It’s that time of year again. Dashing to the mall for back-to-school clothes. Scrambling to finish summer reading assignments put off in favor of outdoor play. New backpacks, sneakers, and school supplies at the ready. I’ve always loved fall in the U.S. northeast. The leaves change color, there’s a bit of a chill in the … Continue reading Back to School
My grandfather – we called him “Pops” – taught math in the New Haven public schools for 32 years. When I was with Pops at a store or restaurant in New Haven, even long after he retired from teaching, we’d invariably run into a former student. I picture my small hand engulfed in his large … Continue reading Touching the Future
Remember when hybrid referred to cars that run on gas and electricity? How quaint. Today, it seems that everything is hybrid. The word hybrid comes from the Latin hybrida meaning the offspring of two dissimilar organisms. Mythical human-animal hybrids — like the half-man half-horse Centaur — evoke images of bizarre creatures that express some attributes … Continue reading The World’s Gone Hybrid
I distinctly remember my first day of high school physics since it was so very different from my other classes, which tended to blend together in a murky soup of memorize-regurgitate-rinse-and-repeat learning. My teacher, a hip young man who usually taught math, jumped up on the desk at the front of the classroom and declared, … Continue reading Physics is Life
I won second place in the 1986 Connecticut State Science Fair for a project entitled “Boys vs. Girls in Math.” It was my first (and only) science fair experience, prompted by a middle school teacher who saw me as a brainy kid who could handle the extra work. The topic was one suggested by my … Continue reading Boys vs. Girls in Math
Mother of Invention 