Teaching science “is not enough”

Last updated on: November 2, 2007 at 4:28 pm by Epiphenom

Teaching science “is not enough” 2007-11-02T16:28:00+01:00 Epiphenom

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

SUNY professor Massimo Pigliucci has written a fascinating essay, published earlier this year in the McGill Journal for Education, on the pressing need for teaching critical thinking, rather than just science facts. He pulls up a number of interesting facts to underline this, including a survey he conducted among honours students at the University of Tennessee, showing the more science students than non-science students believed in the paranormal. The reason? The non-science students were mostly philosophy or psychology majors, and so had actually been taught about critical thinking and the scientific method.

Science students, on the other hand, are typically bombarded with facts with little rationale to explain how they were discovered. Prof Piugliucci writes:

The result is that students are confronted with a bewildering array of complex facts that they cannot link to each other conceptually as they probably have no idea from where this information has come. For example, although every teacher of molecular biology knows what restriction enzymes are (because they are so useful in a variety of recombinant DNA techniques), I doubt that most of them realize how they were discovered or what their natural function actually is.

This, he feels, probably explains a curious phenomenon: school dropouts have only a marginally lower level of belief in the paranormal than more educated people. And some 73% of college graduates believe in the existence of a physical Heaven!

Prof Pigliucci makes a number of other fascinating observations in his essay – if you are at all interested in science education, you should read it – including this clarion call:

Scientists must come down from the ivory tower! It is high time for scientists to take seriously their role in their communities and give more back to them. This is not only for practical reasons (like the constant and very real threat to funding of certain areas of scientific research), but simply because it is the decent thing to do. Scientists who do not give back to the community in some tangible way should start thinking of themselves as social parasites – perhaps not of the worst sort, but parasites nonetheless.

Letters from Vrai has some good commentary on this essay, rebutting an attack from those purveyors of pseudoscience, the Discovery Institute.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 31, 2007

How a key component of DNA formed on the early Earth

Next Post

November 5, 2007 Now listed on Planet Atheism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Causes of religion - evolution Causes of religion - psychological Causes of religion - social Demographics Digest Effects of religion - health Effects of religion - psychological Effects of religion - social Notifications Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "All things work together for good"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter John James Paul