Comments
4 CommentsDisclaimer: I didn't get my education in the US (until I came here for graduate school), but this can be generalized to science education across the world.
What I remember about the education I got was that I made me curious about things, how they worked. I didn't believe anything at face value, but quickly appreciated who the greats were and the importance of the scientific method. Given what I read in the news today and the seeming lack of knowledge and understanding of science, at least in the US, what do you think is required to make children appreciate science, to make them ask questions?
Nuthatch
Written Jan. 15, 2007 / Report /
I don't think the scientific method is introduced early enough. If kids (and adults!) understood logic, hypothesis testing, and cause and effect, science would have a much more "Wow" power, I think.
Kamigoroshi
Written Jan. 15, 2007 / Report /
As long as creationism and intelligent design stays OUT of schools, I consider that a good thing. It's the fact that people in the higher ups are demanding things like this to be placed in schools because it doesn't "paint the truth of things" is a slap to the standard of scientific education.
Written Jan. 15, 2007 / Edit / Report /
Science in this country, for the majority doesn't pay. Not withstanding the great aspirations of many to become renown in a particular area of research the average scientist in most fields is not compensated properly for the amount of work it takes. Remember this is the land of consumer extremis.
There are a large number of foreign Ph.Ds who will work for less and are perfectly suitable for the positions as well.
I found my education in science to be pretty sound, it just didn't interest me. I do think that the quality of the base education in science in this country has fallen, maybe in some cases due to inclusion in the elementary grades - in some states. In other words in some disciplines, mainly language and math, the students are leveled according to their ability but science along with a generalized social studies program and art and all that are often limped into one big everyone take the same level class, at least until round about middle school. This inclusion seemed like a great idea until it turned out a lot of the kids who may have had potential in something like science were bored to death and learning nothing. By the time they reached middle school they were far behind their potential and had lost interest.
mndoci
Written Jan. 16, 2007 / Report /
One doesn't have to study science to become a scientist.
It's not about getting PhDs (and in my experience foreign PhDs don't work for less, but it is possible), but about appreciating and understanding science. At least in my book, a sound scientific education teaches you how to analyze problems of all kinds. My favorite subjects in middle school were physics and history, so its not like one precludes the other.
Maybe I am old and cranky, but I do think that kids today don't want to work hard, and no one said science was easy. So given that, I think there is a huge challenge in front of our educators. The secret lies in catching them young. If you learn to appreciate science when you are six or seven, chances are you will appreciate it later.