Let's face it -- many students dread taking science courses, far more thandread taking English or history courses. Reactions among my science-phobicstudents range from fearful ("I'm just not good at science") to disinterested("Science is boring") to virulent ("I hate science").
These students see science courses as one-way streets packed with facts comingat them at a ferocious rate. Some fear they can't cope, believing that theflood is designed to eliminate all but the hardiest junior scientists. Othersfail to see how any of it relates to them and can't see the point in learningscience.
As a nation about to enter a highly technological 21st century, we need tomake a dramatic change in most students' attitudes toward science and in theirabilities to deal intelligently with issues that involve information derivedfrom scientific investigations.
Why does it matter? My students and those like them will be decision-makersin the 21st century. They need to feel comfortable with science preciselybecause it is relevant to them. They will be faced with issues such asglobal warming, cloning, resource depletion, water quality, artificialintelligence, hazardous waste disposal, gene transplants, soil degradation,maybe even off-planet colonies. With citizens comfortable and familiar withscience, navigating successfully through the coming minefield of complexdecisions will be difficult but possible. Doing so with a citizenry that hastrouble distinguishing science from pseudoscience is a frightening prospect.
The blame for negative student attitudes toward science can be parcelled outamong a number of factors, including negative stereotypes in cartoons andmovies, elitist attitudes among scientists, inadequate high school preparation,and traditional science classrooms that squelch student curiosity about theworld. Regardless of the blame, those of us who teach science are in the bestposition to change negative attitudes.
What can be done in the classroom to help transform science-phobic studentsinto citizens comfortable and familiar with science?
1) Teach courses that reach all students. The philosophy "if you can't runwith the big dogs..." has characterized many introductory science courses fordecades, and the sense that such courses are designed to weed out thenon-scientists is the source of much student anxiety. "Weed out" courses haveno place in an educational system that must produce a scientifically literatecitizenry.
2) Teach science as a way of finding out how the world works. Too manystudents see science as a collection of facts, and scientists as people whocollect facts. In reality, science is the process of asking questionsabout how the world works and trying to find the best answers to thosequestions. Science presented as a blitz of content and vocabulary fails toconvey the very essence of science and how it is practiced by scientists. It'snot the facts that excite scientists, but the process of discovery. Sciencecourses should mimic that process.
3) Let students experience science. No one would expect that a person who hadsat in a lecture hall listening to someone talk about driving would become veryskillful behind the wheel. Why should we expect that students who havelistened to someone talk about science ought to be good at scientificreasoning? Students need firsthand experience and practice. "Stand anddeliver" lecture courses are not the most effective way of teaching good habitsof scientific thinking.
4) Build relevance into science courses. Many students believe that scienceis boring, because they don't see how it connects to their own lives.Scientists, on the other hand, see science as underlying everything, butcommonly fail to convey relevance in a meaningful way. Science courses need tohelp students see connections between science and non-science disciplines --for example, the link between human activity and the destruction of the ozonelayer -- and understand why learning to think like a scientist is useful andimportant for everyone, not just those who will some day be scientists.
5) Help students see science as a creative and human enterprise. Too often,students see science as a linear timeline of discoveries made by dispassionatescientists who knew where they were going every step of the way. Sciencecourses need to show that creativity and serendipity play crucial roles inscientific investigations, that scientists have lots of wrong-headed notionsand very rarely discover what they think they are going to discover, andthat science does not produce "right answers" but rather best explanations.
Our society will have an urgent need for all citizens, from lawyers and socialworkers to senators and teachers, to be able to evaluate science-related issuesintelligently in the 21st century. I find it alarming that, withoutsubstantial changes, current curricula will leave most students woefullyunprepared. We urgently need to require all of our students to studymore science and to urge our faculty to teach science more effectivelyin order to meet a challenge that is already upon us.
Barbara Tewksbury, the Stephen Harper Kirner Professor of Geology at HamiltonCollege,
