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Thursday, August 04, 2011
Science | offering opposing views amounts to teaching poor science
An informal survey this spring of 800 members of the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) found that climate change was second only to evolution in triggering protests from parents and school administrators. Online message boards for science teachers tell similar tales. Unlike biology teachers defending the teaching of evolution, however, earth science teachers don't have the protection of the First Amendment's language about religion. But the teachers feel their arguments are equally compelling: Science courses should reflect the best scientific knowledge of the day, and offering opposing views amounts to teaching poor science. Most science teachers don't relish having to engage this latest threat to their profession and resent devoting precious classroom time to a discussion of an alleged "controversy." And they believe that politics has no place in a science classroom. Even so, some are being dragged against their will into a conflict they fear could turn ugly.
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2 comments:
I doubt many people would have a problem with science teachers telling their students that a majority of climate scientists have an alarmist opinion. As long as they also taught about the shortcomings of the science -- the monitoring station fiasco, the lack of quality control for the databases, the absence of transparency, audit or replication, the demonstrated statistical and software incompetence, and the failure of the climate models to meet basic standards.
IOW Stan, you are an advocate of teaching poor science. You don't share ALL of the science concerning climate change, and I doubt that you ever will.
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