tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post2892509191496864582..comments2024-03-21T05:30:03.220-04:00Comments on Science teacher: "The ignorance of experts"doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-63482468549712846542012-12-08T11:57:29.426-05:002012-12-08T11:57:29.426-05:00I have a real problem with Thomas Friedman. He'...I have a real problem with Thomas Friedman. He's a clever author and I would say not dim-witted at all. Instead, he takes complex issues and deliberately spins them in a pro-business fashion with clever metaphors and anecdotal "evidence." He did that with globalization and now he has done that with education. I can't think of a single columnist or writer for that paper that comes close to understanding education.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10956056168256756705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-48071036789959774722012-12-06T15:01:52.317-05:002012-12-06T15:01:52.317-05:00I recently read the Council of 10' report. The...I recently read the Council of 10' report. They were pretty clear - science could only be taught effectively through hands on labs. While I think we can obviously expand the labs portion of that statement to include a lot of other experimental spaces, I do think they were basically right, observation is science.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08098221991466148258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-12981612352159617342012-12-06T10:18:16.005-05:002012-12-06T10:18:16.005-05:00This brought to mind a quote from John Dewey, &quo...This brought to mind a quote from John Dewey, "To maintain the state of doubt and to carry on systematic and protracted inquiry — these are the essentials of thinking."<br /><br />I think it is shame that it took me until my senior year of college to start to truly understand what critical thinking means. We pay a lot of lip service to how much we say we value it in education but, we don't practice what we preach. I think this stems from the fact most people are poor practitioners of it themselves.<br /><br />Questions are scary to some people. They fear their ideology will come crumbling down and maybe it will. We are fighting human nature here. Humans tend to cling tightly to ideology, even more so in the face of contradicting evidence. It is a bizarre thing. This is why science is so important. It teaches us to put aside our instinct to cling and allows us to let go. Personally, I've found it quite freeing.<br /><br />Also, I love Feynman so I felt compelled to comment :-)Shannonhttp://sehauser.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com