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It seems today the mistrust of official health advice and spread of\u00a0\u201calternative\u201d treatments<\/a>\u00a0for COVID-19 are as frightening as the virus itself. How is it that so many people are ill-informed (and seemingly choose to be so) about the pandemic, despite decades of compulsory science education?<\/p>\n Of course we are entering a\u00a0post-truth era<\/a>\u00a0in which fake news and conspiracy theories proliferate, while many have contempt for scientific facts.<\/p>\n But a deeper problem lies in the way we teach science. Our curriculum and instruction are still driven by content mastery and high-stakes testing, which has alienated many young people from scientific ideas.<\/p>\n Students are taught isolated and impersonal facts without understanding the history and processes of how scientists know what we know \u2014 an education in scientific literacy.\\<\/p>\n The\u00a0Australian Curriculum<\/a>\u00a0defines scientific literacy as:<\/p>\n An ability to use scientific knowledge, understanding, and inquiry skills to identify questions, acquire new knowledge, explain science phenomena [\u2026] and draw evidence-based conclusions in making sense of the world, and to recognise how understandings of [\u2026] science help us make responsible decisions and shape our interpretations of information.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While laudable as an educational goal, scientific literacy is seldom emphasised in practice. We need to do more to promote it in primary and secondary schools.<\/p>\n The problem with people\u2019s mistrust of science has little to do with their actual intelligence or overall education. After all, some educated people still\u00a0believe the Earth is flat<\/a>, and\u00a0climate change is contentious<\/a>.<\/p>\n Getting someone to accept a new idea goes beyond the brain to a\u00a0broader consideration<\/a>\u00a0of the person\u2019s social, cultural and emotional factors.<\/p>\n American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt used a\u00a0rider and elephant analogy<\/a>\u00a0to explain why we are resistant to new ideas and beliefs. The rider is the rational side of our mind while the elephant is the unconscious and emotional side. To change a person\u2019s view, it is useless to focus on the rider without addressing the elephant.<\/p>\n Science is full of strange ideas that are sometimes at odds with common sense, such as matter being made of moving atoms, or time being relative. Teaching these ideas as facts is like targeting the rider.<\/p>\n Many\u00a0educational theorists have long argued<\/a>\u00a0the idea knowledge could somehow be \u201ctransferred\u201d from teachers and textbooks to students is untenable. The students will still interpret the taught content through a conceptual framework of prior knowledge and beliefs.<\/p>\n Years of\u00a0research in science education<\/a>\u00a0has found teaching facts alone is an ineffective strategy when trying to change a person\u2019s ingrained misconceptions or \u201calternative theories\u201d.<\/p>\n Scientific theories are built on evidence through the process of argumentation. Every fact and theory taught in the curriculum should be questioned and tested with evidence. Students should ideally observe or collect data for themselves.<\/p>\n There are many\u00a0practical ways to show the Earth is round<\/a>\u00a0that can be done as a classroom activity. For instance, a classroom in Perth can interact online with another classroom in Bali (roughly the same latitude) to simultaneously measure the shadow from a metre stick and use the result to calculate the Earth\u2019s circumference.<\/p>\n Repeatedly\u00a0asking students to question every fact<\/a>\u00a0will instil a lifelong value of critical literacy in science. It is crucial for young people to always evaluate the source of information and discern false claims that are not backed by empirical evidence, such as drinking bleach to treat coronavirus.<\/p>\n I really think teaching people scientific literacy is one of the most important tools today. The lack of trust in science comes from people not being able to understand it. Trust the experts, I promise their degree in it trumps your google search. \u2014 Niraj Pathak (@twinraj06) June 25, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhy facts aren\u2019t enough<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A new approach to teaching scientific literacy<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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