The text-only skeleton of a provocative new classroom poster is available
for your consideration at http://www.wonderfest.org/poster/poster.html.
Entitled "Layers of Scientific Understanding," its oversize full-color
final version will bear the graphic artistry of Jon Lomberg. [Lomberg is
best known for his work on Sagan's "Cosmos," for his 2-minute-long intro to
the movie "Contact," and for his "Portrait of the Milky Way" mural at the
National Air & Space Museum.]
The poster may have an impossibly lofty goal. It attempts to capture the
remarkable scope and coherence of science on a single 4'x5' 2-D manifold!
The text-heavy poster topics are arranged vertically, somewhat in the
fashion of geological strata. The psychology stratum lies at the top, and
is "grounded" in the next deeper stratum, biology. Biology, in turn, is
grounded in chemistry. And chemistry is grounded in physics. Finally,
*all* these branches of science rest on the deepest stratum, namely
philosophy ("scientific realism," to be precise).
Within each stratum are three sample "structures" from that particular
subject. For example, the physics stratum presents the universe, everyday
things, and the Standard Model. Each of these structures is, in turn,
linked (horizontally) to one vital corresponding scientific theory that is
explained in some detail.
When fully rendered, the poster will show high school and college science
students how the subjects they study -- from biology and psychology to
chemistry and physics -- fit into an overarching scientific worldview.
This is something that few students grasp. Typically, even our best
students walk away from school seeing only the "trees" -- proceeding from
biology courses to chemistry courses to physics courses -- never seeing the
astounding beauty and coherence of the forest.
Would you put such a poster on your wall? Would your students benefit,
week after week, from occasionally perusing this capsule summary of the
scope and coherence of science?