Monday, June 05, 2006
Aims Essay on Incorporating Historical Perspectives into Science Courses
I read the Aims essay and agree it is important to interject a historical perspective into science courses for liberal arts students. This facilitates a broad and deep perspective as to how and why current scientific thinking has developed and engenders an appreciation for how science is intertwined with all aspects of society, including religion, philosophy, medicine, technology, commerce and so on. In my opinion no matter what field a person is entering an understanding of basic science and its history is crucial to being an informed and productive member of society. As a younger student I too was victimized by my science textbook and the way science was taught to me as a collection of static facts and ideas. It really wasn't until I started teaching that I began to appreciate the history of science and its importance in the total scheme of education. This was mainly due to my "mentor" teacher in my first job who made it a point to include in almost every lesson and lab references to the origins and subsequent development of the scientific ideas concerned. I think the incorporation of the history of science into basic courses simply makes them more exciting and personal to the students.
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3 comments:
There is excitement when you figure something out in the laboratory or in the field, and the only way students can experience that and appreciate how important it is is to do it themselves and/or have a good science teacher who incorporates the history of the science being taught.
I wonder how much hands on experimenting is going by the wayside due to liability concerns (see the latest Wired mag, there's an article about how sad-sack chemistry sets are anymore). more attention paid to the history of science might be the only way to give students some sense of what scientific exploration actually entailed, if they are not given the opportunity to explore because of schools' fears of legal repercussions.
In my experience it's been a combination of the fear of legal repercussions from students being harmed in the lab and laziness on the part of some science teachers. It's much easier for them to simply have students read the book and/or take notes, then answer the questions in the book, and take a test on the material than acttually get hands-on experience and learning.
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