February 23, 1995: Vol26n28: Today's science teaching 'medieval,' Herreid says

By NATHAN GOLDBERG
Reporter Contributer
Professor Clyde Herreid struck a blow for science Feb. 14 in the UB at
Sunrise lecture series. Pointing to a dangerous trend away from
science in school curriculums and, as a result, in society, he
insisted that 20 percent of kindergarten through 12th grade content
should be composed of scientific instruction as opposed to the  6
percent that schools average today. 
	Herreid blamed the dwindling interest in science on an
American tradition of bad teaching in the sciences. Teachers should
make these potentially intimidating subjects more accessible and
pertinent, Herried said, through the use of case histories, stories,
and other real-life examples. He described his own efforts to liven up
lectures on DNA testing by using the O.J. Simpson trial as a "murder
mystery" example of DNA research applications in police
investigations.
	It's important for students to see how scientific advances are
made, with special attention paid to the numerous mistakes, arguments,
and unresolved issues that are an integral part of science, Herreid
told his audience. Only in this way can students come to see science
as less esoteric and, hopefully, as a viable career option.
	To pinpoint the source of America's scientific malaise,
Herreid cited the preponderance of tabloid science fiction in our
culture. People  tend to see science in extreme and dramatic terms, as
with the excessive  pessimism of "Frankenstein" or "Jurassic Park,"
he said. With both of these examples, Herreid said, one sees a
tendency to consider the scientific process as violating natural laws
or attempting to answer questions that shouldn't be asked. Recent
polls show that 76 percent of people think that science has and will
continue to solve the world's problems, while a similarly high
percentage think that science has made the world a more dangerous
place, Herried said. 
	As the body of scientific knowledge accumulates, Herried said,
books and resources are simply expanded with very little regard for
new interpretations and revision. It is up to the teachers to
streamline this mass of knowledge into something digestible and help
students to develop a more permanent understanding of scientific
principles, he said.
	Herreid called the traditional lecture-based style of teaching
as "medieval." He pointed to "more than 600 studies showing that
students have much better success in small, cooperative groups," and
drew a few terrified gasps when he mentioned the merits of cooperative
test-taking, quickly assuring teachers that this is a learning
technique, and that students would ultimately be graded for unassisted
work.	Simply changing the curriculum and modifying outdated testing
techniques will not be enough, Herried said. It's crucial to make
scientific thought a daily part of students' lives forever, he said.
	"The old ways can't cut it," said Herried. "You've got to
prepare students for science that's yet to be discovered, for books
that have yet to be written, and for ethical questions that have yet
to be posed."