letters to my class

Dear Skywatchers,

How many moons does Jupiter have? It seems like a simple question with a simple answer. And, as of today, astronomers have discovered 72.

But astronomers discover more Jovian satellites every year and are pretty sure more exist. And that story of discovery is a lot more interesting than a mere number.

Over 2300 years ago, Chinese astronomer Gan De recorded observations of Ganymeade. About 400 years ago, Galileo used his 20x telescope to see Jupiter’s four largest moon. But as late as 1999, astronomers had only discovered 13. In recent years, astronomers have used high-tech measuring devices to discover the previously undiscoverable.

And this story of discovery will continue. So, expect someday to tell your grandkids about the good old days when Jupiter only had 72 moons.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Life is exactly like an avocado. It’s neither all the time good nor all the time bad; it just depends on the timing.

I’ve had incredible avocados–perfectly ripe; all green, no bruises; easily mashed into fluffy goodness by the tines of a fork. And I’ve had terrible avocados–full of brown spots; stringy; a flavor resembling the inside of an oil worker’s boot.

And the difference between a good avocado and a bad avocado is a day or two on the counter.

Also, like life, an avocado isn’t anything without a little lime and salt.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

Recent test results have shown that American students aren’t very good at telling fact from opinions. But don’t feel too bad–American adults are pretty bad at it too!

We live in a world that is so jam-packed full of information that it’s hard to make heads or tails of. When I was a kid waiting in line at the grocery store, there were only a few magazines and they were mostly about batboy. I knew those were made up.

But now there are a lot of magazines about how I can easily lose weight in 3 simple steps. And although I know those are also made up as well, I really, really want to believe them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

When you were babies and didn’t yet know the names for things, you could still put them in piles by their similarities. That’s because we know things by their properties. As we get older and more informed, we start to know things by their invisible properties.

Today in science we’ll continue to talk about substances by their invisible properties. Today it’s density.

Science reminds us of what poets have been telling us for centuries: there’s more than appears on the surface; the most important stuff is what we can’t see, touch, or hear. But if we tune ourselves in, if have a method, we can uncover the hidden truths.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

A few weeks ago my family bought a car, and I had to do a boatload of math. I suppose I didn’t have to do it. I could have just paid whatever price was on the sticker. But I wanted to make sure I got what I wanted at the price I wanted.

And that’s what real math is all about: we’re not just getting the right answer, we’re solving the problems that help us navigate the world.

Because never in my adult life has someone handed me a sheet of math problems and told me to solve them. In this complex world of ours, you have to make up your own math problems.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Students,

We each have different amounts of money in our wallets, different cars in our driveways, and different clothes in our closets, but everyone has the same number of hours in a day. And each of us is in control of what we pay attention to during those days.

If you put your attention on good things, you’ll be surprised by how much good is in the world; if you give attention to bad things, you’ll be disappointed and always believe that our world is bad and only getting worse.

But it’s your choice and it’s all in your power.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Scientists,

I like the story of Dmitri Mendeleev using card games as an inspiration for the periodic table. He figured out that elements are a lot like cards: They’re most interesting when we put them next other other items based on their properties.

And the most amazing thing about the periodic table is that by grouping the elements by their properties, Mendeleev started to see patterns. And he also started to see gaps. And based on those gaps, he was able to predict elements that scientists hadn’t even discovered yet!

And it was all because he liked to play a few hands of cards.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Inventors,

Yesterday when you made paper towers, I noticed the two teams with the tallest towers had very similar designs. But that shouldn’t surprise me. It’s a common occurrence throughout the history of science and technology: scientists and inventors often come up with the same idea independently.

Ideas don’t just come out of people’s minds; they grow out of specific times and and places. And if we pay close enough attention, we can tap into those ideas that are floating all around our heads. But, of course, it takes hard work, dedication, and a little luck.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Waiters,

Students often come up to me and say, “It’s only 38 days until my birthday.” And I’m amazed at how good you are at figuring out the number. But it’s not just that you’re good at math; you’ve spent a lot of time looking forward to it.

Waiting is hard. As you get older, it seems like it gets easier. But it doesn’t. You just learn to do it with a little more grace.

But my hope is that you never get too good at waiting and lose the ability to look forward to things. Because the world is too full of wonderful things to not always have some light you’re walking towards.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Scientists,

Science can be a dangerous thing. People like to keep things the way they are–beliefs, rules, the way things have been–and science can chip away at those things.

And science shows us that there’s a lot more going on than what we see with our own eyes. And that can be a scary thing. It sure seems like the sun moves around the Earth, and we have a lot of stories about how important humans are, so if someone comes along with a telescope and says the Earth actually moves around the sun, people get scared. And they just might put you under house arrest!

But the truth is worth it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck