Vicki Cobb has written many science books for children.
She writes:
I write science books for children. People are confused about what science is.
Is it a body of knowledge?
Yes, one that has been growing incrementally and exponentially for the past 500 years.
How is this knowledge accumulated?
By experimental procedures that are verifiable by others and corrected by others.
It is produced by a community and is the original wiki. Why do some people distrust science?
Partly because much of it is non-intuitive or counter intuitive.
Why should we believe that the earth circles the sun, when it looks like the heavens circles us? What is its value that no other discipline has? It predicts with accuracy.
It doesn’t need to be believed in. For those who are questioning our faith in science when it comes to the course of this pandemic, they may be dead before they learn that they are wrong.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What a concept, this science thing. I’m always amazed how many people don’t believe in it. I’ll take science over lying politicians any day.
I’ll take science over religion and it’s preachers any day. . .
. . . realizing that most politicians like preachers have idiologies* that defy and/or deny too many of scientific “truths”.
*Idiology (n) The belief in and acceptance of undeniable errors and falsehoods. The ideology of idiots.
I read a great article in Rolling Stone recently about religion in the United States. It’s quite an eye opener. Check it out https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/christian-right-worships-donald-trump-915381/
Luckily, we live in a Democratic Society in which no one would systematically doubt science.
I guess there might be a few who would do so, but remember, they are probably snake oil salesmen who have no qualms about perpetuating a Hoax on their fellow Americans, let alone non-Americans if it is to their personal advantage or if it feeds their egos.
Btw, did you see Trump’s ratings over the weekend? OMG — they were like Monday Night Football, which might end up being an historical curiosity.
Few?
90% of Americans believe in a god.
There are so many yummy books for young people to read.
In the last school where I was a classroom teacher the kids honestly NEVER did a worksheet and didn’t read basal readers. These kids read literature and wrote every day. Curriculum was integrated and the kids also learned how to speak Spanish. My co-teacher was fluent in Spanish. We did science experiences and the students “lived” the scientific method.
It was bliss.
Two kids won statewide writing awards, too.
BTW, this was NOT in a rich community. This was a mountain community population 200.
Here are some wonderful resources of books for young people.
Click to access OP2010-Present.pdf
https://www.clrsig.org/nbgs-lists.html
I wish all students could have this kind of school experiences.
We taught an entire family of kids in our school, the school capacity 40 students, K-6.
Now it’s a K-5 school. 6th graders take the school bus down the mountain to a middle school in the city.
What about the science the DNC willfully ignored when they said it was safe to vote two weeks ago? https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-coronavirus-primary-voting
I have a dear friend who served as an election judge in Arizona who’s now experiencing “flu-like symptoms”.
Carl Sagan wrote a great book on the subject: The Demon Haunted World: science as a candle in the dark
“Science Says”
Science says
To stay at home
Science says
To talk by phone
Science says
To wash your hands
Science says
The time demands
Some “adieu!”
Advice of Science
They will rue
Their own defiance
One of the great books of our times. You caused me to look up my notes and I realized this is where I picked up and internalized what I plagiarized below:
In this valedictory statement of scientific philosophy, Sagan elevates the idea and relevance of the scientific method in our daily and public lives. It is not something to “believe in,” it is a way of looking at the world with healthy skepticism and pragmatic attention to systematic, verified observation. “Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don’t conform to our preconceptions.” (We don’t “believe in,” for example, climate change; we make decisions to accept the validity about the prevailing scientific research and interpretation of its findings.) Sagan uses examples in history including UFOs, superstitions, dragons and other mythical monsters, and a variety of other topics to explain how science has demonstrated how these things do not exist and why we should not live in fear of them. He tackles those who promote anti-science such as fake approaches to treating and “curing” diseases, how to engage in the “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” and how public figures use these things to distort pubic dialogues about policy.
But the one thing that makes this book so special to me is Sagan’s connection of science to the civic education and engagement that is required of citizens in the modern world, which are essential if we are to be free. I think it worth quoting the final paragraph of this, the last book he wrote in his life, something he wrote when he knew had, at best, a few short months to live. These are quite literally the last public words of the greatest scientific communicator who has ever lived:
“Education on the value of free speech and the other freedoms reserved by the Bill of Rights, about what happens when you don’t have them, and about how to exercise and protect them, should be an essential prerequisite for being an American citizen—or indeed a citizen of any nation, the more so to the degree that such rights remain unprotected. If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.”
The beauty of science is that the process leads to evidence based conclusions. We live in a time of fake news, misleading assertions and bold lies. Fact checking is a necessary part of modern life. It is astounding that so many people continue to refuse to accept clear evidence.
Keep an open mjnd
Keep an open mind
But keep your brain inside
That is what you’ll find
Science will abide
Entertain some doubt
And question what is said
But let it all fall out
And you will just be dead
Dang, SomeDam! I don’t think it gets much better than that.
Victor Klemperer’s collection of essays on how the language of Nazism unconsciously creeped into the German language, LTI, is I think is required reading for today. One of ways the Right trounces the Left is by determining the vocabulary that is used for political debate. We subconsciously accept, for example, and use the term “small government” and even if we oppose the rhetoric, we shoot ourselves every time we cede any rhetorical ground. When we do that, we submit to a defensive posture.
One of the worst offenses is the overuse and misapplication of the term “science” and linking it with the words “believe” and “trust,” at least how the latter is used in the headline of this post. In terms of science, we must distinguish between accepted views based on the scientific method that can be replicated and/or peer reviewed. We have ongoing debates about the “science of reading.” But by accepting the term science for this drivel which can neither be replicated or subjected to rigorous peer review, we lose the framing of the argument. We don’t “believe” in climate change nor do we “trust” the scientists. We accept the findings of the scientific method and we accept the finding of the scientific community, emphasis on community. And we change our opinions when the application of the scientific method verifies new knowledge. It is not a matter of belief or trust, but consensus based on methodical observation. Whatever trust exists is based on this, not belief.
Thanks for this, Greg. As Duane is fond of telling us, words and their literal meaning are important aspects of a discussion. He always reminds us the saying “measurement” when we are talking about learning is not legitimate.
The absurd question, “Do you believe in climate change?” , should never be answered without the proper response. We should point out to the people in such a conversation, and I have it all the time with students, that climate change is not a belief system, but is a scientific idea that is in constant revision by scientists. Same with evolution, nuclear physics, etc.
Nazi scientists constantly had to revise their ideas to fit the ever-tightening noose around their necks. Had Hitler ever achieved any stability, like Stalin did in the Soviet Union, science would have found itself falling behind the world like it did in the USSR. Hitler’s successors would have been coming up with the German word for Glasnost.
Well stated, Greg!
Here is great refresher for adults who have forgotten how the vaccine to prevent measles was developed. Some of the scientific steps of that era would not pass muster to today. Even so, the multistep process is well documented. Someon should beam it into the brain of the President. I have also forced myself to watch FOX news now and then. It is an extended case study in manufacturing viral propoganda. https://www.c-span.org/video/?458170-2/mission-measles-story-vaccine
I was reminded of a tale from Shelbyville, Tennessee in 1915. That is a town in my home county where my great-grandfather was the jailer in a jail built of huge rocks in 1868, the year my grandfather was born. Across the street from the jail was the Big Spring, the source of water for the Town of Shelbyville since its beginning in 1810. Citizens had long used the water from this spring, and it probably provided the source for the 1833 cholera epidemic that killed a third of the town.
In 1915, typhoid came from its pristine waters, and doctors closed the spring to human use but did not wall it off. One old gentleman complained that the water had served him well enough all his life and continued to drink from the spring. He died of Typhoid. Today the spring is under pavement. I wish I could say that the town learned its lesson, and today we listen to the doctors. This is not true. Science deniers abound, and those who think that corona is a plot are everywhere.
Back to the future.
Here’s a further erosion of science, thanks to the Federalist Society and the Hoover Institute, in the service of ideology. Epstein is one of the people Trump and the GOP listen to.
“Although Epstein is a crackpot, he’s a crackpot who has a far-reaching influence thanks to the right-wing legal network that has nurtured his entire career. His absurd article on the coronavirus is not just a personal scandal or a blot on his record, but also evidence of wider social and political corruption.
“Epstein has been allowed to flourish thanks to a host of institutions, including the Federalist Society, the University of Chicago, New York University, and the Hoover Institution. All of them are tarnished by his ridiculous coronavirus article.
“The pandemic has made Epstein more famous, but his ideas have been circulating in elite legal and political circles for decades. As such, his influence on the current moment is deeper than just a few articles read in the Trump White House. As author Matt Stoller tweeted, “In case you’re wondering why we can’t handle the #coronavirus as a society it’s because Richard Epstein types have been designing our corporate and government bureaucracies for four decades.” In other words, Epstein’s delusional views on the coronavirus resonate in the Trump White House because Republicans have been acting on Epstein’s ideas for decades.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/epstein-trump-coronavirus-crackpot/
I once sat next to Richard Epstein at a dinner at the Hoover Institution. I don’t remember what we argued about but I recall that he was certain, arrogant, and unreasonable. I mentioned our unpleasant conversation to others, and they said that no one wanted to sit next to him.
Here’s a link to the New Yorker interview. He’s truly cuckoo.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-contrarian-coronavirus-theory-that-informed-the-trump-administration
I first thought you were talking about Jeffrey Epstein and found that surprising, not because politicians –and even scientists — (regardless of party) would listen to him (which many did), but because he died almost a year ago (allegedly😉)
Science is the most viable alternative for rationo-logically explaining the phenomena that we can, and even a lot that we as humans can’t, perceive. One of the main reasons it is so is that the practice of science maintains a “fidelity to truth” (Comte-Sponville) attitude. His chapter on “Fidelity” in “A Small Treatise of the Great Virtues” more fully explains said attitude. I’ve believed for decades now that all teachers should read that book. If you haven’t read it, please give it a read!
The critical thing is that science maintains a fidelity to truth not because scientists are necessarily truthful but because Nature demands it.
As Richard Feynman said, “reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.”
If scientists try to fake something, eventually experiment WILL prove them wrong.
Humans sometimes fool themselves and/or other humans, but Nature can’t be fooled.
And for the current situation, that means viruses can’t be fooled.
Yep, and because viruses cannot be fooled, or threatened, or demonized by Trump, he is still struggling to figure out how to attack COVID-19, so his followers will threaten to kill it and drive it into hiding.
Viruses can’t be fooled
Viruses can’t be fooled
So better wash your hands
They can’t be overruled
So better leave the sands
Viruses can’t be duped
So better isolate
It’s better to be cooped
Than in a sickly state
Is “A Small Treatise of the Great Virtues” the title of the book you recommend?
Yes! Excellent discussions on “human good” or virtues.
Took my doctoral adviser about 6 months to convince me to read it-I had had my fill of virtues from the nuns to last a lifetime. 😉
BEST SENTENCE: “For those who are questioning our faith in science when it comes to the course of this pandemic, they may be dead before they learn that they are wrong.”
Think about it: Who is the Emperor of Science deniers in today’s world – the one with the loudest mouth and hyper twitter fingers?
Science has been politicized. There are many differing ideas of the truth because of this. Science knowledge and data is in constantly flux. It is hard without a scientific background to determine what is correct and what is propaganda. My husband who is a scientist (Phd. Chemistry) agrees that this is a problem. For those of us who are not scientists it is hard to tell the difference. It did not help that science was an untested subject for awhile. Nor did it help that the science standards have changed twice in my state during the last 5 years. It is also frustrating to purchase equipment for science investigation (out of my own pocket) and need to start over with a new set of standards.
The focus on “standards” for elemtary science is wholely misguided.
In the elementary grades, the focus should instead be on keeping children excited and curious about the world around them and giving them a basic idea about what science is about.
My brother (a biologist and chemist) has spent the last ten years as an science teacher . He has students doing simple experiments to learn about science and does not teach according to any set of standards, although his lessons undoubtedly cover many (if not all) of the standards laid out in various standards systems.
I have discussed these things at length and seen his classes in action and I know for a fact that his approach works and importantly, produces many young adults who are still very interested in science.
In my opinion, the very worst outcome of the current standards (and textbook) based approach to elementary science is that it turns so many children off to the whole endeavor. Children are naturally curious and to kill that curiosity is a crying shame.
My brother is an elementarscience teacher
As I was reading this article in the Harvard Business Review about how Italy responded to the pandemic, I realized the recommendations mirrored what many of you cite as characteristics of good teaching and effective learning.
https://hbr.org/2020/03/lessons-from-italys-response-to-coronavirus
“…a month later it became clearer that the episode might have been emblematic of a much deeper issue: that hospitals traditionally organized to deliver patient-centric care are ill-equipped to deliver the type of community-focused care needed during a pandemic.”
From the article. Thanks for this, Greg.
Other than a very active federal government, what institution can act on behalf of all the people? Will we wake to the truth that there are some health issues that demand federal response when all this is over? Will the right’s insistence on the emasculation of a central authority be rejected in favor of a more balanced view of shared political power?