Have a Science Summer.
A note came across in my Twitter feed this afternoon referring to “ Western Bean Cutworm Flight Predictions for 2020.” The document includes a link to a more extensive, general document on the subject.
Now, there is no conceivable reason that you should be interested in this. At least, I doubt if any of my followers are farming dry beans or corn in the midwest or plains. But it seems that despite a gazillion dollars pumped into public education, which since Sputnik has certainly included extensive science education, we are FREAKING IGNORANT.
So, if you have an inquiring mind, or are in middle or high school, or KNOW someone in middle of high school (a neighbor, a colleague’s child, a cousin or niece/nephew, help make it a science summer. Every county in the U.S., urban or rural, has an Extension Office. The extension service also operates the wonderful 4-H program. You can always access their publications even if you aren’t in the organization.
Science and discovery museums have websites. So do the innumerable sites for and by teachers and home schooling parents.
Pick a project that requires observation and data collection. You could even help them write a hypothesis to be tested against the collected data. Give them a bonus point if they pick something that has societal ramifications.
And maybe, just maybe, in the next epidemic, people won’t act like morons.
