Girls, maths and physical sciences

[Veronica I. Arreola]

Eric Fairfield <fairfiel at trail.com> wrote:

>
>We have done:
>Why do peppers 'taste' hot?
>With the why do peppers tast hot puzzle, my daughter and her friend
>assumed that taste buds sensed the 'hot taste.'  I asked how they tested
>this hypothesis.  They started doing experiments to see whether you could
>'taste' hot where there were no taste buds.  Rapidly, they found out that
>'hot' is sensed by pain receptors (they even found a study on the WWW in
>which topical pain killers block the hot taste) and not by taste buds.
>You can taste hot on the back of your hand.
>
>I would appreciate any comments on this approach.  Suggestions,
>criticisms, even outright laughter would be fine.
>
>In the mean time, she and I are trying to learn more about what happens
>to eyes as you get older.  We hope that some of the changes are
>reversible.  We are having a good time.
>
>Eric Fairfield

Your approach to teaching your daughter about science sounds great. I think I got confused, do you teach science in a junior high? Or do you just pose these questions to them say on a rainy day?

Veronica