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May 12, 2009 00:56

Neil deGrasse Tyson on learning:

G: And so, with Pluto gone, what is your new preferred mnemonic device for the planets?

NDT: I don’t do mnemonic devices.

G: Because you know the planets already?

NDT: No, because I think it is a pointless exercise containing no scientific value at all, or pedagogical value.

G: Because the kids should just learn the names of the planets?

NDT: Because it’s just memorizing names rather than understanding what’s going on in the solar system. And I feel strongly about that, and whole swaths of the book are given to this discussion.

G: How would you tell people to remember the names of the planets?

NDT: I wouldn’t. I say it doesn’t matter. As long as you know that there are some big giant ones out there and you can cite a couple of them, Jupiter and Saturn, whatever. But so many of the things have names. There are 10,000 asteroids that have names. Nobody’s trying to remember those.


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