The following statement was made approximately 2pm today (March 7, 2016) at the Gardner Auditorium of the Massachusetts State House, where the Massachusetts legislature does its' business. I testified to a Joint Committee, similar to this one, in this same room.
The occasion was an opportunity for the public to have some input on legislation that would remove the Common Core Educational Standards from Massachusetts public schools. I testified in favor of this legislation.
The occasion was an opportunity for the public to have some input on legislation that would remove the Common Core Educational Standards from Massachusetts public schools. I testified in favor of this legislation.
I'm here to talk about the science portion of the Common Core educational standards.
Every so often in history, a person comes along who challenges the established body of scientific thought. Sir Isaac Newton, Nicholaus Copernicus, and Albert Einstein all did it. They used scientific instruments including telescopes and microscopes to make their discoveries, they used the language of science to tell other scientists about their discoveries, and most importantly, they used a process called The Scientific Method to ensure that they were, in fact, adding to the body of scientific knowledge in their field of expertise.
The discoveries that many of them made conflicted with the facts that were taught in the schools at that time. When Copernicus discovered that the earth revolved around the sun, teachers all over the planet were teaching students that the earth was the center of the universe. They were wrong, but it required the skills of a scientist to prove that they were wrong.
There is no guarantee that the scientific facts and figures that are taught in Massachusetts public schools today will still be accurate ten years from now, so it is more important than ever that today's students must be taught how to discover scientific facts and figures, rather than being told facts and figures by a teacher who passes along the facts and figures that he or she learned in a similar classroom thirty years earlier. The Common Core Educational Standards de-emphasize the vital skill of making scientific discoveries using The Scientific Method.
There are people who have a lot of scientific knowledge. I call them technicians. They can take that knowledge and they can help scientists make new discoveries, but unless they know and apply The Scientific Method, they are not scientists. Technicians cannot be trusted to find out whether a new hypothesis is true or false in their field of study. This additional skill is what defines a scientist.
Can a new drug cure skin cancer? A scientist can find out.
Can water be split into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis and later recombined in a fuel cell? A scientist can find out.
Can atoms be split in a way that produces new particles? A scientist can find out.
In order for any of these questions to be answered satisfactorily, scientific principles and practices must be maintained, including The Scientific Method, which is in danger of disappearing in Massachusetts public schools. If it does disappear, all future scientific knowledge will be whatever teachers tell their students. If The Scientific Method disappears from Massachusetts public schools, due to the Common Core Educational Standards, someday a teacher will tell her students that the earth is the center of the universe, and her inadequately-educated students won't know how to prove that she is wrong.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Every so often in history, a person comes along who challenges the established body of scientific thought. Sir Isaac Newton, Nicholaus Copernicus, and Albert Einstein all did it. They used scientific instruments including telescopes and microscopes to make their discoveries, they used the language of science to tell other scientists about their discoveries, and most importantly, they used a process called The Scientific Method to ensure that they were, in fact, adding to the body of scientific knowledge in their field of expertise.
The discoveries that many of them made conflicted with the facts that were taught in the schools at that time. When Copernicus discovered that the earth revolved around the sun, teachers all over the planet were teaching students that the earth was the center of the universe. They were wrong, but it required the skills of a scientist to prove that they were wrong.
There is no guarantee that the scientific facts and figures that are taught in Massachusetts public schools today will still be accurate ten years from now, so it is more important than ever that today's students must be taught how to discover scientific facts and figures, rather than being told facts and figures by a teacher who passes along the facts and figures that he or she learned in a similar classroom thirty years earlier. The Common Core Educational Standards de-emphasize the vital skill of making scientific discoveries using The Scientific Method.
There are people who have a lot of scientific knowledge. I call them technicians. They can take that knowledge and they can help scientists make new discoveries, but unless they know and apply The Scientific Method, they are not scientists. Technicians cannot be trusted to find out whether a new hypothesis is true or false in their field of study. This additional skill is what defines a scientist.
Can a new drug cure skin cancer? A scientist can find out.
Can water be split into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis and later recombined in a fuel cell? A scientist can find out.
Can atoms be split in a way that produces new particles? A scientist can find out.
In order for any of these questions to be answered satisfactorily, scientific principles and practices must be maintained, including The Scientific Method, which is in danger of disappearing in Massachusetts public schools. If it does disappear, all future scientific knowledge will be whatever teachers tell their students. If The Scientific Method disappears from Massachusetts public schools, due to the Common Core Educational Standards, someday a teacher will tell her students that the earth is the center of the universe, and her inadequately-educated students won't know how to prove that she is wrong.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Please read this blog page that discusses Common Core in Massachusetts.
Proposed science and technology standards for students
The statement that I made today was intended to be a summary of that blog page, although I didn't mention my blog page when I made the statement during today's public hearing.
