Science, Einstein, and Stuff

If you read my blog very often, you probably know that I'm kind of a science nerd.  To be serious, I believe that science, art, and spirituality are all intertwined; exploring these ideas is one of my passions.  It seems odd and artificial to me that we separate "subjects" in school as if they have nothing to do with each other.  If I had not been an artist, I probably would have majored in some type of science, but it never occurred to me at the time that they may not be two separate things at all.

Last week, one of my students told me that science is not important, and that, furthermore, we "don't need to know anything about it."  This and other equally ridiculous things pop out of the mouths of eighth-graders on a regular basis.  The scary part is that it's not just my students (i.e. kids in special ed.), it's almost all of them, and their beliefs tend to closely echo those of their parents.  With this attitude so prevalent, it's no wonder our math and science scores are near the bottom compared to other industrialized nations.  

This really bothers me; I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  I'm not going to get into a big analysis on this blog, because, well...it's a blog.  But I've been thinking about ways to get across to the kids that EVERYTHING is science. With that in mind, I thought it would be nice to contemplate the elegant beauty of science.  

Image form Hubble Space Telescope

 

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." ~ Albert Einstein 

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree."   ~Albert Einstein

image from Hubble Space Telescope

"Imagination is more important than knowledge.  For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."  ~Albert Einstein 

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."  ~Albert Einstein

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."  ~Albert Einstein

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."  Einstein

I just can't get enough of this song/ video!  Enjoy!