How science makes the world better
08/07/23
After seeing Neil de Grasse Tyson, Josie wrote this Stuff column:
Some of the draft science curriculum, Te MÄtaiaho The Refreshed Curriculum, is welcome. It references “Iearning how to think like a scientist or historian”. As Neil de Grasse Tyson says, "knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think”.
But critics argue the draft curriculum makes no mention of fundamental concepts like gravity, electromagnetism, compounds or molecular bonding.
Maybe those concepts will still be taught, but the balance feels wrong. “Climate” gets 11 mentions, “electricity” and “atoms” three, the periodic table and molecules are mentioned once.
Meanwhile, the draft sneaks in terms like “Western science”. What is that?
Our schools are slipping down the global PISA tables measuring science education. We are creating gated communities of rich kids at private schools expecting to be astrophysicists while the rest, in public schools, get a second class education.
Weakening science education is not fair. It distributes opportunity unevenly, making inequality worse.
Some of the draft science curriculum, Te MÄtaiaho The Refreshed Curriculum, is welcome. It references “Iearning how to think like a scientist or historian”. As Neil de Grasse Tyson says, "knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think”.
But critics argue the draft curriculum makes no mention of fundamental concepts like gravity, electromagnetism, compounds or molecular bonding.
Maybe those concepts will still be taught, but the balance feels wrong. “Climate” gets 11 mentions, “electricity” and “atoms” three, the periodic table and molecules are mentioned once.
Meanwhile, the draft sneaks in terms like “Western science”. What is that?
Our schools are slipping down the global PISA tables measuring science education. We are creating gated communities of rich kids at private schools expecting to be astrophysicists while the rest, in public schools, get a second class education.
Weakening science education is not fair. It distributes opportunity unevenly, making inequality worse.
