. I earned one of these degrees after studying a LOT
of science at Harvard. I went to class, did experiments,
studied hard and learned enough to . . . well, to ask questions! And
sometimes I even figure out the answer. |
This may not
seem like much to brag about, but it’s the key to understanding
science. It’s not about memorizing facts or formulas; science is
about the process of asking questions. A good question might already have
an answer. But a great question makes you see things in a new way and ask
even more questions!
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So come
here every Thursday, when we’re going to be looking at new
questions—your questions—about plants, planets, or people. About
weight, water or whatever! If you’re not sure if it’s
scientific, send it in anyway. You never know; it might turn out to be a
great question that we're all wondering about!
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Here’s how it works. You send me your questions (visit my
house in Whyville to submit a question), and each week we’ll do one
or more of the following:
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Inquiry.I’ll
pick one question for you to think about. The other scientists in my lab
will give you an experiment to try at home or at school. In fact, each
month we will go to a classroom in Southern California and have the whole
class perform the experiment.
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Applications. We’ll
also look at other related questions. And I’ll give you a few other
things to try, to look up in the library, or to search for on the Web.
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Theory. Some questions
aren’t easy to answer experimentally. To explore these questions,
we’ll ask other scientists to share their thoughts with
us.
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Results. Finally, we will publish your results for the experiment in the paper. So, it's important that you try the experiment and send us your results.[] |
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