Why does the sun make your skin darker and your hair lighter and other practical science questions

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

I've always thought that colleges (or high schools, for that matter) should offer a "Practical Science" course. You would still learn concepts of biology, chemistry, and physics but through answering practical questions.

Question such as:

Why does the sun make your skin darker but your hair lighter?

How does aspirin (or ibuprofen or acetaminophen) work?

How does soap make us clean?

Why (and how) does consumption of alcoholic beverages effect the liver?

How come I can feel a car with a car stereo blasting coming before I can hear it?

How does a magnet erase electronically stored data?


There is a hundred other questions I have thought of in the past. (You know the ones that come to you while you are driving.)

I think a class such as this could make science interesting and relevant. And, probably the concepts would be retained if learned with practical application. One could easily have both lab and lecture for this type of class.

What do you think? What questions would you like a class like this to address?

Labels: Education, Science

posted by suzyjax on 5/05/2009 06:29:00 AM > 0 comments

[web-design by may] [customized by suzyjax]