STEM
Saturday, 8 April 2006
Maize: very indehiscent.
STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Wanna be a high school science teacher? Have the chops for it? Then you are in increasing demand—a demand greater than for college professors. Click here for discussion by Jo Anne Vasquez of the National Science Board.
Did I have a high school science teacher who strongly influenced me, which Vazquez says is common? Maybe Bill Campbell, the smoking non-smoking advocating biology teacher….
Trivia about Mason High: Malcolm X went there. The son of one of Malcolm’s buddies, who he mentioned in his autobiography, was in my class, but even so, we didn’t talk much about Malcolm. Sports was the strong suit at Mason, not history….
Today’s vocabulary: indehiscent. Means resistent to shattering, and is applied to changes in grains, e.g., wheat, in the process of domestication. Seed heads that retain the grain make it easier to harvest efficiently, yet the plant is less successful at reproducing itself because unharvested seeds would not disperse far from the parent.
Connection between STEM and “indehiscent”? Your call!