This article is within the scope of WikiProject Education, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of
education and
education-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EducationWikipedia:WikiProject EducationTemplate:WikiProject Educationeducation articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Science, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of
Science on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ScienceWikipedia:WikiProject ScienceTemplate:WikiProject Sciencescience articles
The distinction may be more prominent in the US than other countries, yet is still pretty subtle. Science Education refers to the study of how to teach science (pedagogy, inclusive practices, etc). Education in science I think would refer to actually doing the teaching. If you know the point of view of other countries, it is needed in this article. And you're right, an article on
pedagogy is needed. --
zandperl 17:05, 23 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Questions
"it is by chance more rigorous" <- Can someone explain what this phrase means?
"On the one hand, the elitism of professional scientists and academia has prompted numbers of education specialists to take interest in science education and making it more accessible to individuals." <- Does this mean something like, "Some science education specialists work towards the goal of making science education and career paths towards science professions equally accessible to all demographic groups" ?
"Opposing the science educators, traditional scientists feel it is important to not dilute respectable science." <- I do not understand why "making science more accessible" should imply a "dilution of respectable science." There are many professional scientists who participate in enrichment and support programs that attract under-represented groups to science. The only organized efforts I know of by scientists to exclude any group from science are watchdog efforts designed to challenge con artists from falsely labeling their non-scientific activities as science. Such efforts to prevent the "dilution of respectable science" only oppose those efforts of "educators" who have special agendas for forcing non-science like "creation science" into the science curriculum.
"Allowing those less qualified to perform science will only result in the propagation of errors and less accurate science." <- I'm not sure what this sentence is telling us. Most professions define and work to maintain standards. However, there is a well-recognized and long tradition of "amateur science" which has produced some high-quality science. Nobody can be prevented from doing science. It makes sense to allow working scientists to require certain professional qualifications of those who they hire to do science.
"Both groups wish to train future scientists, they differ on how to do so, and whom is qualified." <- Can you provide some examples of these differences?
JWSchmidt 13:38, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
I've numbered your points above for easier reference.
I think that means that despite the lack of regulation, American colleges are generally considered to be of higher quality than those in other countries.
yep you're right, specifically underrepresented groups such as women, ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities. see
The Baltimore Charter for Women in Astronomy for some of their concerns.
That section isn't referring to pseudoscience, but what potential scientists must go through to become accepted scientists. For example going to
college is required as an early step. Going to college requires scoring well on the
SAT. When's the last time a student in an inner city high school scored well on the SAT? This isn't intentional by the scientists, it's an unfortunate side effect, and can easily be dismissed as just trying to keep out the stupid people. While most science organizations (such as the
National Science Foundation and
NASA) today do engage in outreach activities to try and attract people to science, if you examine their history these were usually implemented only after science educators started examining trends in student recruitment and retention.
see above note
see above note
Are these adequate explanations, and do you agree? If so, how can we put it in the article? I think I did much of the work on the parts you questioned, so I'm sure additional input is sorely needed. :)
The original intent seems to me to be a comparison between pre-college science teaching and what happens in college.
Elitism: the attitude that society should be governed by an elite group of individuals. I would like to see a specific example of how "the elitism of professional scientists and academia" is causally related to the problem of under-represented groups in science. For example, is there evidence to suggest that the percentage of female biologists is a higher than the percentage of female computer scientists because computer scientists are more elitist than biologists? Surely the problem is not that there are standards for the science track in education. The problem is that not all demographic groups equally meet the standards.
I'm still confused. Is there evidence that any scientists oppose addressing the problem of under-represented groups in science? Are there really science educators who want to "dilute respectable science" in the interest of equal representation of all demographic groups in science?
Are science educators in favor of requiring working scientists to hire unqualified personnel just so that there are no under-represented groups in science?
Can you provide an example of how science educators would train future scientists in a different way than how scientists currently do it?
JWSchmidt 23:32, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC)
This article would appear to be written primarily from a negative viewpoint. It seems to violate the
NPOV guidelines, especially seeing that references aren't given for the statements that are made.
I'll come back in a couple days and clean up the article unless references have been cited or arguments are made on the talk page.
Examples
"In many U.S. states, K-12 educators must adhere to rigid standards or frameworks of what content is to be taught to which age groups." -- True...but a reference should be cited.
"Unfortunately, this often means teachers rush to "cover" the material, without truly "teaching" it." --Seems like a generalization. Definitely needs a citation. I'm sure this isn't the case all the time.
"In addition, the process of science is often overlooked, such as the scientific method, and critical thinking, producing students who can pass multiple choice tests (such as the New York Regents exams and the Massachusetts MCAS), but cannot solve complex problems." --Another generalization. Again, I'm sure that this isn't true as much as this statement seems to be implying it is.
"Although at the college level American science education tends to be less regulated, it is actually more rigorous" --Citation needed
"with teachers and professors fitting more content into the same time period." --Citation needed. Not to mention this seems to contradict the arguments in the second sentence.
"In 1996, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences of the U.S. National Academies produced the National Science Education Standards which is available online for free in multiple forms. Its focus on inquiry-based, rather than memorization-based, science education was somewhat controversial at the time, but has been shown to be more effective as a model for teaching science, if less amenable to multiple-choice tests." --Citation needed
"One the most approachable and important documents about science education is the volume "How People Think" by John D. Bransford, et al. In this compact and highly digested volume, the fruit of massive research into student thinking is presented as having three key findings:**"--Citation needed (a volume unknown to the international science education community is unwarrantedly applauded here)
I don't feel that the
Science education article is an appropriate place to put links for commercial companies that provide science equipment. These sites have very little to do with the content of the article. Not to mention there are hundreds of science equipment suppliers. How would you pick which ones to include and which not to? I feel that this article should focus not on equipment, but on
pedagogy &
curriculum.
Benwildeboer11:17, 20 October 2006 (UTC)reply
External Links
IMHO, the external links section should provide the reader with resources related to the teaching of science. I don't feel it should be a repository of links to lesson plans, in-class activities, or science sites for students. The link to ERIC databases was the only site previously listed that I though included the type of information that should be referenced by this site. Any other thoughts or opinions on the matter?
As this section is totally US-centric and may not reflect the rest of the world, I've changed this heading to "United States" in order to make it more commensurate with the "United Kingdom" heading below.
Liverpool Scouse22:50, 15 December 2006 (UTC)reply
Reference to the Physical Science Study Committee
In the section about the United States I've added a link to the article on the PSSC and claim that this was the first of the reform efforts of the era. This could be wrong. Reform of mathematics might have preceeded establishment of the PSSC. Will someone please check and correct if necessary. Thanks.
PeterEasthope (
talk)
17:03, 30 August 2009 (UTC)reply
The link in the column on the left is to an Italian article about the "Science of Education", in the sense of teaching method in general, roughly corresponding to what would be taught in English-speaking countriea in a Faculty of Education, so there is no point in linking to it. I couldn't find a corresponding Italian article specifically about science teaching.
Campolongo (
talk)
10:48, 12 November 2012 (UTC)reply
I have removed copyrighted content taken from
here. I have left the paragraph that was added along with the lists by the same user as it doesn't appear to a blatant copy/paste like the list was, but there may be some close paraphrasing that needs changed/removed.
Sarahj2107 (
talk)
15:19, 4 April 2013 (UTC)reply
I have just added archive links to one external link on
Science education. Please take a moment to review
my edit. If necessary, add {{
cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{
nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).
If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with
this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with
this tool.
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 January 2023 and 8 May 2023. Further details are available
on the course page. Student editor(s):
Mxf1209 (
article contribs).