There is a continuous barrage of editorials, TV commentators and published stories that denounce the current education system as declining and inferior to other countries.
In general the blame is directed at students, teachers, school administrators, and their curriculums. Everyone seems to be searching for the magic key that will unlock the performance of kids and knock down the barriers to a good education.
One of the most popular solutions to come along in recent years is STEM LEARNING which is supported by the Federal, State, and local governments as well as the manufacturing sector. This program aims to make kids better at science, engineering, technology and math. I am a supporter of the STEM learning initiative, and feel strongly that all citizens (not just students) need to have a better understanding of science. But I have a big question that relates to STEM learning. How can we ask kids to be more interested in science and math when their parents are enamored by pseudo science?
Wikipedia defines pseudo science as “a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific methodology, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status. [1] Pseudoscience is often characterized by the use of vague, exaggerated or unprovable concepts. It is an over-reliance on confirmation rather than rigorous attempts at refutation.
Pseudo science ignores the scientific method. It makes conclusions and then looks for facts to support the conclusions. In pseudoscience there is no healthy skepticism about fantastic claims, in fact there is an enthusiasm to accept untested personal testimony as a public truth ( as in the stories about UFOS). It is more about what someone feels then facts. The elevation of individual testimony or sensation over logic and verifiable fact is not only popular; it is often linked to religion, spirituality, popular psychology and cults.
- A recent Time/Yankelvich poll found that 80% of Americans feel that the government is covering up information about extra terrestrials.
- In 1990 a Gallup poll found that 50% of Catholics believe in ESP (extra sensory perception) and 53% believe in UFOS.
- 84% percent of scientists think that humans are warming the planet by burning fossil fuels versus 49% of the public.
- 93% of scientists support federal research on funding on stem cells versus 58% of the public.
- According to the National Science Foundation only 15% of the public follows science news very closely.
- About 46% of the public believes, “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years” and this number has not changed since 1982
And here are some more statistics from Carl Sagan’s book the Demon Haunted World
- 63% of American adults are unaware that the last dinosaur died before humans arose.
- 75% do not know that antibiotics kill bacteria and not viruses.
- 57% do not know that electrons are smaller then atoms.
Pseudo Science is very popular today and certainly more popular then real science in the minds of most citizens. In fact one can say that the less a person knows about real science the more they will be interested in the Para-normal, pseudo science, and the super natural.
There is no harm in pseudo science as long as it remains in the realm which doesn’t require reason, critical decisions, or affect other people. But when it does prevent rational decisions such as parents who are against using pseudo science to heal their sick kid and avoid going to a real doctor, belief can turn into tragedy
Looking up your astrology guide in the daily paper can be a form of entertainment for many people. Or there is probably nothing wrong with believing that magnets can heal various ailments and placing them under your pillow every night (as long as the magnet therapy doesn’t cost very much or is used as a replacement for chemotherapy.)
But, pseudo science can lead to blind antipathy to reason and lead people away from making good decisions or understanding the true nature of the world we live in and the problems we must solve. It makes people gullible to fantastic claims taken at face value without investigation. There are many very popular claims that are not based on any scientific proof but have many adult believers such as: out of body experiences, faith healing, spontaneous ignition, perpetual motion machines, dianetics, the Amityville Horror, big foot, cold fusion, astrology, channeling, new age philosophies, ancient aliens Bermuda triangle, levitation, Nostradamus, ESP, ghosts, palmistry, Brontosaurus in the Congo, to name just a few. Most of these subjects are featured on TV on a regular basis as pseudo scientific documentaries. These are very popular concepts and are believed by millions of people.
Unidentified Flying Objects
Perhaps the most popular of all of the pseudo sciences is the belief in UFOS (unidentified flying objects). The study and belief in UFOs has been going on since 1947 when Kenneth Arnold saw a formation of flying discs near Mt. Rainier while flying a private plane to Yakima Washington. UFOs are so popular with society and the media that it has been given a scientific sounding name UFOLOGY and the serious researchers call themselves UFOLOGISTS.
The name UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS explains the phenomena very well and is the truth of the subject. There are sightings all over the world but most have been identified as meteors, satellites, birds, aircraft, lights, planets, and weather. But about 10% have never been identified and are truly UFOs.
Where the UFO enthusiasts get off track is claiming that UFOs are interstellar spacecraft, piloted by aliens, and from alien worlds. Yes, there are unidentified flying objects but none of these UFOs for the last 66 years has been positively identified as an alien spacecraft, or a craft from outside the earth’s atmosphere, or an interstellar vehicle.
From a scientific point of view sightings and individual testimony is not acceptable evidence to scientifically confirm that there has been a flyby or landing of a UFO. To be accepted by the scientific community as something more then an unidentifiable object requires physical evidence and a testable or reoccurring identical UFO experience.
Of all of the subjects that students can master in their STEM learning, I think understanding the scientific method of analysis is probably the most important lesson that can be learned. It is a way of looking at the world as it is, rather then how we would wish it to be. The scientific method is a much disciplined way of digging out facts and using a healthy skepticism in the analysis. In the scientific approach to analysis, people create a hypothesis, describe the facts that support the hypothesis, and then publish their findings as conclusions. Science has a built in system of checking for errors, by letting any one on the planet try to find errors in the facts or conclusions. Your conclusions will not be accepted until a majority of the critics agree they are valid.
I think that the most critical factor in student learning are their parents. Parents are in the unenviable but responsible position of setting an example for their children and being involved in the learning process. Parent’s involvement is crucial to developing the child’s academic ability and confidence. Dr. Patricia Porter makes the case that parents are very influential in 3ways:
1. Modeling– “Children love you and want to be like you. They watch what you do and try to do what you do. Modeling is the most important way you influence your child’s behavior.”[1]
2. Mentoring “Sharing your knowledge and experience with your children will help them develop skills.”
3. Mediate – You need to mediate between your child and the world around him. You can help your children understand science and the realities of the world by preparing yourself in the realities and basics of science.
How can a student focus on geology and the search for natural resources if parents tell them that geological dating methods are wrong and the world is only 10,000 years old? How will we train the future doctors, nurses, and medical technicians if they are told that the principles of evolution are not proven? How will students be able to understand and analyze the problems of gas emissions and make a decision about climate change if they don’t know the basic science? More importantly, how will students understand many of the advanced and complicated concepts in STEM learning if their parents cannot model, mentor, or mediate?
CONCLUSIONS
We are in a century where there will be many changes to the planet and environment, and where science will play a critical role in the economy. In our new century, science will permeate all industries and most of our major problems. But with so few citizens’ really understanding science there will be big problems.
Despite criticisms, science is really open to new ideas. There are really no questions that can’t be asked, no sacred truths, and no subjects too sensitive to discuss or debate. But once you develop a hypothesis you must prove it in the face of expert criticism.
People must also know that it is ok to question fantastic claims and ask for more evidence, and it is ok to not accept a claim that doesn’t make sense – that is how science works. You don’t just prove something by one or two experiments. It requires ongoing testing by your peers until the concept is accepted by the majority of the scientific community.
The 21st century is gong to bring some fantastic breakthroughs in stem cell research, cloning, manual coding of DNA, fusion, quantum physics, artificial intelligence, computers, microelectronics, materials science, nanotechnology and the conquest of disease. Improving student’s learning in science using STEM learning is a noble goal, but to depend on just the teachers, and schools as some kind of magic bullet solution is a fool’s errand.
Parents, not just students, are going to have to learn more about science just to play their role as mentors to their children. To even have a chance of understanding the natural world and all of the problems that are coming at us in the future, parents need to set a better example for their kids. They need to be less gullible and better at critical thinking and need to learn to be more skeptical and to question fantastic claims. They need to understand that fantastic claims require fantastic evidence. Rather then accept a claim that appeals to them emotionally, people need to learn enough about science’s empirical method of explaining problems based on experimentation, observation and testing.
In our new century with all of the problems and the inevitable natural disasters it will be very tempting for people to be attracted to superstition, cult theories, and pseudo science for answers. Unless we can make a lot more headway in discounting the importance of pseudo science we will continue to move towards a society where irrationalism will prevail.
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