Teaching Science, Scientifically

Inside Higher Ed shares a ray of hope about the education system.

A Nobel-winning physicist has been appointed to help shape the teaching of sciences in the US.

The best approach to teaching science is to understand not education, but the scientific method, according to Carl Wieman. In a speech on this idea Friday night, he began with a hypothesis: “We should approach teaching like a scientist,” he said. The outcome will rely on data, not anecdote. “Teaching can be rigorous just like doing physics research."

He contends, with some authority, that the 'lecture/notes/test' system is flawed, because students don't retain what the teachers attempt to teach. He proposes an approach that improves retention, and teaches students how to think using the scientific process.

[The] problem with the current structure of science education is that teachers try to get students to learn “key concepts” from physics. “We think that physics has a few ideas that can be widely applied,” he said. “So people test for those few ideas.” Wieman says that students really only retain about 30 percent of those key concepts, so this approach simply does not work.

This is the approach of 'teach-to-the-test' now so prevalent in schools. Principals and faculties need those good scores, which are published, on upon which reputations are based. The temptation is huge to simply program children to perform for those standardized tests.

Here's wishing him well.


We need scientists, and lay people who understand what they do and how they do it. 

Who knows, we may eventually be able to lower the temperature at local school board meetings when the teaching of sciences is discussed.