Comments on: Science Trivia Illiteracy

By: jan

jan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:42:10 +0000

I agree tht critical teaching skills should be taught, and that is actually a part of the language arts curriculum. Of course, the one teaching it has a lot to do with how much the students actually retain. It is taught in the objectives that include ‘drawing conclusions’, ‘recognizing cause and effect relationships’, ‘making inferences’, and ‘recognizing bias and underlying motives’. Students are expected to gain skills than enable them to use critical thinking skills in all subjects. Students remain, however, quite susceptible to being taught what to think rather than how to think. It has a lot to do with maturity and interest levels.

Are you still thinking you might like to teach? It sounds as if you might become a great teacher if you want to teach children to think critically and to recognize bias when it is present.

By: smijer

smijer — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:11:21 +0000

Don’t get me wrong – I’m for teaching library research. It’s just that library research is useless without critical thinking skills. That’s because so many publications one can find dealing with any given subject using library research are not only unhelpful but sometimes downright misleading. Critical thinking guides all forms of research be it in the library, in the lab, or in the field – and without them, it’s unlikely that any kind of research will be fruitful.

By: jan

jan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:46:25 +0000

Do you mean skills that include using the scientific method of discovery and analyzing information. Those are a part of the GA curriculum along with reading, using, and constructing charts, graphs, tables and diagrams, classifying information and catergorizing facts and information. I would include drawing conclusions, identifying the variables in a situation, and determining the properties of an object or event. These are all important, but unless a student has been taught reading skills and does learn how to use a card catalog and do research, they will not be able to advance with any curriculum.

evaluating the “reliability” of a point of view

I do not recall this being included in any curriculum or list of objectives. Could you give me an example of what you are thinking?

By: smijer

smijer — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:38:33 +0000

If you are referring to skills and methods of obtaining information,

If I mean that, then I don’t mean exclusively in the sense of being able to use a card catalog and The Google. Without a strong set of critical thinking skills, any fact finding mission is doomed from the start. But, I think I don’t mean that at all – I think what I mean is the skills and methods of discovering new information – specifically about how nature behaves – and of evaluating the reliability of a point of view – more specifically “scientific” skills.

By: jan

jan — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:15:56 +0000

Oh – and it also wouldn’t hurt to have enough of same to be able to evaluate public controversies over important scientific phenomena… like climate change and creationism. But I don’t want to get over optimistic.

If you are referring to skills and methods of obtaining information, this is exactly what teaching and educating students should be about. In far too many classrooms, students are being told “what” to think and believe rather than “how” to think and apply information that has been presented.

Granted students need some guidance in developing a value system and how to live in a society, however, when it comes to science, math, language arts, or the core curriculum, methods and skills should be taught.

When a student has been taught skills and is given the tools needed, when ideas are allowed to flow, that student then begins to question and evaluate information acquired. At this point, learning occurs.

By: Science Literacy != Science Trivia at Tête-à-Tête-Tête

Science Literacy != Science Trivia at Tête-à-Tête-Tête — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:38:52 +0000

[...] said so before before, and given my thoughts on what does qualify [...]