Science Labs: Beyond Isolationism

Separated from the curriculum, the science lab often has been considered a failure. Boston is trying to put them back together.

Boston

Picture a jeweler at work. Magnifier in hand, he examines a stone, studying the way light dances off it. He’s trying to determine whether it’s a diamond or merely cut glass, of engagement-ring quality or thrift-store inferiority. How, the science teacher asks his class, can he tell?

Maybe the jeweler can tell by the stone’s weight, one student suggests. Or its size, another says.

But let’s assume that stone and another are of equal weight and size, the teacher responds. What can the jeweler determine from their appearance when they’re...