Essay on Science for Students and Children

500+ words essay on science.

Essay on science:  As we look back in our ancient times we see so much development in the world. The world is full of gadgets and machinery . Machinery does everything in our surroundings. How did it get possible? How did we become so modern? It was all possible with the help of science. Science has played a major role in the development of our society. Furthermore, Science has made our lives easier and carefree.

Essay on science

Science in our Daily Lives

As I have mentioned earlier Science has got many changes in our lives. First of all, transportation is easier now. With the help of Science it now easier to travel long distances . Moreover, the time of traveling is also reduced. Various high-speed vehicles are available these days. These vehicles have totally changed. The phase of our society. Science upgraded steam engines to electric engines. In earlier times people were traveling with cycles. But now everybody travels on motorcycles and cars. This saves time and effort. And this is all possible with the help of Science.

Secondly, Science made us reach to the moon. But we never stopped there. It also gave us a glance at Mars. This is one of the greatest achievements. This was only possible with Science. These days Scientists make many satellites . Because of which we are using high-speed Internet. These satellites revolve around the earth every day and night. Even without making us aware of it. Science is the backbone of our society. Science gave us so much in our present time. Due to this, the teacher in our schools teaches Science from an early age.

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Science as a Subject

In class 1 only a student has Science as a subject. This only tells us about the importance of Science. Science taught us about Our Solar System. The Solar System consists of 9 planets and the Sun. Most Noteworthy was that it also tells us about the origin of our planet. Above all, we cannot deny that Science helps us in shaping our future. But not only it tells us about our future, but it also tells us about our past.

When the student reaches class 6, Science gets divided into three more subcategories. These subcategories were Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. First of all, Physics taught us about the machines. Physics is an interesting subject. It is a logical subject.

Furthermore, the second subject was Chemistry . Chemistry is a subject that deals with an element found inside the earth. Even more, it helps in making various products. Products like medicine and cosmetics etc. result in human benefits.

Last but not least, the subject of Biology . Biology is a subject that teaches us about our Human body. It tells us about its various parts. Furthermore, it even teaches the students about cells. Cells are present in human blood. Science is so advanced that it did let us know even that.

Leading Scientists in the field of Science

Finally, many scientists like Thomas Edison , Sir Isaac Newton were born in this world. They have done great Inventions. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. If he did not invent that we would stay in dark. Because of this Thomas Edison’s name marks in history.

Another famous Scientist was Sir Isaac Newton . Sir Isaac Newton told us about Gravity. With the help of this, we were able to discover many other theories.

In India Scientists A..P.J Abdul was there. He contributed much towards our space research and defense forces. He made many advanced missiles. These Scientists did great work and we will always remember them.

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Under the umbrella of the IAP, more than 140 national, regional and global member academies work together to support the vital role of science in seeking evidence-based solutions to the world’s most challenging problems.

IAP empowers academies and regional academy networks to provide independent, authoritative advice on global, regional and national issues.

IAP communicates the importance of science, engineering and medicine.

IAP engages with its member academies in a number of ways to carry out projects and programmes.

Read the latest news from the IAP and its international network.

science education essay

Science education: purpose, methods, ideas and teaching resources

What is the purpose of science education, what is the best method of teaching science, what is inquiry-based science education, what is an example of inquiry-based learning, free online resources for science teachers, science education ideas.

To prosper in this modern age of innovation requires the capacity to grasp the essentials of diverse problems, to recognise meaningful patterns, to retrieve and apply relevant knowledge.

Science education has the potential for helping the development of the required abilities and understanding by focusing on developing powerful ideas of science and ideas about the nature of scientific activity and its applications .

Scientific literacy refers to an individual’s scientific knowledge and its use . It allows an understanding of the scientific process and makes it possible to apply evidence-based knowledge across a broad range of issues that require individual and collective action (such as responding to COVID-19 and climate change , or understanding AI, machine learning and other new technologies).

Science Education is a key area for the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) , whose Science Education Programme (SEP) is led by a Global Council of experts that defines and implements its annual activities on global and regional scales.

girls doing science

Science education should enhance learners’ curiosity , wonder and questioning , building on their natural inclination to seek meaning and understanding of the world around. Scientific inquiry should be introduced and encountered by school students as an activity that can be carried out by everyone including themselves.

They should have personal experiences of finding out about and of making connections between new and previous experiences that not only bring excitement and satisfaction but also the realisation that they can add to their knowledge through active inquiry . Both the process and product of scientific activity can evoke a positive emotional response which motivates further learning.

scientific activity for children

Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) adopts an investigative approach to teaching and learning where students are provided with opportunities to investigate a problem, search for possible solutions, make observations, ask questions, test out ideas, and think creatively and use their intuition. In this sense, inquiry-based science involves students doing science where they have opportunities to explore possible solutions, develop explanations for the phenomena under investigation, elaborate on concepts and processes, and evaluate or assess their understandings in the light of available evidence.

This approach to teaching relies on teachers recognizing the importance of presenting problems to students that will challenge their current conceptual understandings so they are forced to reconcile anomalous thinking and construct new understandings.

IAP seeks to reform and develop science education on a global scale, especially in primary and secondary schools, with a pedagogy based on IBSE because it provides opportunities for students to see how well their ideas work in authentic situations rather than in abstract discussions. Students build knowledge through testing ideas, discussing their understanding with teachers and their peers, and through interacting with scientific phenomena.

science class experiment

An example of inquiry-based learning is ' COVID-19! How can I protect myself and others? ' ( free download here ), a new rapid-response guide for youth aged 8–17 developed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Smithsonian Science Education Center , in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and IAP .

The guide, which is based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , aims to help young people understand the science and social science of COVID-19 as well as help them take actions to keep themselves, their families and communities safe .

Through a set of seven cohesive student-led tasks , participants engage in the activities to answer questions previously defined by their peers . The questions explore the impact of COVID-19 on the world, how to practice hand and respiratory hygiene and physical distancing, and how to research more information about COVID-19. The final task teaches youth how they can take action on the new scientific knowledge they learn to improve their health and the health of others. Each task is designed to be completed at home.

covid child

Food! Community Research Guide

Food! is a freely available community research guide that uses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to focus on sustainable actions that are defined and implemented by students ( download it here ).

Mosquito! Community Research Guide

This module effectively promotes excellence within science education while fostering pioneering approaches to empower and unite educators around the world. Mosquito! addresses the problem of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes from an educational point of view ( download it here ). 

Other teaching resources and guides

You can download more teaching resources and guides here .

Inquiry-based science education resources

The IAP publication “ Working with Big Ideas of Science Education ” (available for free here ) includes this list of ideas that all students should have had opportunity to learn by the end of compulsory education:

All matter in the Universe is made of very small particles

Atoms are the building blocks of all matter, living and non-living. The behaviour and arrangement of the atoms explains the properties of different materials. In chemical reactions atoms are rearranged to form new substances. Each atom has a nucleus containing neutrons and protons, surrounded by electrons. The opposite electric charges of protons and electrons attract each other, keeping atoms together and accounting for the formation of some compounds.

Objects can affect other objects at a distance

All objects have an effect on other objects without being in contact with them. In some cases the effect travels out from the source to the receiver in the form of radiation (e.g. visible light). In other cases action at a distance is explained in terms of the existence of a field of influence between objects, such as a magnetic, electric or gravitational field. Gravity is a universal force of attraction between all objects however large or small, keeping the planets in orbit round the Sun and causing terrestrial objects to fall towards the centre of the Earth.

Changing the movement of an object requires a net force to be acting on it

A force acting on an object is not seen directly but is detected by its effect on the object’s motion or shape. If an object is not moving the forces acting on it are equal in size and opposite in direction, balancing each other. Since gravity affects all objects on Earth there is always another force opposing gravity when an object is at rest. Unbalanced forces cause change in movement in the direction of the net force. When opposing forces acting on an object are not in the same line they cause the object to turn or twist. This effect is used in some simple machines.

The total amount of energy in the Universe is always the same but can be transferred from one energy store to another during an event

Many processes or events involve changes and require an energy source to make them happen. Energy can be transferred from one body or group of bodies to another in various ways. In these processes some energy becomes less easy to use. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Once energy has been released by burning a fossil fuel with oxygen, some of it is no longer available in a form that is as convenient to use.

The composition of the Earth and its atmosphere and the processes occurring within them shape the Earth’s surface and its climate

Radiation from the Sun heats the Earth’s surface and causes convection currents in the air and oceans, creating climates. Below the surface heat from the Earth’s interior causes movement in the molten rock. This in turn leads to movement of the plates which form the Earth’s crust, creating volcanoes and earthquakes. The solid surface is constantly changing through the formation and weathering of rock.

Our solar system is a very small part of one of billions of galaxies in the Universe

Our Sun and eight planets and other smaller objects orbiting it comprise the solar system. Day and night and the seasons are explained by the orientation and rotation of the Earth as it moves round the Sun. The solar system is part of a galaxy of stars, gas and dust, one of many billions in the Universe, enormous distances apart. Many stars appear to have planets.

Organisms are organised on a cellular basis and have a finite life span

All organisms are constituted of one or more cells. Multi-cellular organisms have cells that are differentiated according to their function. All the basic functions of life are the result of what happens inside the cells which make up an organism. Growth is the result of multiple cell divisions.

Organisms require a supply of energy and materials for which they often depend on, or compete with, other organisms

Food provides materials and energy for organisms to carry out the basic functions of life and to grow. Green plants and some bacteria are able to use energy from the Sun to generate complex food molecules. Animals obtain energy by breaking down complex food molecules and are ultimately dependent on green plants as their source of energy. In any ecosystem there is competition among species for the energy resources and materials they need to live and reproduce.

Genetic information is passed down from one generation of organisms to another

Genetic information in a cell is held in the chemical DNA. Genes determine the development and structure of organisms. In asexual reproduction all the genes in the offspring come from one parent. In sexual reproduction half of the genes come from each parent.

The diversity of organisms, living and extinct, is the result of evolution

All life today is directly descended from a universal common ancestor that was a simple one-celled organism. Over countless generations changes resulting from natural diversity within a species lead to the selection of those individuals best suited to survive under certain conditions. Species not able to respond sufficiently to changes in their environment become extinct.

Science is about finding the cause or causes of phenomena in the natural world

Science is a search to explain and understand phenomena in the natural world. There is no single scientific method for doing this; the diversity of natural phenomena requires a diversity of methods and instruments to generate and test scientific explanations. Often an explanation is in terms of the factors that have to be present for an event to take place as shown by evidence from observations and experiments. In other cases supporting evidence is based on correlations revealed by patterns in systematic observation.

Scientific explanations, theories and models are those that best fit the evidence available at a particular time

A scientific theory or model representing relationships between variables of a natural phenomenon must fit the observations available at the time and lead to predictions that can be tested. Any theory or model is provisional and subject to revision in the light of new data even though it may have led to predictions in accord with data in the past.

The knowledge produced by science is used in engineering and technologies to create products to serve human ends

The use of scientific ideas in engineering and technologies has made considerable changes in many aspects of human activity. Advances in technologies enable further scientific activity; in turn this increases understanding of the natural world. In some areas of human activity technology is ahead of scientific ideas, but in others scientific ideas precede technology.

Applications of science often have ethical, social, economic and political implications

The use of scientific knowledge in technologies makes many innovations possible. Whether or not particular applications of science are desirable is a matter that cannot be addressed using scientific knowledge alone. Ethical and moral judgments may be needed, based on such considerations as justice or equity, human safety, and impacts on people and the environment.

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IAP Science Education Programme

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A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

This framework identifies the key scientific ideas and practices adults should have to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to science education to capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. The framework is designed to make science education more closely resemble the way scientists work and think and envisions that students will gradually deepen their understanding of scientific ideas over time by engaging in practices that scientists and engineers actually use.

Adult educators will find the framework useful in that it identifies the key scientific ideas and practices that students should learn by the end of high school. The framework was the foundation for two LINCS science courses that introduce adult instructors to the importance of science education, curriculum planning, and the use of science in adults’ daily lives:

  • Engaging Adult Learners in Science
  • Scientific Practices in Context: Curricular Planning and Lesson Development

The framework organizes the key scientific ideas and practices under three dimensions:

Dimension 1: Scientific and Engineering Practices. The framework highlights eight key practices that students should learn, such as asking questions and defining problems, analyzing and interpreting data, and constructing explanations and designing solutions. These practices should be integrated with study of the disciplinary core ideas and applied throughout students’ education.

Dimension 2: Crosscutting Concepts. The framework identifiesseven crosscutting concepts that have explanatory value across much of science and engineering, such as “cause and effect” and “stability and change.”  These concepts should be taught in the context of core ideas from the disciplines of science but teachers should use a common language for these concepts across disciplines, so that students understand the same concept is relevant in many fields. 

Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas. The framework specifies core ideas in four disciplinary areas -- life sciences; physical sciences; earth and space sciences; and engineering, technology and the applications of science. For example, among the core ideas in the physical sciences are “matter and its interactions” and “energy.” 

The report concludes with a research and development agenda focused on teacher practice and curricular resources.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education builds upon more than 25 years of discussion and writing about the teaching and learning of science in America, in formal and informal settings. It is an immensely useful document, providing a structure for the implementation of its core principles and standards. This is especially true as it applies to the field of adult education, because it includes a section on how to implement seven cross-cutting concepts such as patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion and quantity; and system models.  These concepts are integral to the development of many skills and the concepts are directly applicable to educational needs evidenced by adult students who come to our programs.

The Guiding Assumptions and Organization of the Framework are particularly interesting summaries of learning theories and ideas that serve as the foundation of the report. Dimension 1 (Scientific and Engineering Practices) and Dimension 2 (Crosscutting Concepts) are also good foundational pieces for those who may be involved in creating standards for adult literacy or bridge/post secondary programs in science. Dimension 3 (Disciplinary Core Ideas) provides more detailed information on each of the four content areas.

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National Academies Press: OpenBook

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012)

Chapter: summary.

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S cience, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life, and they also hold the key to meeting many of humanity’s most pressing current and future challenges. Yet too few U.S. workers have strong backgrounds in these fields, and many people lack even fundamental knowledge of them. This national trend has created a widespread call for a new approach to K-12 science education in the United States.

The Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards was charged with developing a framework that articulates a broad set of expectations for students in science. The overarching goal of our framework for K-12 science education is to ensure that by the end of 12th grade, all students have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of science; possess sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on related issues; are careful consumers of scientific and technological information related to their everyday lives; are able to continue to learn about science outside school; and have the skills to enter careers of their choice, including (but not limited to) careers in science, engineering, and technology.

Currently, K-12 science education in the United States fails to achieve these outcomes, in part because it is not organized systematically across multiple years of school, emphasizes discrete facts with a focus on breadth over depth, and does not provide students with engaging opportunities to experience how science is actually done. The framework is designed to directly address and overcome these weaknesses.

The framework is based on a rich and growing body of research on teaching and learning in science, as well as on nearly two decades of efforts to define foundational knowledge and skills for K-12 science and engineering. From this work, the committee concludes that K-12 science and engineering education should focus on a limited number of disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts, be designed so that students continually build on and revise their knowledge and abilities over multiple years, and support the integration of such knowledge and abilities with the practices needed to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design.

The committee recommends that science education in grades K-12 be built around three major dimensions (see Box S-1 for details of each dimension). These dimensions are

•     Scientific and engineering practices

•     Crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science and engineering through their common application across fields

•     Core ideas in four disciplinary areas: physical sciences; life sciences; earth and space sciences; and engineering, technology, and applications of science

To support students’ meaningful learning in science and engineering, all three dimensions need to be integrated into standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Engineering and technology are featured alongside the natural sciences (physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences) for two critical reasons: (1) to reflect the importance of understanding the human-built world and (2) to recognize the value of better integrating the teaching and learning of science, engineering, and technology.

The broad set of expectations for students articulated in the framework is intended to guide the development of new standards that in turn guide revisions to science-related curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. A coherent and consistent approach throughout grades K-12 is key to realizing the vision for science and engineering education embodied in the framework: that students, over multiple years of school, actively engage in science and engineering practices and apply crosscutting concepts to deepen their understanding of each field’s disciplinary core ideas.

The framework represents the first step in a process that should inform state-level decisions and provide a research-grounded basis for improving science teaching and learning across the country. It is intended to guide standards developers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science

THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF THE FRAMEWORK

1 Scientific and Engineering Practices

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

2. Developing and using models

3. Planning and carrying out investigations

4. Analyzing and interpreting data

5. Using mathematics and computational thinking

6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

7. Engaging in argument from evidence

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

2 Crosscutting Concepts

1. Patterns

2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation

3. Scale, proportion, and quantity

4. Systems and system models

5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation

6. Structure and function

7. Stability and change

3 Disciplinary Core Ideas

Physical Sciences

PS1: Matter and its interactions

PS2: Motion and stability: Forces and interactions

PS3: Energy

PS4: Waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer

Life Sciences

LS1: From molecules to organisms: Structures and processes

LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics

LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits

LS4: Biological evolution: Unity and diversity

Earth and Space Sciences

ESS1: Earth’s place in the universe

ESS2: Earth’s systems

ESS3: Earth and human activity

Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

ETS1: Engineering design

ETS2: Links among engineering, technology, science, and society

administrators, professionals responsible for science teacher education, and science educators working in informal settings.

The report also identifies the challenges inherent in aligning the components of K-12 science education with this new vision for science and engineering education, provides recommendations for standards development, and lays out a research agenda that would generate the insights needed to update the framework and inform new standards in the future. The committee emphasizes that greater improvements in K-12 science and engineering education will be made when all components of the system—from standards and assessments, to support for new and established teachers, to providing sufficient time for learning science—are aligned with the framework’s vision.

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

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Why philosophy is so important in science education

<p>The Cassini mission was a direct consequence of Einstein’s thought experiments. <em>Photo JPL/NASA</em></p>

The Cassini mission was a direct consequence of Einstein’s thought experiments. Photo JPL/NASA

by Subrena E Smith   + BIO

science education essay

Each semester, I teach courses on the philosophy of science to undergraduates at the University of New Hampshire. Most of the students take my courses to satisfy general education requirements, and most of them have never taken a philosophy class before.

On the first day of the semester, I try to give them an impression of what the philosophy of science is about. I begin by explaining to them that philosophy addresses issues that can’t be settled by facts alone, and that the philosophy of science is the application of this approach to the domain of science. After this, I explain some concepts that will be central to the course: induction, evidence, and method in scientific enquiry. I tell them that science proceeds by induction, the practices of drawing on past observations to make general claims about what has not yet been observed, but that philosophers see induction as inadequately justified, and therefore problematic for science. I then touch on the difficulty of deciding which evidence fits which hypothesis uniquely, and why getting this right is vital for any scientific research. I let them know that ‘the scientific method’ is not singular and straightforward, and that there are basic disputes about what scientific methodology should look like. Lastly, I stress that although these issues are ‘philosophical’, they nevertheless have real consequences for how science is done.

At this point, I’m often asked questions such as: ‘What are your qualifications?’ ‘Which school did you attend?’ and ‘Are you a scientist?’

Perhaps they ask these questions because, as a female philosopher of Jamaican extraction, I embody an unfamiliar cluster of identities, and they are curious about me. I’m sure that’s partly right, but I think that there’s more to it, because I’ve observed a similar pattern in a philosophy of science course taught by a more stereotypical professor. As a graduate student at Cornell University in New York, I served as a teaching assistant for a course on human nature and evolution. The professor who taught it made a very different physical impression than I do. He was white, male, bearded and in his 60s – the very image of academic authority. But students were skeptical of his views about science, because, as some said, disapprovingly: ‘He isn’t a scientist.’

I think that these responses have to do with concerns about the value of philosophy compared with that of science. It is no wonder that some of my students are doubtful that philosophers have anything useful to say about science. They are aware that prominent scientists have stated publicly that philosophy is irrelevant to science, if not utterly worthless and anachronistic. They know that STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is accorded vastly greater importance than anything that the humanities have to offer.

Many of the young people who attend my classes think that philosophy is a fuzzy discipline that’s concerned only with matters of opinion, whereas science is in the business of discovering facts, delivering proofs, and disseminating objective truths. Furthermore, many of them believe that scientists can answer philosophical questions, but philosophers have no business weighing in on scientific ones.

W hy do college students so often treat philosophy as wholly distinct from and subordinate to science? In my experience, four reasons stand out.

One has to do with a lack of historical awareness. College students tend to think that departmental divisions mirror sharp divisions in the world, and so they cannot appreciate that philosophy and science, as well as the purported divide between them, are dynamic human creations. Some of the subjects that are now labelled ‘science’ once fell under different headings. Physics, the most secure of the sciences, was once the purview of ‘natural philosophy’. And music was once at home in the faculty of mathematics. The scope of science has both narrowed and broadened, depending on the time and place and cultural contexts where it was practised.

Another reason has to do with concrete results. Science solves real-world problems. It gives us technology: things that we can touch, see and use. It gives us vaccines, GMO crops, and painkillers. Philosophy doesn’t seem, to the students, to have any tangibles to show. But, to the contrary, philosophical tangibles are many: Albert Einstein’s philosophical thought experiments made Cassini possible. Aristotle’s logic is the basis for computer science, which gave us laptops and smartphones. And philosophers’ work on the mind-body problem set the stage for the emergence of neuropsychology and therefore brain-imagining technology. Philosophy has always been quietly at work in the background of science.

A third reason has to do with concerns about truth, objectivity and bias. Science, students insist, is purely objective, and anyone who challenges that view must be misguided. A person is not deemed to be objective if she approaches her research with a set of background assumptions. Instead, she’s ‘ideological’. But all of us are ‘biased’ and our biases fuel the creative work of science. This issue can be difficult to address, because a naive conception of objectivity is so ingrained in the popular image of what science is. To approach it, I invite students to look at something nearby without any presuppositions . I then ask them to tell me what they see. They pause… and then recognise that they can’t interpret their experiences without drawing on prior ideas. Once they notice this, the idea that it can be appropriate to ask questions about objectivity in science ceases to be so strange.

The fourth source of students’ discomfort comes from what they take science education to be. One gets the impression that they think of science as mainly itemising the things that exist – ‘the facts’ – and of science education as teaching them what these facts are. I don’t conform to these expectations. But as a philosopher, I am mainly concerned with how these facts get selected and interpreted, why some are regarded as more significant than others, the ways in which facts are infused with presuppositions, and so on.

S tudents often respond to these concerns by stating impatiently that facts are facts . But to say that a thing is identical to itself is not to say anything interesting about it. What students mean to say by ‘facts are facts’ is that once we have ‘the facts’ there is no room for interpretation or disagreement.

Why do they think this way? It’s not because this is the way that science is practised but rather, because this is how science is normally taught. There are a daunting number of facts and procedures that students must master if they are to become scientifically literate, and they have only a limited amount of time in which to learn them. Scientists must design their courses to keep up with rapidly expanding empirical knowledge, and they do not have the leisure of devoting hours of class-time to questions that they probably are not trained to address. The unintended consequence is that students often come away from their classes without being aware that philosophical questions are relevant to scientific theory and practice.

But things don’t have to be this way. If the right educational platform is laid, philosophers like me will not have to work against the wind to convince our students that we have something important to say about science. For this we need assistance from our scientist colleagues, whom students see as the only legitimate purveyors of scientific knowledge. I propose an explicit division of labour. Our scientist colleagues should continue to teach the fundamentals of science, but they can help by making clear to their students that science brims with important conceptual, interpretative, methodological and ethical issues that philosophers are uniquely situated to address, and that far from being irrelevant to science, philosophical matters lie at its heart.

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The Importance of Science Education in Society

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