-schools emphasize a kind of artificially trying to draw students into the STEM fields
-artificial generating interest with the background motivation having to do with these will be things that they will need for their jobs
-this leads to losing the sense of wonder, and the sense of awe that should be there in science investigations
-science needs to be addressed like poetry because in science this background idea that it is necessary now in the 21st century global economy which serves to dry out the subject
Study of the natural sciences:
-science fits into a classical model of education
-classical education:
Dr. Terence Moore, principal of the Atlanta Classical Academy, wrote an essay entitled “A Classical Education for Modern Times.”
“Language and literature, history and government, mathematics and the sciences, music and art in a coherent and orderly program.”
***can access on Charter School Initiative on the Hillsdale College website
***Hillsdale: education in the traditional arts but translated into K-12 context
4 distinctive characteristics of classical education: framework:
1-that it values knowledge for its own sake
2-upholds the standards of correctness, logic, beauty, weightiness, and truth intrinsic to the liberal arts
3-demand’s moral virtue of its adherents
4-prepares human beings to assume their places as responsible citizens in the political order
Why do we include the natural sciences as part of a classical education?
-can we justify teaching science in this context
-can teaching science enrich or contribute to the goals of the classical academy
How scientific knowledge is generally viewed within our culture, and also within education:
-culture: impression that scientific knowledge is valued by the public
-personal: respect knowledge gained by scientific investigation
Pew Research Center entitled “Public and Scientist’s views on Science and Society”
-shows science is generally esteemed, respected, and appreciated by the public
-people do disagree with specific scientific findings but appreciate the sciences
-scientific knowledge is associated with objectivity
-people tend to think of scientific truth claims as having an objective nature
-people see other areas of being opinion-based
-sciences based in facts and objectivity
sciences are seen as a valid distinction over other subjects
-the esteem of sciences is there is a close association in people’s mind between scientific knowledge and the development of life improving technologies
-the idea that science is very useful to the society
K-12 education:
-do you think scientific knowledge is valued in education
-policy level: improving standards in education, science is included as paramount importance
-there is a high value placed on scientific literacy for students, more so than on cultural literacy
-high importance of getting the so-called STEM fields right
-STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education
-latin, art, music, have to fight for a kind of respect or be completely removed from the conversation
-STEM is being pushed as critically important in education
-the main reason STEM is pushed is jobs
-Ex. Home page: STEM Education Coalition
-U.S. are functioning as a STEM workforce pipeline
“The central mission of the STEM education coalition is to inform federal and state policymakers on the critical role that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM, education plays in US competitiveness and future economic prosperity,”
-there is a checklist on their website
1-STEM education must be elevated as a national priority
2-our nation’s future economic prosperity is closely linked with student success in the STEM fields
3-the US must expand the capacity and diversity of the STEM workforce pipeline
Ex. whitehouse.gov has a report written by the National Science and Technology Council Committee on STEM Education
-it is a five-year strategic plan for federal STEM education
-May 2013 was distributed to Congress to fund STEM education
-1st reason critical reason to invest
“The jobs of the future are STEM jobs. THe demand for professionals in STEM fields is projected to outpace the supply of trained workers and professionals. Additionally, STEM competencies are increasingly required for workers both within and outside specific STEM occupations.”
How effective it is for the government to centrally plan science education in America?
-Is there a crisis of a shortage of workers in the STEM fields?
-Article by Robert Charette, IEEE Spectrum website, “The STEM Crisis is a Myth.”
-Politicians speak often about the connection between Stem education and jobs in the global economy
-main idea is the technical knowledge holds the key to economic progress so why the primary reason behind the emphasis on the STEM fields
-this is a utilitarian approach to push these subjects because we think they will be useful in an economic kind of a sense
***this utilitarian approach fails our children, and often leads actually to a loss of interest by students in math and science
-education is much more, much richer and deeper, than just preparing students to work in the global economy
How should we study science?
-acquisition of so much knowledge and so much power
-culture: there is a suspicion of science based perceived conflicts with religious or political views
-so today, there is distrust of science, based on the fear that as the sphere of scientific knowledge increases, the spheres of religious or political views shrink
-today, there are thoughts that science is inherently antithetical to religious thought
-polar opposite response to science that validates the first view which is material reductionism or scientism
-scientism: (New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought)
“The view that the characteristic inductive methods of the natural sciences are the only source of genuine factual knowledge, and in particular that they alone can yield true knowledge about man and society.”
-idea that people are so overwhelmed by the success of science that they go on to declare that science is the only valid way of knowing
-neither are appropriate so our response to science:
“First, we should have respect and a sense of awe at the knowledge that has been gained. We are right to be impressed, and even overwhelmed, by how well we have come to know our universe in this going–it’s not complete understanding, but in this ongoing project, a lot of progress has been made. But should be tempered with an understanding of the limits of science.”
-it is a mistake to declare that it’s the only valid way of knowing
-Book, The Faith of Scientists in Their Own Words, edited by Nancy Frankenberry
Quote by John Polkinghorne:
“Although we are rightly impressed by the many things that science can account for satisfactorily, we should also recognize that this great success has been purchased by a degree of modesty of ambition. Science limits itself to considering only certain kinds of experience.”
-we need to understand that science is a self-limiting enterprise, does not seek to answer all questions, and is limited to the study of physical phenomena
Why should we study science (include it in our educational program)?
-a central fact is that science is a tremendously successful enterprise
-systematic investigation of the natural world over the past 300 years has yielded a staggering amount of understanding of the way nature works and control over nature
-science is an important part of the human account of reality
-science shouldn’t elevate it so high as to push away the other ways of knowing
-in education we should be pointing children towards what is good, true, and beautiful
-understanding the natural world is important but not exhaustive
-study science because it contributes to understanding ourselves, our surroundings
-science addresses deep questions asked by humans, many asked in antiquity
Ex. What is the nature of light?
Ex. What is the nature of magnetism?
Ex. What is the nature of the heavenly bodies?
Ex. What is the nature of disease?
-start looking at the big scientific questions, at times they are difficult questions to solve
-investigating questions
-Chapter from book, The Polkinghorne Reader, selection of writings from the physicist and Anglican priest John Polkinghorne, “The Nature of Science.”
-Polkinghorne argues that the actual practice of science is more subtle, and more complex, and more interesting than simplified account of the scientific method that’s typically presented
-he states the critical role of personal judgement in the actual practice of science
-the criteria that we use to judge between competing theories involving the role of making personal judgments
-personal judgments by experts exercised with caution and submitted to the community
-science is a personal endeavor by humans
-scientists want to discover that the world is
-he criticizes the views of positivism and idealism
Critical Realism:
“Science is not different in kind from other kinds of human understanding involving evaluation by the knower, but only different in degree.”
***science is an intellectual cousin of religion
“Science and theology are both concerned with the search for truth. In consequence, they compliment each other, rather rather than contract one another.”
-the two disciplines focus on different dimensions but they share a common conviction that there is truth to be sought.”
-he is speaking of science and religion
-but, this can be said about science and humanities
-both important approaches to seeking what is true, but from different angles/dimensions of truth
-when put together gives a fuller picture and just different ways of knowing
-science should be included in a classical curriculum
-science seeks what is true about the world
-it leads to understanding the world
***learning about science will be part of what elevates the students’ minds toward self-government, and the ability to participate in democracy
-learning the fundamental ideas of science, and looking at the historical development of science
-students can thoughtfully consider awesome scientific issues that the public tends to not do very well with
-Ex. Evolution or global climate change or the safety of vaccines, or the safety of genetically modified foods, or other issues that face our society
What should science the science program look like?
What are the hallmarks of science in classical education?
-1st classical education was knowledge for its own sake
-1st characteristic of science education is scientific knowledge for its own sake
-we study science because it answers questions that we’re curious about and seeks what is true
-2nd is analogous to having to do with high standards so approach of excellence and rigor within all of the areas
-the idea is high standards such as attention to detail, careful work, careful observations, and also the goal that each and every student will grow in their understanding of the natural world, and will continue to work hard and improve
-not taught to students that self-identify as being interested in science, or wanting to go into STEM fields
-3rd is historical context because science is a human endeavor
-humans are curious
-humans want to show the humanity of it
-there is also a narrative -humans are interested in story
-there is a narrative aspect of science
-look at personalities of scientists, their circumstances, both personal and political circumstances, friendships that they had, rivalries they had that influence the discoveries that they make, and the role that lucky accidents play in important discoveries
-to provide context can humanize science and make the study of science more interesting
-gives students a realistic view on the way that science happens by studying the way that it has happened in the past
-4th characteristic of science education in this classical context is philosophy of science
-not explicitly studying the philosophy of science, but impression about he way science fits in to the overall project of taking lots of different courses
***students should begin to understand the self-imposed limitations of science. Science is not well-equipped to answer every important question that can be asked
-science cannot explain beauty or the meaning of beauty
***students graduating high school should be able to respond thoughtfully to the claim that science has rendered all religious belief obsolete
-develop within students a healthy skepticism
-not to create cynical skeptics, but to create students who have practiced weighing claims based on evidence, so have a healthy skepticism where they ask the question, what is the evidence for thinking that a certain claim might be true
-not to just accept any claims coming at them
**ask why we believe that this is true
-the characteristic is reading and writing in the context of science education
-reading and writing are very primary tools of learning and communicating
-students get the impression that writing well is important in an English class, but it’s not important when you go to other types of classes
-clear communication through writing, and explaining things in a clear and concise way is important in science
-reading and writing skills are necessary within science courses
-science has challenging readings to develop skills in reading
-classical science education that we live in an orderly, complicated, surprising, but orderly and intelligible universe that can be understood through careful systemic investigation
-science is a part of the innate human desire to know and understand
-science as closely related to addressing what we might call the big questions
-not separate = humanities. Literature, philosophy, theology from science and mathematics
-Arts: students addressing deep, interesting questions that appeal naturally to human curiosity
-Science: sterile with abstract facts, and with numbers, and quantifying things, but not seen as related to big ideas that people find interesting
***students need them all: science is addressing big questions that appeal to innate human curiosity in a similar way to–like what goes into the humanities
-it is seen in studying historical context when you look at scientists in the past, which reveals the passion behind the people, perseverance of the people
-not looking to invent a new technology, but looking to understand the natural world, and understand the way that it works (historical stories)
-the enthusiasm of the teacher : actually impressed and interested in the ideas they are discussing with their students
Goals for our students over 12 years of studying science:
-build towards the kind of not end product, but the final goal when students walk out of their K-12 education
-1st: the content of science
-students should have an accurate understanding of the primary models, and theories, and laws of physical science
understand not comprehensively, but understand the important fundamental ideas from biology, chemistry, physics, Earth science, and astronomy
-2nd: accurate understanding of the process of science
-through own experience with hands-on scientific investigation doing labs and activities
-can get historical hands-on examples of the process of science
-3rd: develop a deep appreciation of science
-students should be impressed and even moved by what they can learn about the natural world works
-ignite student to learn in many different ways: English, Chemistry, Philosophy, & Calculus
-4th: ability to write clearly and concisely (starts in elementary school years)
-with that students need to be able to speak through effective communication skills
-in science class students can present what they learned: small research projects or processes of the lab work completed
-5th: can do careful experiments and careful observation from those who have been taught proper lab techniques, good habits in the experimental side of scientific investigation
-6th: teaches problem solving skills
-there is a close association between mathematics and science
-mathematics is one of the important languages of science
-develop in students the ability to apply the mathematical tools that they learn to problems in science
-not just a a kind of technical perspective but the ability to think about what the mathematical application means
-lean what equations actually mean physically
-needs to start in kindergarten: reasonable answers and correct units
Ex. students will solve an equation, and give an answer that just a moment's reflection will show that the numerical value of the answer is not reasonable, given the context of the problem
Ex. idea of attaching the proper units to the numbers, the unit being just as important as the numerical value of the number
****the goals will culminate in high school, but the foundation of these goals is laid in the elementary years
-ironically, science is put on the backburner in the elementary years
***Problem: too much emphasis put on standardized test in reading and writing
-recommended to read and write in a broad coverage of topics in science in the elementary years (not just life science, but chemistry, physics, and earth science)
-this allows for elementary student to get exposure to content areas and the process of science
-elementary students develop the habits of careful and hard work which are necessary for success in science
-tap into the narrative quality of scientific development in elementary school
Ex. reading biographies of important scientists and making connections to history
-in elementary school is where we cultivate an appreciation for nature on the part of students
-students naturally appreciate nature
-students are impressed by wildlife
Ex. curious about sunsets and the moon
Ex. teach them to be curious and appreciate what bacteria and viruses are
Ex. teach them to be curious that matter consists of atoms and molecules
-by studying nature in the elementary grades students will start to actually see for themselves the order that exists in nature by categorizing things, classifying things
-students start to see order, and patterns, and a sense to the way we organize scientific ideas
-students being taught these skills in elementary schools will be less intimidated as they increase in complexity later
-science is an excellent context for the development of math, reading, and writing skills for elementary students
***K-12 education is saturated with emphasis on standards, benchmarks, assessments, and career readiness
***We should be fostering curiosity and wonder, encouraging hard and careful work, and molding deep thinkers, even intellectuals
***1st goal is not technical experts who can help with global economic competition, but rather liberally educated citizens
