By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 One of my temptations as a science classroom teacher was to devote unequal time to curricular topics for which I had a special fondness. The district…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 When the restaurant waitress inquires if we would care to have something to drink, I sometimes reply, “I’ll just have plain water.” My reply belies the…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 Charles Dickens is credited with initially offering the proverb “Tis love that makes the world go round.” In a poetic sense this may be true. A…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 By one count there are over 700 references to water in the Bible. The first mention, Genesis 1:2, describes the water-covered early earth, swathed in darkness,…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 Those who understand weather events to the point of being able to explain them are far more likely to enjoy those events. This statement also applies…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 Some of the most familiar and plentiful things in our experience are also some of the most underappreciated. Water falls into that category. The surface of…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 Driving along Interstate 80 on the return trip to the Midwest from my brother’s funeral services, a Christian Aid Ministries roadside billboard stood out starkly: “After…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 On November 17, 2011 I posted “System Breakdown,” detailing the idea that the breakdown of even one of the many hundreds of systems of our body…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 Historical Old Testament figure Job received fascinating lessons in meteorology from the youthful Elihu in Job 36-37. The lessons followed Elihu’s more serious commentary in earlier…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2012 As a science educator I was called upon, to the best of my ability, to make my subject matter accessible and interesting, even fascinating. Because of…