Category Archives: Education

Parental pride–and a lesson in resilience by a brilliant scientist

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Steve Caplan

When I answered my phone this past week, I found myself frequently saying, “Caplan’s Cabbies.” My partner being out of town leaves me ‘in the driver’s seat,’ literally and figuratively, regarding all of the extracurricular activities of my children. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, research, science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Science education: the generalist vs the specialist

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Steve Caplan

Well, here I am. I promised. No funny pictures and weird self-promotion campaigns. Just a blog about a topic that might interest some of us in the sciences. I was discussing the writing of an “Introduction” for a paper with … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, research, science | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Experiments, hypotheses, volcanoes, newtons and free downloads

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Steve Caplan

It’s been an exciting week of experiments: in the lab and at home for my son’s school science fair—and for the psychology of marketing. But I’ll come to that later. Let’s start at the annual school science fair. An elementary … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, research, science | 6 Comments

Out of control

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Steve Caplan

The tragic, premature and incomprehensible loss of so many young lives due to the horrific shootings recently in Connecticut are a blight on American society. Unfortunately, this is not a new thing, although the massacre of children so young may … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

First Aid and CPR for Hypochondriacs

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Steve Caplan

When I heard the announcement, I knew that it was the right thing to do. How could it not be? What could be of more value, functionally and educationally, than doing a first aid + CPR course with my 10 … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

An age-old question

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Steve Caplan

Let me start out by saying “!#%%$#@!!–I’ve been scooped!” It’s bad enough that it happens in science, but for a blog? Having watched a good deal of news on the idiot box recently–something that happens every 3-4 years in our … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, research, science | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Is science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) the big winner of the US elections?!

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Steve Caplan

Let me start off by offering my utmost congratulations to the statistician-bloggers who predicted the outcomes of the US elections with startling accuracy. The methodical and scientific approaches of using poll aggregates with statistical variables introduced in a wholly scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, humor, research, science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Educating children: balancing the need for instilling security with knowledge of evil

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Steve Caplan

As I’ve probably noted too many times in these pages, I am an addicted bookworm, and always have been. The pages of my books have always been escape (albeit often to realities more difficult than my own), and in modern … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Chair

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Steve Caplan

Over the past week I have assumed position as “chair” of my departmental graduate and admissions committee a task that I am excited to carry out, but simultaneouly dreading. Given that our department has the largest number of graduate students … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, research, science | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

A real education in astrobiology

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Steve Caplan

Another summer. More exciting and educational science camps! This year my 10 year old son is again partaking in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s “Aim for the Stars” series of summer camps, with exciting weekly topics ranging from robotics, … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, science | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment