This is a cute story about students and teachers talking about Pluto’s status change. There are a number of good points made in this story, such as, science changes all the time to deal with new discoveries, and facts dictate those changes, not emotion.
Fifty-five middle school students spent a recent Monday morning deciding whether mama should serve nine pizzas or nachos.
It wasn’t a lunch menu request.
It was the E.L Wright students’ chance to weigh in on the Aug. 24 announcement by the International Astronomical Union that the solar system’s smallest planet, Pluto, no longer met the requirements of a planet.
…
In Lexington 1, science and health coordinator Karen Stratton sent an e-mail to science teachers telling them how to handle the reclassification of Pluto.
“Powerful new telescopes are changing the way astronomers size up the mysteries of the solar system and beyond,†she wrote.
“So — adjust your curriculum, change your bulletin boards and models, update your teaching to change information presently in your science textbooks, AND let you students know that THIS IS SCIENCE.â€
…
Petty’s two classes viewed the vote to demote Pluto differently. Her second-period class was near unanimous in its support for making Pluto a dwarf planet. Petty said she was surprised by the overall sentimental tone the students from her first class shared. Nearly all defended Pluto’s classification as a planet.
“They looked at Pluto like some little child that has been kicked out of the family,†she said.
Science, she reminded students, is based on fact, not feelings.
“If you’re a lawyer, you don’t go into a courtroom and say (my client) should be declared innocent because he’s got a nice suit,†she said.
