Nowadays, it seems like much less people have an interest in science. In fact, there are currently less science majors in universities than there have been in previous years. But one would think that, with all of the scientific advances in America, there would be more science majors nowadays than ever. Science is a wonderful and essential subject matter that shapes every single aspect of our universe. Without science, we would be nowhere.
I read an article called "Bringing science back into America's sphere" by Lori Kozlowski. In her article she states that half of American adults don't know that the Earth orbits the sun once a year. Clearly, much more people need to be educated scientifically. But, why aren't they? Is it because they think that learning science will challenge their religious views? Or is it because they were just never taught that much science in school? Well, according to journalist Chris Mooney, none of these is the case. He says, "Science has become much less cool." So, maybe this is the answer -- people have no interest in learning something "boring" and "uninteresting." Maybe the schools are the ones to blame here.
I am going to agree with Mooney. I think that, should the schools make scientific studies more interesting and applicable, more students will be interested. When I took biology, sure I learned the parts of the cell and memorized a million vocabulary terms relating to human anatomy and physiology (which was NOT fun), but I never really learned how applicable it is, which is something I would've liked to learn (If I'm studying something, I want to know how useful it is!). So maybe we should've spent less time memorizing all of those terms and more time learning how and why biology is "essential."
Once students become more interested in science, they will be willing to study it much more. And then, maybe a lot more discoveries can be made. But again, the key to making kids like science more is to improve the ways of teaching it in school.
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ReplyDelete/edit textwall
ReplyDeleteI think it’s a combination of things. Aside from science being considered dorky ,many Americans don’t even believe in EVOLUTION, which is the only theory that makes anything we do make sense in the first place. While science is creating computers, cell phones, and driving just about everything else, polls show all over the world people think science is less relevant to life than other fields.
Biology does depend a lot on the teacher, as do most things. There is a problem with education in the way we teach many subjects. While at NT there are a lot of really phenomenal teachers who approach learning from multiple directions, other teachers (in other schools or not) may not explain it well or rely too much on the textbook, which could seriously alienate students from science or any other subject, depending on what way they learn.
I know the reason I can’t stand Spanish class, despite wanting to learn other languages in the future, is the fact that there’s no possible way you can learn it in a classroom. Showing up to that class is depressing.
Perhaps peoples’ perceptions of science, and how we portray it in the media or stress it compared to careers that make a lot more money, is another reason so many people are uninterested in it?
I agree that science doesn't get enough attention at school. In New Trier, I often hear students say, "Well, it's not like I'm going to be a scientist", when they have to learn something difficult. I feel like the world of science has been isolated to the point where there are two types of Americans, scientist and those who don't care about it at all. Humans are born scientists; babies are constantly doing experiments to determine the properties of materials. For some reason, we lose this characteristic. It might be because science is perpetually regarded as only for geniuses working in labs, but science is important to everyone.
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteAn intriguing topic, for sure. You might look at the history of science ed. funding in this country for more insight.
More links would be appreciated in your post. Yet I really thought about this part of your post: "Well, according to journalist Chris Mooney, none of these is the case. He says, 'Science has become much less cool.' So, maybe this is the answer -- people have no interest in learning something 'boring' and 'uninteresting.' Maybe the schools are the ones to blame here."
I really wonder about the leap in logic here. First, where is Mooney's evidence? How does one determine a cool "quotient"? Secondly, I would not necessarily agree that the opposite of "cool" is "boring". If you agree, then your point about teachers doesn't quite work. Think about these things and get back to me if you want to discuss this writing further.