{"id":117,"date":"2017-08-15T10:33:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T16:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/?p=117"},"modified":"2017-08-25T10:55:08","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T16:55:08","slug":"journals-and-wonders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/journals-and-wonders\/","title":{"rendered":"journals and wonders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where do we start to do science? I think this is a good question because it is one of those that seems like it should have an obvious, maybe trivial answer. There\u2019s this presumption that \u201cscience is nothing more than a refinement of every day thinking,\u201d as Einstein is frequently quoted with saying. But, even as you continue to read more Einstein and other science thinkers, it\u2019s clear that it\u2019s not just<\/em> an extension of the kind of thinking we may be used to doing, but some kind of thinking and doing that we\u2019ve invented. Sure, we can all do it, but we have to work at it. This is why we have science classes, after all, and why I have a job.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another even more important consideration, though. We don\u2019t just think about and create science out of nothing. We have to have something to wonder about. There has to be a natural world to observe<\/a>, and we have to do that observation. That\u2019s where we employ the most important scientific tool in this history of humankind: the pencil. Of course, along with the pencil (or any other writing tool) comes paper. But the essence of it all is that we have to start making observations and making sense of them in a way that we can share the ideas with others and maybe even start to see the ideas laid out in front of us, letting them take on a new light.<\/p>\n

I encourage you to have a notebook that\u2019s dedicated to observations and making sense of the world. In fact, it\u2019s likely that you\u2019re taking a course from me that requires<\/em> a dedicated notebook for the class. I like to carry a small journal or notebook around with me to make sense of the world, and recently I\u2019ve been inspired by seeing how an artist, Lynda Barry<\/a>, uses a composition notebook to craft, teach, and document her classes. Here\u2019s her product next to my own composition notebook:<\/p>\n

Adam’s and Lynda’s notebooks, side by side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lynda is an artist, and she sees the world and makes sense of it through an artist\u2019s lens:<\/p>\n

A sample of Lynda’s course pages, incorporated into her notebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But I don\u2019t think that this means that the concept and tool is only for the artist. In my own notebooks, I\u2019ve started to use the space of the page not only to record something I don\u2019t want to forget, but to start to work through the idea. Based on the idea of a friend of mine, Andy Gilbert<\/a>, I\u2019ve had some teachers I work with promote these as \u201cWonder Journals<\/a>\u201d for themselves and with their elementary students. It\u2019s not just a record, but a place to start to create questions and even to see new things.<\/p>\n

My own wonder journal for the course, next to Lynda’s composition notebook as well as my own everyday notebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your first step: Get yourself your own, dedicated notebook. I got a relatively fancy one with thick paper and \u201cquad ruled\u201d squares on it so that I could write in different directions as well as make graphs and other sketches. This cost me about $3.50 at the bookstore, but with options to spend even less or much more. It doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 whatever suits you and your style and workflow. Then, start breaking it in. Put your name on it, crack the spine a little, and see how the pencil or pen feels on the page. Go ahead and write in it as you start to see and wonder things, but rest assured that we\u2019ll start filling things in with vigor starting on our first day of class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where do we start to do science? I think this is a good question because it is one of those that seems like it should have an obvious, maybe trivial answer. There\u2019s this presumption that \u201cscience is nothing more than a refinement of every day thinking,\u201d as Einstein is frequently quoted with saying. But, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stc_notifier_status":"","_stc_notifier_sent_time":"","_stc_notifier_request":false,"_stc_notifier_prevent":false,"_stc_subscriber_keywords":"","_stc_subscriber_search_areas":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-notes"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DkEt-1T","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firstdrafts.net\/physicalscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}