Philosophy
In a faculty development seminar on Science, Technology, and Society that I'm leading, a couple of the participants commented on a feature of new science textbooks that is being pitched as a selling point -- names are being stripped from laws, theories, and bodily organs. So, the islets of Langerhans are now being called pancreatic islets. This is billed as a pedagogical advance because the name is now reflective of the placement or function and thus the language is more useful to the practitioner and easier to remember.\
But, of course, what it also does is strip the last element of history from the teaching of the science. Thomas Kuhn pointed this out in the 50s when he first called our attention to the use of textbooks in science education. We already lose the narrative, the context, the elements that led some incredibly smart and clever person to ask a question in a new way or approach it in a fashion no one else had considered and as a result advanced human understanding of the natural world. Now we want to make it seem completely non-human, something that comes down complete without a biography, without a history, without a backstory.
Now, this whitewashing is being held as the cutting edge of science pedagogy. I'm hoping someday someone tells its story.
- Technology In The Classroom
Whenever we hear discussions of improving education these days, someone inevitably brings up "technology in the classroom" as if it is unquestioningly something that leads to better learning. But is it? Sure, technology improved manufacturing -- more...
- Social Science And Technology
I'm leading a faculty development seminar designed to encourage the creation of Science, Technology, and society classes, courses that look at the ways in which science and/or technology affect and are affected by culture. At our first meeting yesterday,...
- Darwinians Should Teach The Controversy
I think it is wrong for our science students not to be taught the controversy surrounding Darwinian evolution in public high schools. Of course, I'm not speaking about intelligent design creationism here, but other controversies. I'll never forget...
- Textbooks
One of my projects for the summer is working on a philosophy of science textbook I've been developing bit by bit for a few years now. It is one of the world's worst kept secrets that textbooks, required for virtually every course, tend not to...
- Science Textbook Overhaul
Some classic old science textbooks from the 1950s get an update. "Classic 1950s Science Textbooks Get a 21st-Century Update" by Carl DeTorres October 16th, 2009 Wired "Classic 1950s Science Textbooks Get a 21st-Century Update" ...
Philosophy
Dehumanizing Science
In a faculty development seminar on Science, Technology, and Society that I'm leading, a couple of the participants commented on a feature of new science textbooks that is being pitched as a selling point -- names are being stripped from laws, theories, and bodily organs. So, the islets of Langerhans are now being called pancreatic islets. This is billed as a pedagogical advance because the name is now reflective of the placement or function and thus the language is more useful to the practitioner and easier to remember.\
But, of course, what it also does is strip the last element of history from the teaching of the science. Thomas Kuhn pointed this out in the 50s when he first called our attention to the use of textbooks in science education. We already lose the narrative, the context, the elements that led some incredibly smart and clever person to ask a question in a new way or approach it in a fashion no one else had considered and as a result advanced human understanding of the natural world. Now we want to make it seem completely non-human, something that comes down complete without a biography, without a history, without a backstory.
Now, this whitewashing is being held as the cutting edge of science pedagogy. I'm hoping someday someone tells its story.
- Technology In The Classroom
Whenever we hear discussions of improving education these days, someone inevitably brings up "technology in the classroom" as if it is unquestioningly something that leads to better learning. But is it? Sure, technology improved manufacturing -- more...
- Social Science And Technology
I'm leading a faculty development seminar designed to encourage the creation of Science, Technology, and society classes, courses that look at the ways in which science and/or technology affect and are affected by culture. At our first meeting yesterday,...
- Darwinians Should Teach The Controversy
I think it is wrong for our science students not to be taught the controversy surrounding Darwinian evolution in public high schools. Of course, I'm not speaking about intelligent design creationism here, but other controversies. I'll never forget...
- Textbooks
One of my projects for the summer is working on a philosophy of science textbook I've been developing bit by bit for a few years now. It is one of the world's worst kept secrets that textbooks, required for virtually every course, tend not to...
- Science Textbook Overhaul
Some classic old science textbooks from the 1950s get an update. "Classic 1950s Science Textbooks Get a 21st-Century Update" by Carl DeTorres October 16th, 2009 Wired "Classic 1950s Science Textbooks Get a 21st-Century Update" ...