FAQ
Some answers to students' most frequently asked questions...
There are at least two ways to interpret (and answer!) this question…
First, if you are asking if Dr. Merritt is an ‘average’ science teacher in a mathematical sense, then he would probably say he thinks he’s slightly above average. He’s been working with middle school science students for quite a number of years, so although he’s made lots of mistakes (and will likely make many more!) he feels as though he has learned from many of his biggest, most serious teaching mistakes.
Second, if you are asking if Dr. Merritt is an unkind, spiteful, and/or unfair science teacher, then of course he would say, “NO, NEVER!” When asked, he has described himself as, “Strict, but friendly,” “Demanding, but caring,” “Rigorous, but forgiving,” and “Meticulous, but silly.” Some students even say they think he’s slightly “funny.” In the end, however, you must decide these things for yourself.
Really old (seriously). He was born in 1970, so you do the math. But know this: He appreciates it if you tell him that he looks much younger than he really is. 😉
He was born in the USA, in the State of Washington, which is to the north of California and Oregon, on the border of Canada [think: Seattle]. Although he lived in San Francisco when he was young (that’s where both of his parents and his younger brother were born), his family moved to Michigan just before he turned 5-years-old. He definitely considers himself a “Michigander” on account of the fact that most of his formative youth and adult years were spent living and/or working there. Dr. Merritt has now made his home in Lugano, Switzerland for 15 years (1998-2000, 2009-2022).
Dr. Merritt is not a medical doctor. Although he is trained in CPR and First Aid, he isn’t qualified do brain, heart, liver, knee, or any other kind of surgery on you. Surgical doctors–and other types of medical doctors–are often called “M.D.s,” which stands for doctor of medicine or medical doctor. Dr. Merritt is a “Ph.D.,” which is a doctor of philosophy. His general area of expertise isn’t the human body, it’s the culturally-specific practices we most frequently call “teaching” and “learning.”
One way to define real (or professional) scientists is as those who typically tend to make their living mainly from doing scientific research. While it’s true that many scientists also engage in other science-related activities such as teaching and outreach/extension, but also managing, mentoring and inventing, most professional scientists spend much of their working day(s) engaged in research. Nowadays, Dr. Merritt makes his living primarily from teaching rather than engaging in research. Although he has done scientific research in the past–you can see some of the scientific research projects he’s worked on HERE, as well as some of the scientific articles he’s helped write HERE–scientific research has never been his primary means of making a living. When Dr. Merritt does research nowadays, he’s mostly doing educational rather than scientific research.
Luckily for you, there are two…
There is Dr. Brett Merritt, the middle school science teacher (and creator of this website), and then there is Dr. Kelly Zacha Merritt, who is not only a middle school English & EAL teacher, but also a co-developer of some of the MS science classes (and yes, they have been a husband-and-wife team for almost 25 years).
That’s a really good question with a very long, and semi-interesting, answer. Instead of answering it here, however, Dr. Merritt suggests you invite him to eat lunch with you at school, at which time he promises to tell you this tall tale. Until then, however, you can discover a little bit more about Dr. Merritt’s professional journey on the ABOUT page.
Indeed, he did. He started working on it in 2011 and he’s been developing and revising it every year since. As of August 2022, it had received over 100,000 views during its lifetime and is now (rather surprisingly) the first website returned on Google if/when you search for the phrase “science sediment.”