It should be designed for the 95% of students who are not going to be scientists so that they become better citizens and we aren't just flooded by piles of misguided people when it comes to funding public policy. Instead we want people to have the basic literacy to know that say, MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution) is wildly unsound.
It should be seen as a society-wide improvement project like the declination of smoking or how people are exercising more and eating healthier then half a century ago.
This is the same kind of project.
People should know "What is science? What do people who do it do? If someone claims to do science, how can I know if their claims are legitimate? What are the red flags? If I'm presented with a scientific looking document, what questions should I ask?"
They should know it's a self-correcting system and not a belief tribe.
Example: My friend sent me this anti-vax report a few years ago showing how children who didn't get vaccinated had a lower reported occurrence of a number of diseases. I mean obviously - the parents who distrust clinicians aren't going to get their child diagnosed. Of course the reported occurrence is lower. Measurement bias.
That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. A graph that was so convincing to my friend shouldn't have been. They should have been inculcated from an early age to ask such questions and shouldn't have fallen for such bad science.
There's a bunch of subjects we can probably slack on with the general public without dire consequences. Adults can be ignorant on say american literature, chemistry, or ancient history without much affect. Core scientific literacy, however, is proving to be one of the important ones.
If it's for 95% if students who aren't interested in being scientists, then it shouldn't be an extracurricular science fair, but a part (maybe a big part) of the regular curriculum in science class. Science fairs are for the science enthusiasts, I think.
Yep, this should be mandatory. The "science nerds" can still nerd out on more complex topics, but the "normies" should be required to prove a basic level of scientific literacy.
It's a different targeting. The article is great in teaching modern empirical methods
However the problem lies in the lesson of new math - which was an effort to teach actual mathematician mathematics starting in elementary school as opposed to the number manipulating arithmetic that most people need.
As a result only future mathematicians really understood it and most people were baffled by it.
I like the sentiment but we have to acknowledge that our favorite thing in the world, whatever it is, is simply unapproachable to others
I run into this problem constantly with my software efforts. I think my stuff is obvious but everybody else thinks it's too arcane and obscure.
To reference a deep cut from 1945, Norman Corwin, Variety magazine, article "Radio not in a class by itself"
"[Radio] rises no higher and sinks no lower than the society which produces it." A few paragraphs later, "I believe people get the kind of radio, or pictures, or theater, or press they deserve... The gist of what I am saying is that the radio of this country cannot be considered apart from the general culture... If the American people support soap operas and tolerate singing commercials; if they pay higher honor to Gildersleeve than to Beethoven, then it is not primarily the job of radio to elevate their tastes."
And so with education - we can only build from the legos in the bucket.
