tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1369432396898204613.post7302197578006600599..comments2023-01-15T10:39:00.543+01:00Comments on Lighthouse in the Sky: Chemistry at homeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1369432396898204613.post-21935499449243496312010-04-01T23:12:28.491+02:002010-04-01T23:12:28.491+02:00Yes, I came across his story some time ago. It'...Yes, I came across his story some time ago. It's not clear, seen through the distorting lens of journalism, just how much he knew about what he was doing. But yes. teenagers often have plenty of time and, somehow, disposable income. Middle-class North American teenagers in particular also often live in houses with backyards, may have cars to drive to isolated locations, and probably have access to the Internet and/or decent libraries. So yes, they're a good candidate for amateur science. Ideally, we as a society would turn that impulse towards education — someone who likes the science that much should get an opportunity to do real science. Good science fairs do just that.<br /><br />An interesting population I only know a little about arises in Japan. As I understand it, under the system there, high school students take difficult exams to get into college. Many people don't pass the exams the first time around, and spend a year out of school studying to pass them the next time around. These "gap year" students at loose ends are, I think, a similar fount of energy, producing projects like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kvdq8cRNBM" rel="nofollow">this</a> (although I'm not sure this particular one was made by gap-year students).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00764119699293212898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1369432396898204613.post-86754302714278747602010-04-01T12:02:37.055+02:002010-04-01T12:02:37.055+02:00There's one other possibility:
The obsessive t...There's one other possibility:<br /><a href="http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html" rel="nofollow">The obsessive teenager</a>.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17409443003235885913noreply@blogger.com