Citizen science, and perhaps more

This article in the Chronicle, "Teaching Science So It Sticks", focuses on the attempt, the modest but challenging attempt, of producing not scientists, but graduates who appreciate the process and value of science in their lives.

It strikes me that a high school course with that goal would be as valuable for the majority of students as those based on the usual content at the expense of relevancy.

Some sound bites:

Programs like Oregon’s recognize an equally important but less heralded need: for the vast majority of students, who will never major in the natural and physical sciences, to gain some understanding or appreciation of those subjects...

Scientific reasoning — observing, hypothesizing, experimenting, evaluating evidence — is a staple of childhood. Kids are eager to test, say, the explosive properties of a breath mint dropped into a soda bottle. But something changes. Curricular convention in schools often restricts serious science courses to students who excel in math. ..Also, instruction must contend with the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge, which doubles every nine years, by one estimate. Eventually the child’s impulse to explore and wonder shrivels before a wall of arcana.. 

"If we as a community don’t do a better job of helping our students understand the process of science," he says, "we’re not doing a good job of preparing voters, teachers, and parents.""Our goal is, five years hence, they’ve graduated and can pick up The New York Times science section and find it interesting and not intimidating," says Judith S. Eisen, a neurobiologist who is director of Oregon’s Science Literacy Program. And if they want to learn more, they know how to find reliable sources of information. "That," she says, "would be a fantastic outcome."

And then, as I get to the rest of the issue, I find this, "Wonder Beyond Measure," as perhaps an even higher calling for science education. After reflecting on the objectives of his 22 years of teaching college level science, the author writes:

All of those objectives are important, but beyond them there is one even more vital: the capacity for wonder. And wonder is a response to the world — to life! — that thankfully remains beyond the reach of quantitative assessment. Wonder will never be encapsulated in any "Student Learning Outcome":

"The environmental-science student will demonstrate a passionate love for the natural world, as symbolized by a tiny bird."

"The environmental-science student, when presented with a nestling song sparrow, will be consumed by awe."

"At the conclusion of his or her undergraduate education, the environmental-science student will effectively articulate his or her ineffable appreciation for the beauty, stunning complexity, and tenacity of life, as evidenced by a nestling song sparrow."

"The departmental benchmark for successfully achieving Student Learning Outcome No. 7 is that 70 percent of the students will score 70 percent or better on the instruments designed to examine their ability to express wonder. If the benchmark is not attained, then the following closing-the-loop actions will be undertaken. … "

I love it.