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Re: science fair petition?



At 11:00 AM 10/7/99 -0700, William J. Beaty wrote:

Here's another angle on the problem. It's the "single right answer"
mindset held my many educators. If we should ask "what is the scientific
method?", and if there are several right answers, then it collides with
contemporary education thinking; the "Single Correct Answer" is the
only one which can be accepted. Educators don't want to hear about the
many right answers regarding the methods of science, so they choose the
"best" one (the one which resembles the process of 'doing physics'), and
they discard the ones associated with Biology, Astronomy, etc. According
to the "single right answer" mindset, there can only be one 'real'
science, and as a result we end up wrongly elevating experimental sciences
above others. Want to build a 12" reflector and go hunting for comets?
That's not science! Right.

I think the way to resolve this problem is through the textbook publishers.
If we or one or more prestigious scientific organizations could convince
them to re-write textbooks so that this is said, with several examples of
different scientific methodologies given, and a clear understanding of the
open-ended nature of scientific investigation is made, then I think the
educators would be forced to go along with it.


Ron Ebert
ron.ebert@ucr.edu
=================
Instead of trying to find weird answers to puzzles, how about trying the
mundane? It may not be as much fun, but it tells us a lot more about the
world around us.

Nancy Craig - Skeptics list