TED Community » Ben Worthing

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• A reply on Conversation: Celebrity scientists

  Feb 16 2013: Bob
  I did draw a pretty hard line there (which was not my real intention). However, I do feel that often times current generations take the brunt of the abuse from older generations - I'm sure this is not unique to present times. While it is certainly not always a " my generation is better than yours" mentality, it does seem to be a prevalent feeling. This is where I was coming from when I said nostalgia may be to blame.
  Thanks
  Ben

• A reply on Conversation: Celebrity scientists

  Feb 16 2013: I think you are over generalizing today's generation. I would argue that past generations would be even more inept at naming nobel prize winners, or current scientists, in comparison to today. Regardless, though, I agree with your bigger question - how do we get kids more involved in science/math. I believe this is being done by non-professionals...What I mean here is that kids are being inspired by the reporters of current research, not by the researchers themselves. This should make sense. If current researchers were educating the general public then they would not be doing research work! Some examples of "reporters" would be sites such as Veritasium, Vsauce, CPG Grey, ViHart, etc. As someone who has been working with kids for the past decade, I hear more and more talk (and excitement) about sites like these. This also leads me to believe that today's children are much more informed about science and math than pretty much any past generations (anyone that disagrees may be blinded by nostalgia).