A Positive Reaction from Reality Colliding with Misconception
By David A. Atkinson This title may have a “Say What?” nature, but it squares with the impressions that follow. People of a certain age remember Art Linkletter achieving television immortality through a popular segment titled “Kids Say The Darnedest Things.” A modern variation is: “Surprising Things You Learn By Quizzing College Students.” They too give delightfully candid answers to unanticipated questions. Shippensburg University hosts an annual presentation of student research projects called Minds@Work, celebrating research, scholarship, and creativity. The collection of projects is drawn from he Colleges of Arts and Science, Business, and Education and Human Services. An impressive array, especially to someone marginally literate in hard sciences. I must confess my science courses in high school were enough to satisfy curiosity. My lone close encounter with a science course at SU was called Man’s Atmospheric Environment, which was edifying but not trajectory altering. Thus, the current depth of research and the astounding capabilities of the equipment students work on are intriguing. In this year’s session, one display room was filled with chemistry and biology projects. While viewing the poster boards and asking questions about the projects, I noticed nearly …