Scientific Habits of Mind and Bunk Detectors
It's a weekend witnessing the odious Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed spreading into movie theaters across the land. The reviews are somewhat tepid; my favorite so far is in the New York Times: "One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time...a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry...an unprincipled propaganda piece that insults believers and nonbelievers alike. In its fudging, eliding and refusal to define terms, the movie proves that the only expulsion here is of reason itself."
Anyone looking for information on how best to counter the claims and assertions in the movie should consult the National Center for Science Education's terrific new website, Expelled Exposed.
And anyone wanting to reacquaint themselves with the ability of "scientific habits of mind" to improve the human condition should do two things:
First, watch the April 7th installment of the Charlie Rose Science Series: The Imperative of Science, with Paul Nurse, President of Rockefeller University; Harold Varmus, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Bruce Alberts, Editor-In-Chief of Science; and Lisa Randall of Harvard University.
Second, read Bruce Alberts' March 21st editorial in Science. Here's an excerpt:
Let's start with a big-picture view. The scientific enterprise has greatly advanced our understanding of the natural world and has thereby enabled the creation of countless medicines and useful devices. It has also led to behaviors that have improved lives. The public appreciates these practical benefits of science, and science and scientists are generally respected, even by those who are not familiar with how science works or what exactly it has discovered.
But society may less appreciate the advantage of having everyone acquire, as part of their formal education, the ways of thinking and behaving that are central to the practice of successful science: scientific habits of mind. These habits include a skeptical attitude toward dogmatic claims and a strong desire for logic and evidence. As famed astronomer Carl Sagan put it, science is our best "bunk" detector. Individuals and societies clearly need a means to logically test the onslaught of constant clever attempts to manipulate our purchasing and political decisions. They also need to challenge what is irrational, including the intolerance that fuels so many regional and global conflicts.
So how does this relate to science education? Might it be possible to encourage, across the world, scientific habits of mind, so as to create more rational societies everywhere? In principle, a vigorous expansion of science education could provide the world with such an opportunity, but only if scientists, educators, and policy-makers redefine the goals of science education, beginning with college-level teaching. Rather than only conveying what science has discovered about the natural world, as is done now in most countries, a top priority should be to empower all students with the knowledge and practice of how to think like a scientist.