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Thanks for the comments, Eric.  I agree that we should not change the
meaning of the word science, but I am concerned about the attitudes I see in
some of the posts on this topic.  I am a hard core scientist (Ph.D from a
Research I institution, post-doc, peer-reviewed publications, tenured in a
university science department, the whole bit, before I found something
really interesting and challenging to do), but I do not see any reason to
think that simply telling people more often, more clearly, or more
forcefully about the nature of science or about the criteria for accepting
knowledge as scientific will do anything but alienate people.  Most people
accept some of scientists' ideas about how the world works and reject
others, especially those that conflict with other beliefs that they hold
more strongly and find more valuable. 

I'm not concerned about what science centers present - we should be places
that present the findings of scientific research - I am concerned about how
we present it.  If science centers present science as an all or nothing
package, or as a "we know best, you listen to us" package, then we risk
alienating a large segment of our potential audience.  We should instead be
inviting the public to participate in sense-making and in the construction
of explanations.  But if we are to do that, we must really accept that not
everyone will make sense of their experience in the way that we do.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it, and a peaceful week to all,

Dave

David L Smith
Director of Professional Development 
Da Vinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology
http://www.discovery-center.org

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