I am not a Star Trek fan but I watched it as a kid because it showed up on television in the 1960's and I was like, seven years old. I was at a pretty impressionable age during the whole Space Race, and remember being intimidated by it. I wanted, from my earliest years, to grow up and fly planes, but I had a terrible aversion to the idea of leaving the atmosphere. Anyway, I watched the show occasionally. I liked Kirk more than Spock. That's as it should be. But; I did detect a flaw that really annoyed me. I offer a simple example.
In an episode from the first season, a transporter malfunction produces an evil version of Captain Kirk who runs around the ship making trouble that the good version of Captain Kirk must answer for. The crew, everyone but Spock, is bewildered, dismayed, horrified as they encounter the Kirk they cannot comprehend. Fine and good. It's season one, and the Enterprise is early in it's five year mission. The things that that crew ran into were spine-chilling. This was my first exposure to scifi and I didn't appreciate it much.
But; by season three, I'd have expected some adaptation. I was ten by then and I'd adapted. I was watching Creature Feature and lots of other things that I probably shouldn't have. It seem'd to me, it was time for a seasoned space crew to stop being shocked. Maybe scared. Maybe angry. But not surprised. You don't have to be a Vulcan to notice repetition. In a later episode when Abraham Lincoln shows up on the viewer, everyone on the deck looks startled. Except Spock. He seems pretty ho-hum. Just once I'd have liked Kirk to say, "Here we go again." *
That's the Principle. Here is one application.
It seems to me there is a great deal of repetition in life in general, and in the science classroom in particular. When I hear teachers complain about students who don't do their homework, or students who complain about teachers giving another test, or students and teachers complaining about a science experiment that didn't go "like it was supposed to," I remember the disbelieving look on Kirk's face. The complainers, it seems to me, are not just listing another example of something they dislike. The tone is so often one of shock. "I can't believe it!"
I think there is every reason that they should. Believe it, that is. You've seen this before. You'll see it again. In fact, you can put it on next month's calender. Perhaps if we anticipated what we know is coming, we could better prepare for it, and cope with it when it comes.
*A genuine Trek fan may know an example of precisely this. Please don't be offended by my limted expertise. I simply use this illustration because I've watched enough of the program to have seen what seems to me, to be, unreasonable reactions from a crackerjack crew.
In an episode from the first season, a transporter malfunction produces an evil version of Captain Kirk who runs around the ship making trouble that the good version of Captain Kirk must answer for. The crew, everyone but Spock, is bewildered, dismayed, horrified as they encounter the Kirk they cannot comprehend. Fine and good. It's season one, and the Enterprise is early in it's five year mission. The things that that crew ran into were spine-chilling. This was my first exposure to scifi and I didn't appreciate it much.
But; by season three, I'd have expected some adaptation. I was ten by then and I'd adapted. I was watching Creature Feature and lots of other things that I probably shouldn't have. It seem'd to me, it was time for a seasoned space crew to stop being shocked. Maybe scared. Maybe angry. But not surprised. You don't have to be a Vulcan to notice repetition. In a later episode when Abraham Lincoln shows up on the viewer, everyone on the deck looks startled. Except Spock. He seems pretty ho-hum. Just once I'd have liked Kirk to say, "Here we go again." *
That's the Principle. Here is one application.
It seems to me there is a great deal of repetition in life in general, and in the science classroom in particular. When I hear teachers complain about students who don't do their homework, or students who complain about teachers giving another test, or students and teachers complaining about a science experiment that didn't go "like it was supposed to," I remember the disbelieving look on Kirk's face. The complainers, it seems to me, are not just listing another example of something they dislike. The tone is so often one of shock. "I can't believe it!"
I think there is every reason that they should. Believe it, that is. You've seen this before. You'll see it again. In fact, you can put it on next month's calender. Perhaps if we anticipated what we know is coming, we could better prepare for it, and cope with it when it comes.
*A genuine Trek fan may know an example of precisely this. Please don't be offended by my limted expertise. I simply use this illustration because I've watched enough of the program to have seen what seems to me, to be, unreasonable reactions from a crackerjack crew.