We Face Dire Global Threats

❖ Unchecked population growth❖ Environmental atrophy❖ Rapidly increasing pollution❖ Social and environmental inequity❖ Scarcity of resources❖ The threat of nuclear holocaust

The Need for Science Education

“Science education...should help students to develop the understandings and habits of mind they need to become

compassionate human beings able to think for themselves and to face life head on. It should equip them also to

participate thoughtfully with fellow citizens in building and protecting a jiggy jigyy society that is open, decent, and

vital.”

❖ Scientific education will provide critical instruments for dealing with problems that involve

■ evidence

■ quantitative considerations

■ logical arguments

■ thinking critically and independently

■ the importance of feedback and control

■ the cost-benefit-risk relationship

The Recommendations of Project 2061

“Science for All Americans is based on the belief that the science-literate person is one who is aware that science, mathematics, and technology are interdependent human enterprises with strengths and limitations; understands key concepts and principles of science; is familiar with the natural world and recognizes both its diversity and unity; and uses scientific knowledge and scientific ways of thinking for individual and social purposes”

❖ The Recommendations Reflect a Broad Definition of Science Literacy❖ The Recommendations in This Report Apply to All Students❖ The Recommendations Have Been Selected on the Basis of Both Scientific and Human Significance

➢ Utility➢ Social Responsibility➢ The Intrinsic Value of Knowledge➢ Philosophical Value➢ Childhood Enrichment

❖ The Recommendations Are Neither All New Nor Intended to Be Fixed for All Time❖ This Report Is Not a Curriculum Document or a Textbook❖ The Recommendations Are Intended to Convey the Levels of Understanding Appropriate for All People

The Writing Process1. Scientific panels appointed by the American Association for the Advancement

of Science were charged with coming up with recommendations in five domains

2. Each panel submitted a report to the National Council on Science and Technology Education

3. The national council was also appointed by the AAAS. Its responsibility was to provide quality control

4. Project 2061: Education for a Changing Future was formulated. The staff--primarily Rutherford and Ahlgren--met regularly with the panels and by mutual agreement took on the responsibility of drafting copy covering the territory common to all of the panels,

5. Then the staff, with the help of many experts, undertook to prepare a single cogent report.

6. The national council recommended Science for All Americans, as it had finally come to be known, to the AAAS Board of Directors.

7. The staff voted unanimously to authorize publication.

S-C-I-E-N-C-E! Find out what it means...

World View

Methods of Inquiry

Nature of Scientific Enterprise

Scientific World View● The world is understandable! Yeah!

○ Through careful, systematic study.

● Scientific ideas are subject to change○ Science is a process.

● Science knowledge lasts.○ Newton was still right, after all…

● Science can’t answer EVERY question.○ Sorry Mulder. And Pope Francis.

Scientific Inquiry● Science demands evidence.

○ Obtained by observations and measurements■ Using our senses, instruments

● Science blends logic and imagination.○ Hypotheses have to be made and tested.

● Science explains and predicts.● Science tries to avoid bias.● Science is not authoritarian.

○ No absolute truth

The Scientific Enterprise● Science is a complex social activity.

○ Who? Is doing science?○ Which questions? Are being asked?○ Where? Is science being done?○ How? Is science knowledge being shared?

● Science has different content disciplines.○ New ones too! Microbotany,

psychosociobiology

● Science happens in different places.○ Universities, industries, governments

The Scientific Enterprise• Science has ethics.

o How to do science Accurate records, openness, replication, peer

critiqueo Avoiding harm

Live test subjects Possible harmful effects

• Example, nuclear testing• Ultimately, scientists have to also use their personal ethical

code.

o In public, scientists are specialists AND citizens. Advisors about science, but people with their

own interests, too.

Technology

Overview: Technology extends our abilities to change the world…

… to cut, shape, or put together materials

… to move things from one place to another

… to reach farther with our hands, voices, and senses

Essential questions:

What knowledge about the nature of technology is required for scientific literacy?

What knowledge about the nature of technology emphasizes ways of thinking about technology that can contribute to using it wisely?

Technology and Science

• technology draws on science and contributes to it

• engineering combines scientific inquiry and practical values

Issues in Technology

• the human presence o i.e. access to fossil fuels through

technology is having adverse environmental effects

• technological and social systems interact stronglyo e.g. agricultural revolution, industrial

revolution

• the social system imposes some restrictions on openness in technology

• decisions about the use of technology are complex

Design and Systems

● the essence of engineering is design under constraint

● all technologies involve control● technologies always have side effects● all technological systems can fail

The Nature of Mathematics

Patterns and Relationships● Pure mathematics: no necessary relationship with the real world,

though math and the real world do overlap. (imaginary numbers and electric fields; evolution of statistics with social sciences)

● Beauty is found not in complexity, but economy○ that is, in the eye of the capitalist beholder (who you be holdin?)

○ commodification engenders a warped conception of Beauty with a capital “B” what what.

● Applied mathematicians study problems that evolve from real life situations (coding, engineering)

Math and Science Together● Math is the chief language of science as math avoids ambiguity.

Consider Newton´s Second Law: a = F/m

● The two disciplines have many similarities:○ Belief in Order○ Imagination and Logic○ Honesty and Openness○ Importance of Peer Criticism○ Value of First Discovery○ Internationalism○ Use of Technology

Mathematical Inquiry ???● Minimum of 3 steps

○ Representation of a quantity abstractly■ Simple numbers are an abstraction■ A = Area of a surface; A is a simple representation of an

abstract idea.○ Manipulation of the abstract quantities

■ Follows rules of logic■ Finding new relationships

○ Determination of Usefulness■ Creating Mathematical Models■ Predicting the Future■ Validity

Conchita