Nautilus

How to Teach Science with Sugar and Cream

During July’s heat wave, as the Larsen C iceberg began its ocean journey, an ice cream “support session” convened in Manhattan. A classroom of high school teachers were shakin’ it like a Polaroid picture, investigating how a vigorous agitation of ice and salt, cream and sugar could be used to teach math and science, and beyond. The workshop was part of “Summer Think,” a three-day conference gathering 100 master teachers at the headquarters of the non-profit Math for America, in midtown (founded by the mathematician, quantitative investor, and billionaire James Simons, Math for America annually awards $15 million for New York City teaching fellowships, and this fall announced an investment totaling nearly a quarter of a billion dollars over the course of a decade).

The Summer Think itinerary also included, among other sessions, a deep-dive on “Climate Justice;” and “Winning Hearts and Minds,” which produced an “Adolescent Survival Guide” (for teachers) based in part on year-end

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Nautilus

Nautilus3 min read
Making Light of Gravity
1 Gravity is fun! The word gravity, derived by Newton from the Latin gravitas, conveys both weight and deadly seriousness. But gravity can be the opposite of that. As I researched my book during the sleep-deprived days of the pandemic, flashbacks to
Nautilus8 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Consciousness, Creativity, and Godlike AI
These days, we’re inundated with speculation about the future of artificial intelligence—and specifically how AI might take away our jobs, or steal the creative work of writers and artists, or even destroy the human species. The American writer Megha
Nautilus3 min read
Sardines Are Feeling the Squeeze
Sardines are never solitary. Even in death they are squeezed into a can, three or five to a tin, their flattened forms perfectly parallel. This slick congruity makes sense. In life, sardines are evolved for synchronicity: To avoid and confuse predato

Related Books & Audiobooks