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One of the most important topics we can teach students is how uncertainty
is part of the scientific method.  I think that due to lack of
understanding/training, most science teachers miss out on this VERY
important concept.  If children learn how to deal with uncertainty (and
statistical probability) young, they will carry that understanding to
adulthood.

Christine

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 10:03 AM, Tom Lesser <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

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>
> Well, to jump in and cause people to strongly disagree with me, one needs
> to be careful about saying science is "truth".  Good science is based on
> testing theories and unbiased conclusions.
> Growing up in the 50s and 60s, some of "our" heroes were people, such as
> Galileo, who stood against the accepted facts of their time. But let us be
> clear, many of today's scientifically accepted theories are presented as
> facts not to be questioned.  Anyone in the scientific community or science
> education community who questions these theories is marginalized.
> If you do not believe this, just question the "fact" that an asteroid
> collision with Earth caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Another
> example, the idea that birds are dinosaurs makes as much sense as the
> anti-evolution propaganda of the 19th century that men were descended from
> apes.
> Most science is our current best guess.
> Normally I do not list any of my background on these posting, but in this
> case I have.
> Tom Lesser, Ed.D.
> Astronomy book reviewer for AAAS’ Science Books & Films former Senior
> Lecturer, American Museum-Hayden PlanPlanetarium, former Executive
> Director, The Dinosaur Society
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 9:04 AM, Stephen Uzzo wrote:
>
>  ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
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>> This gets us back to the Levi-Strauss' problem of why truth (science) and
>> fiction (myth) are equivalent in people's minds. There is no imperative for
>> truth in evolution unless it improves fitness. But there may be an
>> imperative for seeking cause for effect (which might be adaptive-something,
>> according to Michotte, is evident in the behavior of even infants). So in
>> looking at what the real process caused the effect of the earth (geologic
>> or creationistic), its unclear what advantage knowing this conveys upon
>> fitness. In the absence of doubt, as people build their ontologies and
>> identify a cause (the Earth moving closer to the Sun), that satisfies the
>> effect (climate change), the tension is relived and there is no further
>> need to deepen inquiry. Unless you're a geologist, oil or mining company,
>> or earth science teacher, the benefit of knowing the age of the earth might
>> be hard to quantify.
>> One of the things we don't do well is give learners permission to be
>> skeptical, nor do we provide them with useful mechanisms to deepen inquiry
>> around skepticiism over an idea. If we did, then the Creationistas would
>> have no purchase in the minds of our youth to cast doubt on geology because
>> it would only stimulate them to more quickly reveal their fakery. I think
>> its healthy to doubt anything you don't completely understand, but until we
>> equip learners with the right truth-seeking thinking tools we should expect
>> this kind of intellectual con game to continue unabated. Rubio is merely
>> reflecting the ignorance of his constituency, he is not the cause of it.
>> This has been the state of humanity since Aristotle. We are not going to
>> fix the problem by claiming truthier truth, but by being serious about
>> educating our youth--to stop just throwing our truth at them to see what
>> sticks (evidently, very little).
>>
>> Stephen Miles Uzzo, PhD.
>> VP, Science & Technology
>> New York Hall of Science
>> 47-01 111th Street
>> Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368 USA
>> V +1.718 595.9177
>> F +1.718.699.5227
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 20, 2012, at 10:12 PM, Eric Siegel wrote:
>>
>>  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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>>> ps.  an acquaintance of mine told me that global warming is happening
>>> because the earth is moving closer to the sun.  after i picked my jaw up
>>> off the ground, I weighed the benefits of schooling her with the futility
>>> of the attempt.  I tried to explain what we know about the physics of the
>>> solar system since newton.
>>>
>>> e
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