What I Learned Today #3 (Pluto and Plasma - Admitting you're wrong)

They Might Be Giants recently released a CD/DVD called Here Comes Science (the third in their "Here comes..." series). My wife and I have loved this band since college, and now our two children have become huge fans as well. For a long time, they have performed a great song called "Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)". My family loves singing along to this oddly catchy ode to the sun's atomic properties.

However, with the release of this new disc, the band has issued a retraction (in a manner of speaking). While the original sun song is still present, there is now an additional song called "Why Does The Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)" that follows it immediately. The second song updates the scientific facts, discussing the nature of the fourth state of matter (plasma), and tells the listener in its lyrics to ignore what you learned in the previous song. Sample lyric: "Forget that song/They got it wrong/That thesis has been rendered invalid" Check out this link for a more detailed explanation.

In addition, they've recorded a great song that discusses the true nature of our solar system, indicating Pluto's new status along with other named dwarf planets. Taken with the songs about the sun, these choices by They Might Be Giants have led me to what I've learned today as a teacher: When you have taught something wrong, don't just admit that you're wrong; start to make things right.

As a teacher, I have certainly taught things wrong or provided inaccurate information before. Many times, I don't figure this out until after my work with those students is done (usually as I prepare the material again the next year), but I often catch my mistake while I'm still working with the students. It is at that moment that I need to make the choice: Will I ignore the mistake, admit to the mistake, or work to fix the mistake? Each choice holds its own merits, but the lesson from this children's album points to best practices in education, namely:

What to do when you make a mistake (courtesy of They Might Be Giants):

1) Admit to the mistake immediately. This may involve the students losing an illustion that we are infallible, but that can actually lead to a better situation in a classroom. Students who see teachers that are willing to admit mistakes become more likely to admit their own mistakes.

2) Explain why the mistake was made. Rather than just saying, "Forget that, it's wrong!", point out what was wrong about the previous information and why people might have believed that at the time.

3) Correct the mistake by replacing the wrong ideas with the right ones. Too often, we ask kids to disregard information that we taught them, but it's still lodged in their memories (and it will often emerge inconveniently after we thought they knew it was wrong). By replacing "wrong" information with "right" information, we won't just address the issue; we'll make sure that it doesn't come back.

So, this fall, I am going back to school prepared to admit my mistakes and to help my class learn from my mistakes (as I learn from them myself). However, I wonder how many students around the world will be taught that there are 9 planets in our solar system, revolving around a nuclear reactor of a sun, just because it's easier to teach that (and use the "My very educated mother..." phrase) than to update our knowledge.

Yes, TV can teach you something!

In the simulated classroom on the set of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader", a contestant tonight made the exact same error that dozens of my students have habitually made throughout the years - she didn't read the question! I'm not a normal watcher of the show (though my students constantly beg me to throw my hat in the ring), but I had it on in the background as I painted a living room tonight. (As an aside, I tend to use home improvement as my means to refresh in the first weeks of summer).

Anyway, I was painting away and listening to the first contestant (the hot-dog eating champion of the world) do quite well but not know the name of the person who developed the immunization for small pox. I didn't know it either - Edward Jenner for those keeping track - and realized that I, too, would have lost on that question. There was enough time in the hour for another contestant, and she breezed through the first couple questions. Then, she chose a math category (pointing out that she's pretty good at math), listened to the question, said, "This is like taking candy from a baby", and proceeded to give the wrong answer. The question was: if four shelves out of five are filled with six dolls each, and then the final shelf holds only three dolls, how many total dolls are there? The contestant firmly and confidently answered "nine", at which point Jeff Foxworthy (the host) took on his best teacher voice and asked her to read the question out loud - something I've done thousands of times myself. She immediately found her error, then queasily withstood the next couple moments as she realized that she had just lost $25,000 for her mistake.

I might not watch this game show again any time soon, but I saw something there tonight that made me think about my own practices with my students. So many times they read too quickly and are confident about what ends up being the wrong response. The problem is not, of course, their math abilities, but rather the ability to understand what a question means. It's a tricky thing to teach - self-critique, that is - but it is essential. I will definitely be using this example in the fall, not as a way to bring an old teacher saying to life, but rather as a means to start examining the situations in which a person should allow themselves doubt, even when confidence abounds. We might not all lose $25,000 on the deal, but it's a valuable lesson nonetheless!