Why science education is more important than most scientists think
Bruce Alberts
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that a shockingly large fraction of the public is willing to ignore scientific judgements on issues such a vaccines and mask wearing. For far too many, scientific findings are viewed as what scientists believe, rather than as the product of an elaborate community process that produces reliable knowledge. This widespread misunderstanding should serve as a wake-up call for scientists, clearly demonstrating that the standard way that we teach science – as a large collection of “facts” that scientists have discovered about the world – needs major change. Three more ambitious and important goals for science education at all levels are outlined. In order of increasing difficulty, these are: (1) to provide all adults with an ability to investigate scientific problems as scientists do, using logic, experiment, and evidence; (2) to provide all adults with an understanding of how the scientific enterprise works – and why they should therefore trust the consensus judgements of science on issues like smoking, vaccination, and climate change; and (3) to provide all adults with the habit of solving their everyday problems as scientists do, using logic, experiment, and evidence. Although examples exist for attaining all of these goals, extensive education research will be needed to discover how best to teach the last two. I argue that such an effort is urgent, and that it can best begin by focusing on the introductory courses in biology and other science disciplines at the university level. All of life is an education, and I have been privileged to experience science from many different perspectives: in academia as a faculty member for 25 years overseeing a laboratory exploring the mysteries of the cell through protein biochemistry, as the full-time president of the National Academy of Sciences for 12 years, as the Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine for 5 years, and as a member of the board of tens of different nonprofit organizations attempting to make the world a better place. What have I learned from these experiences? Most of all, I have become convinced that greatly expanding the impact of science, science education and the global community of scientists will be crucial for the world's future. As powerfully argued in the pioneering publication Science for All Americans [[1]], ‘science is in many respects the systematic application of some highly regarded human values – integrity, diligence, fairness, curiosity, openness to new ideas, skepticism, and imagination. Scientists did not invent any of these values, and they are not the only people who hold them. But the broad field of science does incorporate and emphasize such values and dramatically demonstrates just how important they are for advancing human knowledge and welfare’. Today, unless we can spread both scientific thinking and these critical scientific values much more broadly throughout society, I fear for humanity's survival. The famous American scholar of education, John Dewey, came to the same conclusion in 1910. Arguing in Science magazine for much less teaching of ‘science as subject matter’ (the ‘facts’ discovered by scientists) and much more teaching of ‘science as method’, Dewey wrote that ‘One of the only two articles that remain in my creed of life is that the future of our civilization depends upon the widening spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of mind; and that the problem of problems in our education is therefore to discover how to mature and make effective this scientific habit’ [[2]]. In this brief essay, I will attempt to address Dewey's ‘problem of problems’ in education: how much progress has been made since 1910, and what do we know about the most promising ways to address his problem today? Dewey claimed that ‘the facts of nature are multitudinous, inexhaustible, they begin nowhere and end nowhere in particular, and hence are not, just as facts, the best material for the education of those whose lives are centered in quite local situations’ [[2]]. This claim is even more insightful today, because the number of important ‘facts of nature’ has grown by orders of magnitude since Dewey's time. And yet – as the example I know best – a typical introductory college biology course still attempts to cover all of biology. This leaves no time for students to gain a deep understanding of any of its many different aspects, nor time to gain an appreciation for Dewey's ‘science as method’. One factor strongly driving teaching in the wrong direction has been the invention of multiple-choice tests that can be scored by machine, saving busy college professors from the need to read student answers. Dewey would be dismayed to see the resulting widespread trivialization of today's science education. Much of this schooling has been converted into a game, in which the students periodically memorize those science facts most likely to be assessed in the next course examination – a process that cannot really be called ‘education’, because it is unlikely to change anything permanently in their brains. In our current test-driven education systems, the fact that it is much easier to test for science words and definitions than for science understanding and abilities propels a trivialization of science education, and it threatens to push most students, including many potential scientists, away from science. Not surprisingly, how ‘science education’ is defined in college science classes sets the standard for science education at lower levels, creating a similar problem in precollege years. Thus, for example, the life sciences textbooks produced for 12-year-olds often mimic the college textbooks, but in attempting to cover the vast expanse of biology in many fewer words than the textbooks for more advanced students, these texts eliminate the possibility that a student can understand any of it. For anyone fascinated by the living world, it is maddening to encounter such textbooks, which turn biology into a dreadful, almost meaningless exercise in memorization. Consider my own field of cell biology, for example, where students at age 12 in the United States are typically expected to ‘learn’ the various parts of a cell – such as the nucleus, the mitochondrion, the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum. To emphasize their importance, each of these terms is bolded in the textbook, followed by a sentence or two providing a definition. Here is an actual example: ‘Running through the cell is a network of flat channels called the endoplasmic reticulum (bold word). This organelle manufactures, stores and transports materials’. To clarify what is expected from the student, the textbook offers a ‘self-test’ at the end of each chapter, which in this case is ‘Write a sentence that uses the term endoplasmic reticulum correctly’. Since the student has only been exposed to a single such sentence – one that is totally inadequate to provide any sense of what this part of the cell actually does – a course like this can be expected to turn most students away from science as a tedious and useless endeavour. I have repeatedly witnessed just such an antiscience reaction from my seven grandchildren. When I asked one who was being taught biology in middle school to describe a cell, he replied that ‘A cell is a boring box full of named parts’. And when another taking high school biology reported that it was everyone's most-hated class, I asked him what the class had been studying that day. He replied that they were learning the parts of a flower. Are you looking at flowers, I asked? ‘No, we are memorizing the flower parts from a drawing in our textbook’. But by far my favourite example is that from a mother who reported, following a talk that I had just given on science education, that her child had just had a breakthrough revelation about school science: ‘Now I get it’, she said when returning from school, ‘science is just like spelling; you just need to memorize it and it does not make any sense’. As a scientist who has spent over 40 years writing, and rewriting, cell biology textbooks for undergraduates and graduate students [[3, 4]], I am shocked and dismayed by the above examples. To me, the living cell – as a chemical system composed of a networked collection of self-replicating catalysts – is the most amazing thing in the universe. There is no reason to teach students the names of cell parts such as the endoplasmic reticulum. In fact, I did not learn most of the names that 12-year-olds are now asked to memorize until graduate school, after I had understood enough chemistry to appreciate them. Instead, we might introduce cells by trying to get students to recognize how difficult it is to produce a self-replicating system. We could, for example, have them struggle with the engineering challenge of producing something much simpler than a cell: a self-replicating robot. What would such a robot, an invention that humans have thus far not been able to achieve, need as inputs and as outputs? After struggling with this problem, students can examine the yeast cells used for baking, which can be readily obtained from any food store. How do the yeast cells deal with the requirement for the three types of inputs (materials, energy, instructions) that a robot would and for the same how do they of their is this of of middle school biology education that a nonprofit that was of the National Academy of Sciences in the has produced as As in the example just I that at all levels, should make students struggle with a problem they are the But Here can we what Dewey by a of from many of education of in that from school through we now understand a deal about how people learn that can be used to effective To the how most of were taught science and what to be much more I often a science for that demonstrates how even these students can gain experience solving problems using and a a of for each child in her class and the class to the or at a time of when are on the the to class, they are to all the on their with a of each in a different on a of a each student each drawing how each on a of to their the the students to which they might be and which that many have to to that they to to some student will that the are the most likely to be The does not but a class that the class to that this student might be on the following the class a different from their might we test the for a student to that the class can all the in one and the in a to see only the can produce the class that this is the students do the these are taught the class that it is their own that they are not In education the sense that they have an education that solving such over the course of the years of schooling that to high school – that of course in as the Thus, for example, students can from and to investigate the the of and as part of a of that challenge them to problems by one at a time. I that who are for life in this way would be problem in the with a high for thinking and ‘the ability to that for to problems – including problems that the of scientific and knowledge – that are full of and have more than one more they will be more human – people who on using and to make judgements for their their community and their In the United the most in and science all call for major in education But those who teach science at the middle and high school all learn their science at the college level. will to teach the same way that they were it is the teaching at that what the term ‘science education’ Thus, introductory college biology courses attempt to cover all of biology in a students with multiple-choice the schooling at lower levels will to – producing students who have been to memorize meaningless science names and science facts from We know that many adults will become to science, professors to at students who looking at – the that we know from research to be important for learning science In I the of the full-time president of the National Academy of Sciences to for 12 years and my research laboratory at the of I did because of my for science education in our – being convinced by the of Academy that that I make a major for science education by the the the Academy was in producing the National Science a that we years my as the National would over a other education but many of the Academy that my focusing strongly on education issues was a to those scientists, most of were university science education at the precollege was it had to do with college Instead, they claimed that what at what the United States the to was by school and textbook – being our from what I have I strongly with this of In fact, from my 12 years at the I came to that those of who teach college science – and the Academy – be the in producing an effective science education that to all levels, way to that class of learning how to investigate like The National have produced many that this of including an effective and why to do for college professors as a What research about effective in science and engineering a education for a is the most important that a society, but to do it is an we can now knowledge of what student learning – on obtained – to education at all research is a highly field that a deep but its has been in academia – where education are often upon by other Much of what I have learned about this is to at the National both and after my 12 years as president of the National Academy of Sciences in In particular, the pioneering How was followed by two whose the following has research and in and but not in education – and what can we do about its most the was that education is the of the teaching in that field – where and in and as a of new problems and test in and new and for research and was that a new be called the with a to the that had been This was and much than the has the of greatly expanding research for the years – throughout by its field was in the as by that school it on – the and of to This to the of a major of that such including the of for and the more for students who need to their learning to much product that most clearly demonstrates is its In to a need through and in two school a brief of was produced to with their that will often not be subject and will not have the time to through the that – in a class taught by one of his or her – the is to on how often the how often do students a sentence to their how often do students talk about each thinking and their own and do all students not just the The on these of teaching the findings from research that students at all levels learn best when they are asked to or their and when they in The that learning students to the that they are being taught into what they and and this is most effective when students are with each and The COVID-19 pandemic has made it to that science education, a much in education at all In fact, the of thinking – about and much more – one how can a much appreciation of both scientific judgements and the scientific values of and world has become a scientific and yet that the time to teaching science in is or a a – being by the many for and I that scientists much of the for the fact that science education is much of the The problem is that those of who teach science at and have on only one of goals for science education. the subject be biology, or we to students with a large number of the facts that scientists have discovered over the course of the There are many of these – more – that is to be no time to even any other of science. And as I what is at university what is by the term ‘science education’ at all lower levels, the teaching of science facts ‘science subject even in many Dewey's that ‘the facts of nature are multitudinous, inexhaustible, they begin nowhere and end nowhere in it would be to argue that science education of that more time in To science education to its in society, we our of what such an education might by ambitious are in with the of providing all adults with a sense of what scientists have discovered about the Science all adults with a sense of what scientists have discovered about the world Science all adults with an ability to investigate scientific problems as scientists do, using logic, and for science education is to teach students in a way that them to into adults who investigate the world as scientists do, using experiment, and evidence. example was when I the as science education’ this of science education was strongly in the National Science as as by its more has been at the of the major science education by the Academy of Sciences and by the of the world's science as the In education this of science teaching has been into over of all school has been in the but the need for it has become in the course of the This to provide all adults with an understanding of how the scientific enterprise works – and why they should therefore trust the consensus judgements of science on issues like smoking, and climate change. a major fraction of the public to that Science is ‘the of – that what we scientists as a to other have their own systems, why should they to What is is an understanding of how the that defined scientific from his an scientist does Science is of course a way of knowledge – a large community effort on and with values and to make its findings both and When I taught science at the college I – as do most it because we that the students understand the scientific is it because it is not how we can make students understand that science is a way of about the world – a human invention that has a of and values that have to more than anyone had a to in the when it all needed are to professors produce – as a in all introductory science courses – students who have a understanding of how the consensus judgements of science are this examples from the of science, a of scientific or What types of exist as education and what research will be needed to test and I will to this at the end of this is by far the most to science education to produce adults who their everyday problems as scientists do, using logic, and evidence. would what is learned in science class to of We know from education research that such is difficult to Instead, students to their thinking – any scientific ways of thinking in a science to science To have any of advancing this we will need to with new of science education that scientific ways of thinking to the world of I next describe two examples of this of education that are promising in this Since I have on the for the which two each To have been 5 for education research and 5 for education The was made to for her many of in The for these many of was through of and and by in her the rather than the become the at In of textbooks, are of emphasize student learning through in the own For example, for a on make a to where our different of In the we the in one and the with after studying the of to my How and why can be And my to my who on my progress what I have the the to the in each to local in are to students to be and to to the they them to be more is a a textbook, a and a for the to be for most of the are only in on but are to produce a of new that on the science the from the ambitious new was years as a Science in and the world's science the The of this for by is to local scientists and other in each to and people to science to on the science the extensive sets of are being to students to examine a global problem, next to this problem using their local as a and to local to address that in their As an example, in a on students learn about and in research to in their the life which local can serve as the community to understand its knowledge and about and a community to the that are spread by To such research have been on the and COVID-19 – with more in progress these are to be into many and used in of the world with their no or The of the community research and their on an them more for than for But as I will argue to end this essay, their can to science education to today's I argue that the field for science education has dramatically in years. of education by how people have that the standard and are for most students, much more effective for of memorizing in class, students should be to this to make and and to problems – many of which will have no is to be rather than being viewed as and will often be we can be and by new education to science learning to the lives of both the students and their This not only to thinking to everyday it should make school more for their in a world with a away on the Here an important needs to be how to in the What can be for example, from the of such as for and And how might our new with be to school the of the the pandemic has shockingly the to from adults who understand nor science judgements – and who to on for their This in for to much more time be to a new of ‘science one that – because it attempts to all goals in – clearly to be on a with in each and of such a major change in precollege education can be expected to many years – even – to But can much more – and in any college science education the of the critical of Dewey's spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of we will need to on a science of science education. this I that many should be in which a of different to ambitious goals for science education are with each being by education research to their We will need to new for this for example, I am of no for an understanding of how the community of scientists its consensus judgements in a is can different ways of this – for example, an teaching of scientific to an on the of a of actual scientific or to an on of science or of lives college science such as biology are taught by scientists who have a in science throughout to of students, these faculty will have more to as as more at whose science have in education research faculty are to the needed faculty are for their research on education rather than for research in the and they can be for that the many needed new education are with In all of this we should to what research about the of science, as as scientific to more In scientists the now have a for public we can a major in the way that the term ‘science education’ is defined – at levels that at but can be expected to all the way to students in their years in I am to my for science education, John who much of his life to and ‘science as a way of and whose new textbook of my to biology in