'Soft Science' & Less Certainty
Dear Diane,
Passing the playground at 77th and Amsterdam in 1995 I overheard a child in the sandbox say: "I have an idea!" with such enthusiasm that I stopped to watch and listen. Over the next few weeks I kept hearing variations on that delighted cry from my grandchildren. I decided it summed up what I've learned from years of parenting and teaching. Thus my first book was entitled, "The Power of Their Ideas."
We seem to be born with a love for ideas and for exploring each idea in turn, over and over again. (Those who care for children are driven a bit crazy with the tenacity of "their ideas" at times.)
It was that thought that led me to read last Sunday's New York Times op-ed: "Overcoming Physics Envy." Authors Kevin Clarke and David Primo talk about our glorification of the hard sciences vs. the "soft" sciences and our troubling confusion about the nature of "theories." This confusion is partially to blame for not recognizing the power of young children's ideas.
What Clarke and Primo are suggesting is that there is more than one way—"hypothetico-deductivism"—to seek
Passing the playground at 77th and Amsterdam in 1995 I overheard a child in the sandbox say: "I have an idea!" with such enthusiasm that I stopped to watch and listen. Over the next few weeks I kept hearing variations on that delighted cry from my grandchildren. I decided it summed up what I've learned from years of parenting and teaching. Thus my first book was entitled, "The Power of Their Ideas."
We seem to be born with a love for ideas and for exploring each idea in turn, over and over again. (Those who care for children are driven a bit crazy with the tenacity of "their ideas" at times.)
It was that thought that led me to read last Sunday's New York Times op-ed: "Overcoming Physics Envy." Authors Kevin Clarke and David Primo talk about our glorification of the hard sciences vs. the "soft" sciences and our troubling confusion about the nature of "theories." This confusion is partially to blame for not recognizing the power of young children's ideas.
What Clarke and Primo are suggesting is that there is more than one way—"hypothetico-deductivism"—to seek
