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You Had to Be There: How Good Science is Like Great Comedy

Bill Nye – who turns 58 today – says teaching science needs to be a hands-on experience in order for it to be really effective. Like the funniest moments in life, you might say, you had to be there.

There are some moments in life – in fact, according to Steve Martin, the funniest moments in life – when it becomes nearly impossible to share the experience with someone who wasn’t there. They wouldn’t get how funny the moment was, and therefore, you say, “You had to be there.”

What does this have to do with science education? According to Bill Nye, aka, “the Science Guy,” teaching science needs to be a hands-on experience in order for it to be really effective. You had to be there.

Today, we would like to wish Bill Nye a happy birthday, and also share this video in which we ask the Nye how science education is like comedy – a question he says he has never been asked before. Really? Is he joking?

Watch the video here:

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

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