Blue is a Color

In 8th grade, the students take physical science. It's the end of the year, so it's time for the astronomy unit. The classes had questions dealing with the solar system.

As I made a circuit of the room, I noticed that one boy hadn't started working on his questions. At least he had his science notebook out, but it was open to a page with diagrams of atoms. I stood over him and I told him to get started. He needed to get out of the chemistry section and get to a page where he could do the assignment.

"This is my science notebook."

I told him I knew that. I needed him to open to a page in the astronomy section.

Again, he informed me that he had his science notebook. We did our "Who's on First" a couple more times before I realized what the problem was. His tablemates realized it at about the same time I did. First I had to shush them, as they weren't explaining things any better than I was. I searched for a way to explain.

"You are saying 'color' while I am saying 'blue'."

Finally, I got through to him. At my insistence, he flipped through his notebook and he found a different page. I stood over him to make sure he started writing something, and then I moved on to students who had questions about the assignment. (Questions that involved gravity. Cool!)

Later, I walked past his desk again. His notebook was still open...to the page with the atom diagrams. Sigh.