Scientific education in the West has failed (was: Biogenesis and Natural Law)

**Patrick Reany**

(Bilge) wrote in message ...
Patrick Reany:

Scientific education in the West has failed.

All you can really say is that science education in the US at
the primary and secondary level has become mediocre and trend
is making it's way through universities at the undergraduate
level.

I'm interested in the high school and undergraduate college levels in
particular. Do people generally come out of those institutions knowing
how to think critically? No. Do they come out knowing what science is
as a means of vetting "scientific knowledge"? No. Do they come out
understanding the concept of the domain of applicability? No. Do come
out with any concept of epistemology? No.

Do they know the difference between a law, hypothesis, theory, and
model? No. Do they understand the need for operational definitions,
especially in physics? No. Do they understand that physical
concepts/models/theories are not uniquely determined from a set of
physical data? No. Do they understand the pros and cons of both
principle and constructive theories? No. Do they understand the role
of heuristics in science? No. Do they understand that a theory can be
a "good" theory quite apart from whether or not it is "true"? No.

Do they understand that at any moment in time science is the product
of a combination of empirical facts and creative-inventive thinking of
its best scientists, and that therefore science is never just the
result of making simple deductions going from mere facts to successful
theories? No. Do they understand the need in science for a formal
point of view to direct a research program over the long term? No.

Therefore, I say that science education has failed in the West. I
think that it would be no problem to teach this stuff to students from
ages 10 to 18. All we have to do is to just do it. One thing's for
su It isn't going to "just happen."

Patrick

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