Science Education & Science Teaching Quotes

After only 25 years—1998—this material was in the schoolbooks of every industrial democracy in the world with the exception of the United States. At that time a substantial minority of the school children from the South, Kansas, and Oklahoma, had their books censored and were not able to study evolution as a result of protestant fundamentalist objections to teaching anything which contradicts the Bible. It was uncertain what would happen in the years to 2023—the 50 years cited in the quotation. The material is being taught in China, India, Thailand, Korea, and many developing nations where there ideological obstacles have been in the Islamic nations, but not Turkey which is with the other industrial democracies. So in the 25 yeas, the majority of the school children of the world find the material “commonplace” in their schools and books.

This is a very important quotation regarding the issue of whether Intelligent Design should be taught in science classes in public schools. Opponents claim that there is no scientific validity to Intelligent Design and those school boards and state agencies who rule that it must be taught along side of Evolution, do so only because they are trying to promote a particular religious viewpoints. This quotation lends support to those objections. Generally, the Federal Courts have ruled that because of this religious purpose and other factors, Intelligent Design may not be taught in science classes. (It could be taught as culture or theology to show what some people believe, but it may not be taught as science or as an alternative scientific approach to Evolution.

Most of the young people who go into Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Programming and Engineering take calculus in high school. Most of the 50 percent of the schools which do not offer calculus to anyone are in poorer and disproportionately Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

The trial convicted a teacher, Scopes, of the “crime” of teaching the theory of evolution in a school.

Bethe was the head of the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos and was one of the Senior Scientists who developed the Atomic Bomb.

This quotation is not only a classic criterion of whether or not a question is scientific, but it became very fundamental to the political debate in the late 20th century over the teaching of so called “Creationism” in the science curriculum of the public schools. The Federal courts have ruled that it is not science, and as such may not be taught in science classes. The reason that it is not science is that it is not falsifiable as this and other scientific definitions require.

This quotation illustrates the problem the politician and citizens have in trying to understand scientific issues. Most fields are amendable to learning much about by reading professional articles. Laymen can read legal opinions and lean much from them. Politicians can read articles about public opinion or a new form insurance policy. But it is generally impossible for the non scientifically trained person to even read much of the literature to try and learn more. This is why without scientific literacy, citizens and politicians alike will have great difficulty in integrating new scientific advances in our society. In the last 50 years much of economics and financing have reached the same state as the sciences. Officials who are supposed to regulate areas cannot understand the new developments of what they are trying to regulate.

She had a plan whereby necessities would be free to all citizens. See Related Quotes. This was in 1933.

In a policy statement relegating non-evolution theories of origin such as creation science to the social science and language arts curricula:

She had just defeated the previous board chairwoman, Linda Holloway,who had voted with the majority the previous year to revise the standards so that evolution would not be included. See Linda Holloway {603677}.

The Science Guy

The problem effects politics in that politicians and their staffs who have to understand critical concepts cannot even read up on the subject very deeply unless they have experience with the technical vocabulary of the specific field. The result is that are dependent on experts and are unable to reach conclusions for themselves.

1st Baron Lytton of Knebworth. This non democratic nature of science causes politicians in a democracy difficulty in many situations. In Southern communities where there are a high percentage of Fundamentalist Christians over 60 percent of the citizens are convinced that The Theory of Evolution is not only in error but is a negative force in society and should not be taught in schools. Yet virtually all the biological scientists—a small minority of the population tell the politicians the contrary, and that Evolution is one of the most important aspects of their science. Many politicians have trouble coping with this type of problem—go with the few or the many.

In September, 2007, Vitter earmarked $100,000 in federal money for a Christian group, the Louisiana Family Forum, known for challenging evolution by means of "teaching the controversy" which promotes intelligent design. When the earmark became public, other legislators pressured Vitter to withdraw is earmark which he did in October of 2007. Vitter had been a major opponent of spending federal money for education, but made an exception for this project. Vitter’s hypocrisy extended to his own behavior as well. See {625898}.

The school board had been pressured by religious fundamentalists throughout the state of Georgia to affix these stickers to all textbooks as there were no textbooks that met curricular standards that did not teach evolution. As soon as they started this practice, a suit was filed in the Federal District Court which found the practice violated both the Federal and Georgia State Constitutions ({586989}). The only reason that the stickers had been used was to try and placate those religious fundamentalists of the community who were opposed to the teaching of evolution. See {586968} for a quote from the legal opinion.

It was not very long before there was no scientific field any longer in which any human being could learn everything that is known. Sherrington was one of the first to see that coming.