As a teacher, I realized that the way to learn a subject is to try to teach it. You hope the students learn something. But if you really make an effort, YOU LEARN!!!

And extension of the above ideas could make it possible for Kids to LEARN IN A SIMILAR WAY.

Let Kids in "the better schools" develop SCIENCE KITS FOR GROWTH AREAS. (Yes, Hamlet, "growth" is a nice -- perhaps patronizing -- way of speaking about "poorer neighborhoods", where such equipment might not be so readily found. Ah bin thair. I wuz so pore, awl I hed wuz pores!)

In collecting the essential equipment and in writing instructions for using the equipment, Kids would ACTIVELY learn what they do not by PASSIVE LECTURING OR READING or being manipulated by a Lab teacher.

As with other such projects, The National Science Foundation did not turn down my request -- but simply IGNORED it.

As I've noted elsewhere, it's NOT THE MESSENGER, BUT THE MESSAGE. I realized that one or more persons at NSF decided to punish John Hays for heretical comments about what was to become "The New Math". (And one way is to ignore all communication from me.) But FAILURE OF NSF TO ENCOURAGE DEVELOPMENT OF A LIBRARY OF SCIENCE KITS OVER ALL THESE YEARS IS REJECTION OF THE MESSAGE, NOT THE MESSENGER!

I CHALLENGE you to promote this effort. THE BEST WAY FOR YOU TO LEARN IS TO TRY TO TEACH SOME ONE ELSE, which you do in writing a manual.