8/18/2019 Halt reef destruction in South China Sea

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Correspondence

STEM teaching: theneed for wider skills

Now more than ever, students ofscience, technology, engineeringand mathematics (STEM)need to develop skills for real-world problem solving (seeNature 523, 272–274; 2015).These include leadership,collaboration, communicationand interdisciplinary thinking —all sought after by companies and

organizations that must compete

India’s inspiringformer president

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015)was the first great scientist tobecome president of India (seeNature India go.nature.com/x8rltb). He died on 27 July whiledelivering a lecture on ‘Theliveable planet’ to students at theIndian Institute of Managementin Shillong.

Dubbed the ‘missile man’because of his pioneeringyears as head of India’s missileprogramme, he was a bigsupporter of fundamental andapplied science in the country.

He was a favourite amongstudents, igniting the mindsof primary-school childrenand PhD students alike aboutscience through his passion andapproachability, patience andsimplicity.Bhaswati Chatterjee NationalInstitute of PharmaceuticalEducation and Research,Hyderabad, India.Suman S. Thakur Centre forCellular & Molecular Biology,Hyderabad, India.

sst@ccmb.res.in

Halt reef destructionin South China Sea

China’s land reclamation inthe South China Sea has raisedgeopolitical concerns (seego.nature.com/tmrpih). It is alsodestroying coral reefs on a largescale — together with their fragileecosystems.

This loss of reef habitat isestimated from high-resolutionsatellite imagery to be about1,400 hectares so far in theSpratly Islands (http://amti.csis.org/island-tracker). The reefsare among the most biologically

diverse on the planet. They arehome to threatened turtle andbird species, a crucial stopover formigratory birds, and a source oflarvae for the South China Sea’soverexploited coastal fisheries.Further dredging will kill nearbysediment-dwelling communitiesand sea-grass nursery habitatsthat take up carbon.

The global scientific,conservation and legalcommunities must unite to haltthis destruction. Reef loss can bepublicly monitored with GoogleEarth imagery and tools, enablinginternational governing bodies toenforce China’s obligations underinternational law to protect andsustainably manage their reefs(see go.nature.com/wdzf9k). Andfunding should be fast-trackedfor the proposed protectiveSpratly Islands Marine Peace Park(J. W. McManus et al. Ocean Dev.Int. Law 41, 270–280; 2010).Elizabeth M. P. Madin Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

dr.elizabeth.madin@gmail.com

in today’s global economy.In the Integrated

Concentration in Science (iCons)

Program I have launched at theUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst (see www.cns.umass.edu/icons-program), STEMstudents explore the part thatscience can play in tacklingsocietal challenges such ascancer, climate change andclean energy. For example, oneiCons team identified electricalenergy storage as a crucialsocietal need, which motivatedthem to design and perform anoriginal investigation on the

efficient electrolysis of water.Such innovative educationalexperiences generate newcategories of learning thatbroaden the meaning of studentsuccess — important both forstudents and for the future.Scott Auerbach University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.auerbach@chem.umass.edu

Funders must notcoerce scientists

The reported complicity ofthe American PsychologicalAssociation (APA) in the‘enhanced interrogation’programme of the USDepartment of Defense (DOD)represents improper exploitationby the DOD of its relationshipwith the APA in pursuit ofits own objectives, distortingscientific ethics and practices inthe process (see Nature 523, 255;2015). The scientific communityas a whole could learn from the

mechanisms that the DOD usedto influence the APA, as reportedin an independent review(go.nature.com/4vpdob).

Historically, similarlyinappropriate relationshipshave sometimes developedbetween granting agencies andscientists (see, for example,S. Reverby Examining Tuskegee (Univ. North Carolina Press,2009) and Nature 467, 645;2010). Scientists’ alignment withinstitutional preferences is often

a force for good, but vigilance

STEM teaching:medicine in Europe

The innovations to science,technology, engineering andmathematics (STEM) educationyou recommend (Nature 523, 272–274 and 282–284; 2015)have already had a major impacton the teaching of medicine inEurope over the past 15 years,

especially in the United

Kingdom and the Netherlands.These have been inspired byinitiatives such as Best Evidence

Medical Education (BEME;www.bemecollaboration.org)and ASPIRE (www.aspire-to-excellence.org), both run bythe Association for MedicalEducation in Europe.

There have been 32 systematicreviews examining the literatureto determine which teachingmethods work and why, andhow they could be made moreeffective — including threehighly cited BEME reviews(S. A. Azer Acad. Med . 90, 

1147–1161; 2015). The ASPIREinitiative has ensured thatteaching is now recognizedinternationally alongsideexcellence in research (seeR. M. Harden and D. Wilkinson Med. Teach. 33, 95–96; 2011).

There has also been adrastic change in performanceassessment of medicalstudents. This no longerrelies on regurgitating facts.Examples include the objectivestructured clinical examination,workplace-based assessmentsand entrustable professionalactivities, which emphasizethe importance of feedback inmonitoring and supportingundergraduate learning.Trudie E. Roberts University ofLeeds, UK; and Association for Medical Education in Europe,Dundee, UK.Ronald M. Harden Association for Medical Education in Europe,Dundee, UK.t.e.roberts@leeds.ac.uk

is needed to prevent erosion ofethical or evidential standards.

Institutional coercion such

as that revealed in the reportis disastrous for the publicperception and integrity of science.The moral force of researchstandards is weakened if they aresubject to political concerns.

We all need to addressthis potential for abusewithout impeding the normalfunctioning of scientists andtheir granting institutions. Forexample, negotiations on ethicsand research practices betweeninstitutions could be overseen to

ensure good-faith participationand eliminate any back-doordealing. Such regulatoryauthority could be absorbedby existing bodies such as theUS Federal Inspectors General.Cole Helsell University ofCalifornia, San Francisco, USA.cole.helsell@ucsf.edu

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