If you reply to this long (8 kB) post please don't hit the reply
button, bane of discussion lists, unless you prune the copy of this
post that may appear in your reply down to a few relevant lines,
otherwise the entire already archived post may be needlessly resent
to subscribers.
Art Hobson (2011) in his Physoc post "Scientific illiteracy can kill
the planet" wrote [paraphrasing; my inserts at ". . . .[[insert]]. .
. ."):
"U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky). . . . .[[
<http://whitfield.house.gov/> and
<http://whitfield.house.gov/issues/energy.shtml>]]. . . . is chairman
of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power . . . .
.[[<http://energycommerce.house.gov/>]]. . . . .. His scientific
illiteracy - as reported in the NYT by Marshall & Lehmann (2011) -
worries me. BUT THE LIKELY SCIENTIFIC ILLITERACY OF THE PEOPLE WHO
ELECTED HIM WORRIES ME A LOT MORE. . . .[[see the caricature of
Whitfield on page 13 of Hake (2011) near the panel "Scientifically
illiterate voters elect scientifically illiterate leaders"]]....
Physics teachers can and should help. We need to teach societal
topics such as climate change and, more importantly, critical
thinking in our introductory courses."
And even *more* importantly WORK TO UPGRADE THE SCIENCE/MATH
EDUCATION OF PROSPECTIVE K-12 TEACHERS.
In "Should the Culture of University Science Education Be
Changed?"[Hake (2011) I wrote [bracketed by lines "HHHHH. . . .":
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
In a recent "Science" article "Changing the Culture of Science
Education at Research Universities" [Anderson et al. (2011)],
thirteen biology research scientists, all Howard Hughes Medical
Institute Fellows, deplore the prevalent university reward systems
that "heavily weights efforts of many professors toward research at
the expense of teaching." They advocate seven initiatives that might
help to address "widespread concern about educating enough scientists
and *scientifically literate citizens*." Of primary concern in this
essay is Initiative #1: "Educate faculty about research on learning.
. . ." THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IF FACULTY ARE TO PLAY A
PROMINENT ROLE IN ADEQUATELY EDUCATING PROSPECTIVE K-12 TEACHERS, WHO
MIGHT THEN, IN TURN, ENHANCE THE SCIENCE/MATH LITERACY OF THE GENERAL
POPULATION.
In that regard, I review an essay "The General Population's Ignorance
of Science Related Societal Issues: A Challenge for the University"
[Hake (2000)] based on an earlier libretto "The Science Illiteracy
Crisis: A Challenge for the University" [Hake (1989)], with the
leitmotiv: "The road to U.S. science literacy begins with effective
university science courses for pre-college teachers." The opera
dramatizes the fact that the failure of universities *throughout the
universe* to properly educate pre-college teachers is responsible for
our failure to observe any signs of extraterrestrial intelligence."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
REFERENCES
Anderson, W.A., U. Banerjee, C.L. Drennan, S.C.R. Elgin, I.R.
Epstein, J. Handelsman, G.F. Hatfull, R. Losick, D.K. O'Dowd, B.M.
Olivera, S.A. Strobel, G.C. Walker, I.M. Warner. 2011. "Changing the
Culture of Science Education at Research Universities: Universities
must better recognize, reward, and support the efforts of researchers
who are also excellent and dedicated teachers," Science, 14 January,
331(6014): 152-153: online as a 172 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/eSLoCl>;
supporting online references suggested by R.R. Hake are at
<http://bit.ly/g24Iqm> [over 75 references and 90 hot links relevant
to (1) Undergraduate Education Reform, and (2) Biology Education
Reform.
Hake, R.R. 2000. "The General Population's Ignorance of Science
Related Societal Issues: A Challenge for the University," AAPT
Announcer 30(2): 105; online as a 2.1 MB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/9LxKOL>.
Hake, R.R. 2011. Invited talk, "Should the Culture of University
Science Education Be Changed" Southern California Section of the
AAPT, 14 May 2011, Pierce College, Woodland Hills, CA; online as a
3.2 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/iegznz> and as reference #63 at
<http://bit.ly/b2UsK6>. The abstract and link to the complete post
are on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/lCyN97> with a
provision for comments.
Hobson, A. 2011. "Scientific illiteracy can kill the planet," Physoc
post of 19 Jul 2011 10:40:25-0500; online at <http://bit.ly/ofFjHn>.
To access the archives of PHYSOC one needs to subscribe :-(, but that
takes only a few minutes by clicking on <http://bit.ly/dVm2AM> and
then clicking on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)." If
you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL" option under
"Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives
and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the
list!
Marshall, C. & E. Lehmann. 2011. "AEP Move to Stop Carbon Capture and
Sequestration Project Shocks Utilities, Miners," New York Times, 15
July; online at <http://nyti.ms/on6ssu>. . . . .[[AEP = American
Electric Power, an Ohio-based utility]]. . . . The report quotes
Whitfield: " 'I'm not really in favor of government subsidies for
CCS or wind power or anything else,' said Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.),
chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He supports private
pursuit of CCS, because it can provide jobs in the coal sector -- but
not because it addresses climate change, which he says human activity
is barely affecting. 'I think human activity is contributing to it,
but I think the amount we're contributing is so small,' he said
yesterday. 'For example, that big volcano eruption in the Philippines
spewed more carbon dioxide in the world -- into the atmosphere --
than all the activity prior to that in human history. So yeah, I
think human activity is contributing to it, but I don't think it's
something to be so alarmist about.' "