Darwinian Whimsy and other  ideas about learning science

Welcome to the Poedeutics Blog.  I've chosen a word of my own invention as its title.  It's a neologism formed from "poetry" and "propaedeutics."  The first word is familiar to everyone; the second is philosophy jargon referring to the study of principles important for understanding a particular branch of knowledge, especially at an introductory level.  My first researches took me into deep conversation with children about time, energy, and matter--often abetted by their expressive language.  My Cornell background taught me to value the organization of thinking in a field of study in terms of careful relationships among key concepts--usefully illustrated as a "concept map." For two decades I kept a folder labeled Poedeutics in my computer with essays and articles in progress anchored to my scholarly roots.

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Poedeutics became my code name for these unpublished writings.  With this blog I'm going public with my attempt to define a branch of educational studies:

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Poedeutics:  "the study of imaginative imagery and fundamental principles that promote insights into a field of inquiry, especially for novices."

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Watch this blog for stories, rants, and projects that give meaning to the idea that governs my thinking about teaching and learning science.