Oh for the love of SCIENCE!

When exactly did it become socially acceptable to reject science?  Why does a certain political party, closely aligned with and bolstered by a particular religious ideology, not only reject science, but spend time, effort, and a whole lot of money trying to convince the general public that some scientific evidence is bogus?

"Global warming is a hoax."  "You can't believe in evolution and the Bible at the same time".  This kind of stuff is seen on TV and read in newspapers all the time here in the United States, but you don't see it as much in other countries.  To me, it begs the question,

"What is the connection between anti-science rhetoric and statistics that show American students falling behind students in other parts of the world when it comes to science?" 

I just don't get it.  I can understand how the oil, gas, and coal industry would be upset to say goodbye to their huge profits as people turn to renewable, cleaner forms of energy.  And I can understand how politicians who are in the pockets of the oil, gas, and coal lobby would continue to do their bidding against what seems reasonable in terms of conservation, sustainability, and reducing the use of fossil fuels.  But I don't get why religious people fall in line with the climate-change deniers. 

It's probably because I am more of a big picture person when it comes to spirituality.

There are plenty of reports out there that offer a variety of reasons why American students are falling behind students in other countries when it comes to STEM subjects.  Frankly, most of them blame the American educational system, or blame teachers, but consider this for a moment.  

Science is the first discipline in that acronym.  With the huge push toward STEM in American education in recent years, why would the U.S. lag behind?  I wrote a blog post about the PISA results in which I tried to offer some perspective after the U.S. found itself in the middle of the pack.  Good old American ingenuity, creativity, entrepreneurship are not tested on the PISA.  Along with Diane Ravitch and others, I believe that because of this we should take the overall results with a grain of salt, but again, what about the science part of STEM?

We want - even expect - American students to lead (or at least be competitive) globally when it comes to STEM, yet I think schools and teachers are hindered by the anti-science folks in our midst.  These people are actively working against us.  Turn on FOX for a moment and you will hear politicians and religious leaders vehemently denying the science that supports climate change and global warming.  In another segment you will hear someone trying to convince listeners that the "theory" part of the theory of evolution means "kinda, sorta, maybe like a guess".  Add this to the fact that many of the companies that supply textbooks to schools all over the US are located in Texas which seems to be a hotbed of anti-science folks.  Many schools are now using online or web-based text resources, but if the same people who were responsible for publishing the print-based resources are in charge of the web-based ones, whose views are being represented?

Science cannot tell theology how to construct a doctrine of creation, but you can't construct a doctrine of creation without taking account of the age of the universe and the evolutionary character of cosmic history."

~ John Polkinghorne  ~

I really resonated with the blog post linked here: Science, Religion, and Climate Change: The Dangerous Corruption of American Education.  I don't have any problem accepting  science and believing that somehow God has a hand in it.  My husband is an Episcopal priest and teaches theology at the University of St. Thomas.  His classes include a wide variety of students, many whom have no Bible knowledge at all and some who have fundamentalist evangelical backgrounds.  Many of the latter are taught to believe the Bible word for word and have absorbed enough of what they heard from the pulpit to think that the earth is only 6000 years old.  UST is a Roman Catholic institution, and my husband spends time with students in class discussing the official Roman Catholic stance on evolution: that it is  possible to accept the theory of evolution and believe in the Bible.  

That's pretty much how I think about it too.  If the world began with a big bang, why not believe it was God who said Go?  Scientific evidence supports the theory of evolution, why not believe that this all fits into God's grand design.  If the earth is a gift from God, why don't we want to take better care of it?  When scientific evidence is pretty clear that human behavior is causing climate change, why are there people who deny it and work against science?

It shouldn't have to be "all or nothing".  I accept scientific evidence for what it is, and I believe in God.  There is harmony here.

PISA test scores? Wait a minute!

I read the following on Diane Ravitch's blog: "Let others have the higher test scores. I prefer to bet on the creative, can-do spirit of the American people, on its character, persistence, ambition, hard work, and big dreams, none of which are ever measured or can be measured by standardized tests like PISA."  I respect Ms. Ravitch for her credentials.  For a long time she supported standardized testing, teacher accountability and school choice.  After serving as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education during the Bush administration and as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board that supervised national testing she had an epiphany about teaching, learning, and assessment.  She realized she had been wrong.

PISA is the Programme for International Student Assessment.  This year's test results are in, and American hair is on fire.  "Stagnant!" declared NPR and other news outlets.  

But is our position in the middle of the pack truly something to be alarmed about?  I don't think so, and here's why.

A test is a snapshot on any given moment on any given day.  A test like the PISA (try it for yourself here) only measures things that can be measured - questions that have a right and wrong answer.  A test like this cannot measure creativity, critical and innovative thinking, problem-solving abilities or people skills. 

It's little wonder that US scores rank behind those of Asian countries.  First of all, many of those countries simply do not include scores of all students. Special education students are not tested (and may not even be in the schools), neither are those who are not proficient in the testing language.  In the US, we test them all (special education students and students who do not have proficiency in English) and include all their scores, even if (in my opinion) is is not appropriate to do so.  To compare our scores as if they were apples-to-apples is a flawed comparison at best, and should push readers toward a careful analysis of the testing sample.  Secondly, the type of educational environment in Asian countries that produces the high test scores is one that is not likely to be embraced in the US.  Regimented learning, long school days, pressure from parents and stressed out students may be a stereotype, but it comes from recognizable and identifiable characteristics of the educational systems in those countries.

Think for a moment about the 21st Century skills that students need and that we hear so much about.  Employers are looking to hire people who have them, and teachers are being evaluated on how they teach them, but are they - CAN they - be assessed or measured on a test like the PISA?  Leadership, ethics, accountability, adaptability, personal productivity, personal responsibility, people skills, self-direction, and social responsibility all appear on the rubric I use when I observe teachers in their classrooms as their instructional coach.  You will notice that these skills are NOT content in and of themselves, yet they are critical components of success in life and success in employment.  These are "soft skills" and as far as I know, there is no standardized test for them.

Let's return to Diane Ravitch's thoughts about standardized tests in general, and the PISA test specifically: "We measure whether students can pick the right answer to a test question. But what we cannot measure matters more. The scores tell us nothing about students’ imagination, their drive, their ability to ask good questions, their insight, their inventiveness, their creativity. If we continue the policies of the Bush and Obama administrations in education, we will not only NOT get higher scores (the Asian nations are so much better at this than we are), but we will crush the very qualities that have given our nation its edge as a cultivator of new talent and new ideas for many years."

Click here to read Ms. Ravitch's entire post.