Infusion Tips

The late Dick Brinckerhoff suggested the following criteria for ways to infuse societal topics into our science courses: items should be a) challenging, b) relevant, c) brief, and d) require a value judgment. Consider the following:

The 22 April 1999 issue of The New York Times describes a new parking meter that senses when a car leaves and resets itself to zero, thus depriving a second motorist from using the unexpired time without charge. Although the new "smart" parking meter also allowed an additional five-minute grace period to the benefit of the paying motorist, many motorists have complained. As a parking superintendent in Miami Beach is quoted, "We explained that they were getting five minutes free, but they wanted somebody else's half-hour." Consequently, some municipalities buying the "smart" meters are disabling the resetting feature. One smart meter manufacturer is also developing a feature by which motorists will feed a smart parking meter with a card and pay for only the actual time used by reinserting the card before driving away. As a motorist, which system would you prefer? If you were a member of a municipal council, how would you feel?

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