Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Another physicist, Richard Feynman, took a sabbatical to study biology, and he was mystified about the way that the biologists placed such a high value on memorizing categories of things that could be easily looked up in a reference.
My idea is to create a collection of stamps to populate the "Tree of Life": One representative stamp for each category of living thing, beginning at the highest level, and working down, as many levels as I can, with no duplicate stamps in the tree.
When I was in school, the top level category was the "kingdom" and there were 5 of them. Now biologists have found 2 more kingdoms, and created a higher level called the "empire".
Has anyone tried a project like this, or heard of anyone doing something similar? I think I will be able to get decent coverage within the animal kingdom, particularly mammals and birds, and within the plants. The single-cell organisms will probably end up being pretty sparsely filled.
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"...the biologists placed such a high value on memorizing categories of things that could be easily looked up in a reference."
I believe he was paraphrasing Einstein who said decades earlier “Never memorize something that you can look up.”
I think that a "Tree of Life" collection design is great idea!
Don
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01:12:11pm
As to memorizing... I'm an ex-high school math teacher of 34 years. I am of the opinion that memorizing is a lost art. Most of you probably think that's a good thing, but I think that there is a part of our brain that benefits from a bit of memorizing and rote learning. And... if you don't use it you lose it. I know it sounds like a nerdy thing to do, but I ran a math club in high school. I used to call it a place for "Asian kids to go and play". I don't mean that as a racist comment, it's a statement of fact. They tended, because of their educational background, to be very good at math and other areas that involved remembering things - like formulas (I know - formulae) and I encouraged them to learn shortcuts for solving math problems and know what the first hundred prime numbers were. We won a whole bunch of city contests and several provincial Math League titles, so I have seen results from this type of learning. Plus, the kids, since they were successful, saw the usefulness of learning this way. To sum it up - a certain amount of memorizing is good for you!!!
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If someone shouts "9 times 6" in a roomful of retirees everyone will automatically.shout out "54".
My husband said while teaching an introduction to building materials course to college freshman at Utica College back in 90's he would explain a board foot was a piece of lumber 1 inch by 12 inches by one foot long. He then asked "How many board feet in a 2X6 4 feet long". Most students took out their calculator to do the math,,,,,
Memorization is useful.
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03:33:20pm
Education has changed for the worse so much in the last 20+ years that it's embarrassing! No spelling, no writing, no grammar, no math skills, no history, no geography, etc.! You ask a kid or young adult almost anything and they have to haul out their phone to get an answer. And since they probably can't spell well enough to input the question, well, you take it from there!!
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The Tree of Life collection sounds interesting.
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So, it's been about a year. How is your Tree of Life coming? Is there something you never thought you'd find but have?
Texas Monique
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While not really a tree of life, Lena Struwe at Rutgers has put together a taxonomically arranged collection of floral stamps from the family she specializes in (Gentianaceae). I've always thought it would be fun to put together a similar collection for my wife (who works on the forget-me-not family).
Gentianaceae
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I've decided to start a new collection inspired by a quote I like (which you may have seen in rrraphy's footer message on the discussion board here): "All science is either physics or stamp collecting" (Ernest Rutherford). I think Mr. Rutherford, who was a physicist, intended this as an insult to biologist who collect and categorize organisms.
Another physicist, Richard Feynman, took a sabbatical to study biology, and he was mystified about the way that the biologists placed such a high value on memorizing categories of things that could be easily looked up in a reference.
My idea is to create a collection of stamps to populate the "Tree of Life": One representative stamp for each category of living thing, beginning at the highest level, and working down, as many levels as I can, with no duplicate stamps in the tree.
When I was in school, the top level category was the "kingdom" and there were 5 of them. Now biologists have found 2 more kingdoms, and created a higher level called the "empire".
Has anyone tried a project like this, or heard of anyone doing something similar? I think I will be able to get decent coverage within the animal kingdom, particularly mammals and birds, and within the plants. The single-cell organisms will probably end up being pretty sparsely filled.
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re: Tree of Life Collection
"...the biologists placed such a high value on memorizing categories of things that could be easily looked up in a reference."
I believe he was paraphrasing Einstein who said decades earlier “Never memorize something that you can look up.”
I think that a "Tree of Life" collection design is great idea!
Don
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this post
This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
08 Dec 2020
01:12:11pm
re: Tree of Life Collection
As to memorizing... I'm an ex-high school math teacher of 34 years. I am of the opinion that memorizing is a lost art. Most of you probably think that's a good thing, but I think that there is a part of our brain that benefits from a bit of memorizing and rote learning. And... if you don't use it you lose it. I know it sounds like a nerdy thing to do, but I ran a math club in high school. I used to call it a place for "Asian kids to go and play". I don't mean that as a racist comment, it's a statement of fact. They tended, because of their educational background, to be very good at math and other areas that involved remembering things - like formulas (I know - formulae) and I encouraged them to learn shortcuts for solving math problems and know what the first hundred prime numbers were. We won a whole bunch of city contests and several provincial Math League titles, so I have seen results from this type of learning. Plus, the kids, since they were successful, saw the usefulness of learning this way. To sum it up - a certain amount of memorizing is good for you!!!
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02:49:18pm
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re: Tree of Life Collection
If someone shouts "9 times 6" in a roomful of retirees everyone will automatically.shout out "54".
My husband said while teaching an introduction to building materials course to college freshman at Utica College back in 90's he would explain a board foot was a piece of lumber 1 inch by 12 inches by one foot long. He then asked "How many board feet in a 2X6 4 feet long". Most students took out their calculator to do the math,,,,,
Memorization is useful.
Login to Like
this post
This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
08 Dec 2020
03:33:20pm
re: Tree of Life Collection
Education has changed for the worse so much in the last 20+ years that it's embarrassing! No spelling, no writing, no grammar, no math skills, no history, no geography, etc.! You ask a kid or young adult almost anything and they have to haul out their phone to get an answer. And since they probably can't spell well enough to input the question, well, you take it from there!!
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re: Tree of Life Collection
The Tree of Life collection sounds interesting.
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re: Tree of Life Collection
So, it's been about a year. How is your Tree of Life coming? Is there something you never thought you'd find but have?
Texas Monique
Login to Like
this post
re: Tree of Life Collection
While not really a tree of life, Lena Struwe at Rutgers has put together a taxonomically arranged collection of floral stamps from the family she specializes in (Gentianaceae). I've always thought it would be fun to put together a similar collection for my wife (who works on the forget-me-not family).
Gentianaceae
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