Great stuff Baird, very much appreciate the importance of teaching students a deeper appreciation of science.
To add on to my response to your comment on my article, I think there's something to be said about the epistemological relationship people have with 'science' and the 'scientific method' as a whole, and this is an area that I think the waters have been muddied, in particular between 'hard science' vs 'social science'.
It really raises the question: "Do we have a good enough relationship with the notion of 'truth'?"
The example I often like to give here is: "It is a fact that the temperature in this room is 20 degree celsius. For some people, it will be 'true' that the room is hot. For others, it will be 'true' that the room is cold."
However because the surface reading of science is often associated with 'fact' and 'truth', it then creates all sorts of extra problems because people (even scientists) can get 'locked in' on that and become unwilling to let go of their research. In the STEM world, we are continuing to update our knowledge of the physical world through better equipment, through breakthroughs in understanding, some of which might completely overturn what we had all accepted as 'fact'.
I think there are much more issues within the social science space, as we're attempting to measure multi-variate, subjective experiences (e.g. education), where our relationship with 'fact' might need to be held more lightly and carefully.
Ultimately, I agree that we need to teach kids how to better understand the process of 'seeking truth', and encouraging them to continue to be curious, to hold things lightly, and how they can continue to update their understanding of the world.
Thanks for talking about such an important aspect of education!
You're right Scott. Ultimately we come down to the nature of TRUTH, how we define it, and the methods we use to approximate it. Thomas Kuhn's book about "paradigms" has always been the most helpful to me in grappling with all that.
Glad you're devoting yourself to the matter of curiosity. Looking forward to reading more of your essays!
Great stuff Baird, very much appreciate the importance of teaching students a deeper appreciation of science.
To add on to my response to your comment on my article, I think there's something to be said about the epistemological relationship people have with 'science' and the 'scientific method' as a whole, and this is an area that I think the waters have been muddied, in particular between 'hard science' vs 'social science'.
It really raises the question: "Do we have a good enough relationship with the notion of 'truth'?"
The example I often like to give here is: "It is a fact that the temperature in this room is 20 degree celsius. For some people, it will be 'true' that the room is hot. For others, it will be 'true' that the room is cold."
However because the surface reading of science is often associated with 'fact' and 'truth', it then creates all sorts of extra problems because people (even scientists) can get 'locked in' on that and become unwilling to let go of their research. In the STEM world, we are continuing to update our knowledge of the physical world through better equipment, through breakthroughs in understanding, some of which might completely overturn what we had all accepted as 'fact'.
I think there are much more issues within the social science space, as we're attempting to measure multi-variate, subjective experiences (e.g. education), where our relationship with 'fact' might need to be held more lightly and carefully.
Ultimately, I agree that we need to teach kids how to better understand the process of 'seeking truth', and encouraging them to continue to be curious, to hold things lightly, and how they can continue to update their understanding of the world.
Thanks for talking about such an important aspect of education!
You're right Scott. Ultimately we come down to the nature of TRUTH, how we define it, and the methods we use to approximate it. Thomas Kuhn's book about "paradigms" has always been the most helpful to me in grappling with all that.
Glad you're devoting yourself to the matter of curiosity. Looking forward to reading more of your essays!
Thank you! Lots if great resources and perspective here.
Side note - I enjoyed Hans Rosling quite a bit, too.
Happy Saturday
Thanks Hans. Rosling's stunning data visualizations show how much we have benefitted from all those careful observers/thinkers/scientists.
Another great article, Baird! Thank you!
Thanks Chun!