Is Better Science Education in Our Kids' Future?

Why are we limiting critical thinking only to science related issues?

I'd be happy if educators taught critical thinking in any discipline.

Maybe other disciplines are just hopeless.

Most importantly ... We need to find teachers who KNOW how to think critically about science-related issues to teach the students how to do it.

Finding people who know how to think critically can be difficult enough. Finding critical thinkers with enough patience, discipline and sheer will to teach 30+ pubescent students while battling school boards that don't know the difference between a heuristic evaluation and a statistical evaluation is asking for a lot.

This gets particularly frustrating when parents sitting on the school board believe that every child is capable of learning any subject and that a child's failure on a topic must be the teacher's fault.

I think in some cases it is a school agenda to teach students what to think rather than how to think.

As a middle school teacher's spouse I agree with your statements, and add the frustration of having to teach so students can pass a standardized test and not having enough time or resources left over to work on critical thinking skills.

Even if the classroom teacher is capable of critical thinking and of teaching that basic skill, he/she gets no credit for it if it cannot be demonstrated in standardized tests, which typically only measure knowledge and not thinking skills.

On top of that, there is ample evidence that many of today's parents either lack or don't exercise critical thinking skills themselves.

Thanks for the view from the frontline.

ample evidence... as in much of our culture.

I've mentioned in other education threads an old, but good book, "The Tyranny of Testing." There is a link on the left, just below the book cover picture, "Search inside this book" which allows for reading enough of the first chapter, "A Little Learning Is a Dangerous Thing" to whet one's appetite for the author's presentation of how critical thinking is a disadvantage on many tests. (???) (And the 1 review at this link mentions a couple of other good books.)

I knew things were going bad many, many years ago, when the buttons on cash registers at fast food chains had pictures of food rather than numbers. It is the down side of technology. Computer chips built into almost everything has taken away much of the need to think... in ANY form, much less critically.

Given that you've mentioned that many parents can't even think critically,one wonders about the question of the article, regarding "What could they do better?" Are the students supposed to know enough to answer the question without their parent weighing in, too? If the parents already can't think well, and the system needs suggestions, where do they come from? Hopefully, from those who have experienced it and can think critically. Seems like a Catch-22 doesn't it?

Some schools are headed in a better direction, though. I think the best school curriculum would be both practical-based as well as knowledge-based. I think the best preparation for life would include learning about gardening, developing skills with ones hands, such as carpentry, machining, sewing (yes, sewing), and others I'm sure any reader here could add to. Some schools now do have gardens. Community gardening projects have made a difference in people's lives. I don't think we would have lost our manufacturing base to the degree we have if such skills were more prevalent. Or, at least, the impact might have been less. I think the trend for "living" will have to return to a more "self-sustained, self-reliant" model. So that's the practical side.

Knowledge-based education (although, there is overlap with practical education, too)-- science , mathematics, philosophy, religion (as in comparative), art, literature, sociology, anthropology, economics (I am reluctant to include it, but that discipline now governs much of the way the rest of the world works), etc., should be taught in such a way that critical thinking is used to help understand how many of the ideas in these areas were arrived at by the developers and innovators in these spheres. I think many creative people who want to be teachers have been stifled by rules of how they can teach any of these subjects. Too many "cookie-cutter" curricula and plans with little room for creatively teaching. Take away too much creativity and you also will likely dampen the teacher's innate enthusiasm for any subject s/he teaches. Enthusiasm is a huge part of imparting knowledge. While a bit naive, the movie, "To Sir, With Love," is inspirational in this regard.

A very real problem with education is the period of life set aside for it being one's "job" in life. Too often, especially in today's world, putting education at the very beginning of life is self-defeating, from the perspective of "the pursuit of happiness." We are made to attend classes whether we like them or not. Is that the most fertile environment for learning? I don't know the best answer, but I think breaking education up into segments, separated in time with breaks, rather than being one contiguous, long chunk of time in one's life just goes against our nature. We all realize that one can't study for hours and hours on end without some break and a chance to "absorb" or apply what we've studied. Summer vacation is supposed to be that break. But somehow I don't think it works the way it should. I think our work culture suffers a similar disconnect.

Learning is lifelong. Education only provides a foundation. Critical thinking should be one of the highest goals of education to empower that lifelong learning. Critical thinking means what? To naturally ask questions and know how to analyze any answers one comes across. Although there will always be bright students who transcend any flaws in our educational system, so far, it seems, too many are in the group that is receding further from that ideal. The Internet hasn't helped. Now, one can, seemingly, feel "safe" (I would say deceived) in thinking that almost any "knowledge" one desires or requires, is available at the click of a mouse button. So why try to memorize any of it? After all, isn't social media the most important thing in a young person's life? Now, becoming, most people's lives?

It definitely is true that there is more knowledge than one can learn in a lifetime. But, I think there has to be some minimum for a functioning society. What that minimum is, or should be, might be more debatable than we first think.

Education will almost always reflect the values of any culture. What does that say for ours?

I grew up with parents that where teachers so I learned critical thinking beack in grade school. When I realized that not all adults are right and that teachers are parents and parents are not always right I began to question everything to find out what was true and what was not.

Sadly I learned that if something is true it is usually quickly explained where as if its not true the asker is held at fault and will be worked with, including punishments, for questioning why. Looking back to when I was growing up it appears like very little got explained to me quickly and I spent a lot of time being punished for asking.

To this day that mind set apparently makes me a bad worker in the eyes of many managers and bosses because I can easily see through BS and know where to look for the right answerers even when those answers are not welcomed by all.

My parents where teachers, two of my grandparents where sales people, and the other two of my grandparents where in management. I learned how BS walks talks and breaths at an early age so believe me when I say I can usualy spot it from a mile way!

(Strangely enough thats about my preferred distance to stay away from public schools and politicians hangouts. Go figure!?!)

Kids are overwhelmed with so much input at the present many kids have to be drugged jusr to handel all the stuff throw at them. I have notived the ADD seems to mean the kids are just slow on the intake and get angery that they can't understand it all and keep up. That is why they are given Speed by Doctors. Like flying jets for the Military they are given Go Pills, speed so they can keep up with the plane mentally.

If kids are not taught to Focus early in life they are going to face a hard time in Eudcation as Teachers are with so much information out there to be taught, absorbed and understood.