I used to think that being in sixth grade for 30+ years familiarized me with the content, not just of my own subject area, but of the other disciplines, too, and so I could basically teach anything. My recent experience in science has shown me that, while I wasn't wrong, I still have some things to learn.
Oh, I've got the pedagogy down, but to be quite honest, it's been decades since I thought about the weather in more than a how should I dress and will it impact my schedule? kind of a way, and I don't think I've really considered the Earth's atmosphere at all since I learned the basics back in my own middle school science class. That's all changed over the last two weeks, though.
Preparing for the layers of the atmosphere lesson had me scratching my head wondering where "space" begins and how far Katy Perry actually traveled. As a corollary, I spent some time today reading about those extreme skydivers who actually fell to Earth from the stratosphere, breaking the sound barrier along the way, only to land safely on the ground. Finally, the information that although the temperature in the thermosphere can reach thousands of degrees, it probably doesn't feel hot because the molecules are so far apart completely blew my mind.
As I write this, there is a gorgeous rainbow right outside the window, reminding me of all I have yet to learn—for example, the unusual weather pattern we are experiencing now, an "omega block" that has two fronts stalled over the U.S. and is delivering rain to about two-thirds of the country. How can anyone not like science?
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