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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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In a message dated 8/6/2005 1:59:32 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
I suggest we need to take stock in science education and science
belief and try better to connect the two, than just rely on the "our belief
is better than yours" argument.
As I mentioned earlier, my son still expresses his dismay in the reaction of
his physics teacher to a discussion on man being able to travel at the speed
of light. My son viewed the teacher's negative reaction (Why would you waste
class time discussing that? That could never happen. It's simply not
possible.) as one of condescention to what was purely a hypothetical discussion of
"Wow, what would that be like?"
If we tell students they should be thorough, should look in every nook and
cranny for the answers, should be creative (a word not used often enough with
science), we have to give them freedom to discuss ideas we may not always
agree with. Better they discuss these ideas in the school science classroom,
where they will mix with other thoughts, than discuss them in a more singular
context.
I remember the intelligent design discussion coming up in one of my college
level Curriculum and Instruction classes. The young man standing up for ID
was my teaching partner for the semester. Our professors were discussing the
teaching of evolution. "Evolution's just a theory!" my teaching partner
snapped. This comment brought the class in to a discussion of what a scientific
theory involves. By the end of a very heated discussion he was very upset and
had not changed his views. However, it taught me an important lesson of the
difference between belief and theory (don't think that's obvious to all
science students) and it also brought me and this young man to a later dialogue
that we would never have had otherwise.
Janine
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