I’ve been giving lots of thought recently to the teaching of the science subject at schools. I’m wondering whether spending more time learning how we “do” science –– the scientific method –– is more valuable than simply making children memorize scientific “facts”.
After all, science isn’t a collection of facts about the world. That’s just called “knowledge”. Rather, science is a process of thinking and making sense of the world, which will then lead to new knowledge. We’ve often heard it said that we should be teaching children not what to think but how to think. However, schools now spend so much of the science subject loading up children’s brains with “knowledge”.
Surely, everyone needs a basic scientific understanding. We all need to know some science: facts about the world to help us make informed decisions about important issues that face us all in our everyday lives, from the risks of smoking to the benefits of exercising or why recycling our waste is good for the planet.
Yet what seems to be missing today is an understanding of the way we gain this scientific understanding of the world. Nowadays, social media has played a significant role in spreading information. However, many people use it as a medium for spreading disinformation or harmful opinions. But social media has only enlarged the societal problem that has been with us.
On top of this, our attention spans(时长)are naturally getting shorter, and we don’t take the time to question our views, or ask whether the information we are getting is reliable. This is where thinking scientifically can help. Adopting some of the ways that good science is practiced can help us to critically assess what we believe, question our own views before we attack views we don’t like, and so on.
This is exactly why we should be teaching more of scientific methods in schools. This remarkable way of seeing, thinking and knowing, is one of humankind’s great riches and the birthright of everyone. And, most wonderfully, it only grows in quality and value the more widely it is shared.
【小题1】What is the author concerned about according to Paragraph 1?| A．The teaching topics of the science subject. | B．Students’ interest in the science subject. |
| C．The teaching content of the science subject. | D．The lack of emphasis on science in schools. |
| A．The application of science in daily lives. | B．The understanding of science in daily lives. |
| C．The method of knowing scientific facts. | D．Some scientific phenomena in daily lives. |
| A．The spread of false information. | B．The misunderstanding of science. |
| C．The popularity of social media. | D．The negative impact of social media. |
| A．Improved attention in class. | B．Growing interest in science. |
| C．The deeper understanding of science. | D．The ability to think critically. |
