DentArthurDent wrote:
@ Jannisy, after reading your post I revisited the book in question and to a large extent I agree with you, it does assume a lot more knowledge than I remembered, it also uses a lexicon that many adults do not possess. That being said the basic premise of my thought bubble remains intact, we need to find a way to make science and in particular science history accessible to kids. The latest meme seems to be that history teaches us nothing, for if it did we would not keep repeating the same mistakes. I feel this is ridiculous as it ignores the fact that history can be falsified or not taught at all, so that it fits a particular ideology. this is never more apparent than with state sponsored and religious falsification.
Maybe we should take a lead from the religious fraternity and have an edited "short history of nearly everything - young scientist edition" with the historical events and people scaled back and their discoveries simplified, with the overarching message being that of the method by which the discoveries where verified eg peer review, repetition, etc. The fact that I left school with an O level in Physics,yet had no idea about the scientific method, illustrates my point, admittedly that was many years ago but from what I understand the situation is still the same.
I agree with your suggested methods of teaching science because that was how I was educated and it was successful. In the U.S. standardized testing had not yet been instituted and the "teaching evolution" controversy was thought to have been resolved for many decades (the blissful educators had no idea it would rise again). When I look back it seems like some sort of Golden Age bubble of U.S. science education. Now even in school districts without the science controversies, spending a lot of time on the history of science is seen as too "fluffy" and won't help kids pass then standardized tests so they get a dry science education that is probably similar to what you got.
I had no idea how lucky I was. We had a class re-enactment of Darwin on the Beagle. We dropped apples from heights in supposed re-enactment of Newton. We read exactly the sort of books you are envisioning. It was glorious and it didn't last. But it is a better way.
16 Jan 2014, 9:43 pm
