Comments on: “Made Easy” Video Series

By: Dale

Dale — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:52:43 +0000

OK then!

By: Damian

Damian — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:56:07 +0000

For what it’s worth, I’ve watched all of these and think they’re excellent.

Dale, I can understand how you might rankle at the barbs against creationism included in these videos but I think that the science is well explained and that if it weren’t for the current atmosphere of anti-science being propagated by many of your fellow Christians those barbs wouldn’t have been included.

It’s education mixed with refutation and, like it or not, when the barbs are aimed at people who share similar beliefs to you it’ll hurt a little.

Thanks for the links Ian!

By: Dale

Dale — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:23:37 +0000

nah, they’re just immature and amateur and they actually take away from the usefulness of the videos.
You (or anyone) could have learned a lot from many, many other science docos. Looking at your original post, however, one could deduce that it may well have been the ‘direct’ addressal of “a bunch of creationist claims” that sparked your interest?

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:08:36 +0000

So I take it the “immature jabs” outweigh the significant science content of these videos for you? I personally learnt a lot for them so I will stand by my recommendation to check them out – take that how you will

By: Dale

Dale — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:33:29 +0000

Cheers Ian,
-the reason I critiqued your use of the videos was because your thoughts normally are not immature jabs like that of the video(s)…

-the reason I critiqued the idea of classroom use was because ‘Potholer 54′ (not you) suggested it…

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:11:08 +0000

Except what science does PP cover? Very little when you boil it down, most of it is philosophy and generalisations. We are talking about explaining science here. ME does just that, it explains how it works and shows examples. PP works via assertion with very little explanation, and it gets several facts dead wrong along the way. In terms of science content it is an easy win to the ME series.

And by some strange coincidence it seems that I offered these videos because of their science content, not their production value or suitability for children

By: Dale

Dale — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:08:20 +0000

‘privileged planet’ and ‘made easy’ comparison:

1. Production quality (unfair comparison given budgets)
P.P. great – M.E. not

2. Appropriateness for a science classroom
P.P. somewhat – M.E. not at all
(P.P. does hint at designer, but the anti jabs of M.E. are immature)

3. Presentation of Scientific Information
Both OK – hard to compare because of different topics.

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:56:27 +0000

No, the fact that they are not produced in a slick production facility for sale and distribution makes them amateur. However I’d argue science value of these videos is considerably higher than something like Privileged Planet which is why I posted them.

By: Dale

Dale — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:14:16 +0000

Yeah, that’s sorta my point.
Their angsty, over-polemic nature is what marks them out as amateur.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:48:09 +0000

I can accept that they are not ideal for the classroom, but then as I said before I’m not advocating them for that. Having said that I do not think you will find a better amateur production that explains these topics than this series of videos, and I would have thought (perhaps I am wrong) that most people would see beyond the polemic to the content.