Ohio lawmakers want to limit the teaching of the scientific process

backseatLover12

Science educators have recognized that teaching science as a large compendium of facts, without reference to the scientific process and theories that bind them together, simply leads to uninterested and uninformed students. So it's a bit mind-boggling to discover that an Ohio state legislator is attempting to block educators from teaching anything about the scientific process. And for good measure, the bill's sponsor threw politics and creationism into the mix.

The bill, currently under consideration by the Ohio Assembly, is intended to revoke a previous approval of the Common Core educational standards, which target math and literacy. However, the bill's language also includes sections devoted to science and social studies. And the science one is a real winner:

The standards in science shall be based in core existing disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics; incorporate grade-level mathematics and be referenced to the mathematics standards; focus on academic and scientific knowledge rather than scientific processes; and prohibit political or religious interpretation of scientific facts in favor of another.

Specifically prohibiting a discussion of the scientific process is a recipe for educational chaos. To begin with, it leaves the knowledge the kids will still receive—the things we have learned through science—completely unmoored from any indication of how that knowledge was generated or whether it's likely to be reliable. The scientific process is also useful in that it can help people understand the world around them and the information they're bombarded with; it can also help people assess the reliability of various sources of information.

Prohibiting "political or religious interpretation of scientific facts," however, opens up a large can of worms. People who believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old frequently claim that they work with the same facts as actual geologists and biologists; they simply interpret them differently. Although the wording of the bill is vague, it could be interpreted as blocking educators from pointing out how completely inconsistent with the data this interpretation is, or prevent them from describing how the evidence favors a four-billion-year-old Earth.

More at http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/08/ohio-lawmakers-want-to-ban-schools-from-teaching-scientific-process/

Last-12-Exit

If I am reading this properly, it is saying that legislators are preventing schools from teaching the scientific process because they (the legislators) believe that since creationism can't be taught, why teach anything else??

I feel bad for the children of Ohio if this passes (which I highly doubt it does).

backseatLover12

The way I see it is that to learn about scientific process, the student has to think. Critical thinking is a dangerous concept to politicians, who pretty much just want us to obey. Enforcing teachers to only teach scientific knowledge is pretty much pushing only the facts. (The legislator pushing it is a republican, no surprise there...)

rr165892

Idiots.These same lawmakers and shapers of our education system also force feed advanced mathematics,(trig,algebra,etc) to. Our HS/College kids .90% will never use any of it in life without going into engineering,medicine or the sciences.All the while teaching basic checkbook skills,credit management and useful everyday math and money skills like investing basics and interest rates info is all but forgotten on the base level to the kids that need that useful info.

mickeyrat

backseatLover12 said:

The way I see it is that to learn about scientific process, the student has to think. Critical thinking is a dangerous concept to politicians, who pretty much just want us to obey. Enforcing teachers to only teach scientific knowledge is pretty much pushing only the facts. (The legislator pushing it is a republican, no surprise there...)

GOP controlled House Senate AND Governor. Gerrymandered districts to keep it such, both in state and for Federal offices.
Had a constituional amendment get defeated to have the districts constructed more equitably by a neutral/bipartisan commission overseen by judges. The formula was rather complicated. If they can simplfy it and better explain it, I think it has a solid chance to pass. I hope so anyway.

backseatLover12

Already passed in the states of Texas and Kansas...

callen

Thank god for the internet.

It will be harder and harder to keep control.

brianlux

Another example of the systematic, deliberate dumbing down of American. And yes, backseatlover, that always starts with doing away with critical thinking. Our schools are more about producing compliant little robotic automatons rather than conscientious, creative and critical thinking children.

hedonist

And, not once is "parent" - in any form - mentioned.

Anywhere.

(I searched!)

Are they absent, absolved, unaccountable?