Chapter 1  Down the Rabbit Hole

I read Alice in Wonderland before I had kids and the book was pure nonsense to me.  I barely finished it and had no clue what was “smile without a cat”.  Later I saw my girl’s show with her fifth grade friends, I started see the fun in this book.  Now I’m thinking teaching math in eighth grade, I wonder if this book can become a videogame or a drama , where kids can come up and solve math questions base on the story.  Finishing the first chapter, the book is yelling at me “RIGHT ON!”

It is so love that Alice knows the size of earth and heard about latitude before she can really read books beyond pictures.  I felt she is the professor’s girl.  She is very well educated that she remember to be polite and keep herself safe.  And yet she is curious and take action before thinking, even it is in dream but it shows her personality.

It is amazing how the story is so unreal and yet logical and smooth, that we are willing to follow along.  It is quite comfortable in this world that nothing is normal.  Is it because the author has give the right pace for us to get use to his figurative world?  I wonder if he telled his girl this story and tuned it with all her questions so that he found the right pace.

Now about the math, physics and chemistry.  It is ok that rabbit can talk and have a watch.  But when she fall, she can fall so long and feel comfortable when she reach the ground.  Here physics is altered.  If we have a game platform, kids can play with g or even make g a curve, they might find the elevator curve.  They can test how long Alice fall and how deep she should travel in the tunnel.  I guess that would be pretty cool.

I bet have kids construct question from real life or constructed world like this would be so fun.  They will be much better with come up questions and find way to solve it, either by estimate or measure or what ever.

Then when she try to get into the little glass door and have to drink liquid and eat cake, that would be perfect to learn ratio.  If Alice shrink to 1/5 of her original height, how she feel about the table?  Like we feel about a building with how many layers?  That would be pretty cool to get kids dizzy and clear after.

Well, for chemistry, I lied.  I have no clue if any chemistry can be connected to the liquid and cake Alice found. Maybe our dear professor can help out.

I wonder how much math and physics we can pull out of this book!  What a treasure!

Discussion Questions

1. What age was Alice? (With reasonable speculation.) Please provide your analysis.

Age of Alice: first grader who has not quite ready for reading but know the size of earth and latitude.  She is a girl from the professor's house.

2. Which event or events appear not real to you while Alice was falling down the rabbit hole? Why wasn't Alice even surprised?

Fall for long time without hurting when reach the ground.  This is a great way to define a world with different physics law

Alice has got used to abnormal things such as rabbit talk and check on a watch.  So she is no longer surprised for strange things.  Actually later when she eats the cake, she is surprised that the cake seems a normal cake.

It is amazing that these are not real but readers are willing to follow along.

3. Please describe what Alice was like? Her characteristics?

Well educated and very polite

Know what is dangerous and yet move before think.  Even though it is in her dream but I can sense she is a quick action girl.