EDUCATOR’S CORNER
Note from the Editor: In this issue, our “Educator’s Corner” considers why so many college students, practicing scientists and even academic geolo-
gists tend to overlook the nature of science and how it differs from other ways of knowing, especially, that of technology. Dr. Nuhfer has a long history in teaching, learning, and assessment of learning in science. He and his co-investigator recently published on these topics in “Microbiology & Biology Education” and “Numeracy.” In this column, he discusses the underlying concepts of science, and their relevance to geoscientists, members of the public and other professionals.
In my own opinion, the educated public’s inability to understand the actual nature of science, and our inability to commu-
nicate it to others, have effects that are detrimental to the well-being of our society. Scientists discover and systematically test the knowledge on which their explanations rest; they don’t invent the explanations through any process that resembles creative writing, political consensus, or faith-based belief systems. Discovery provides the evidence, and evidence is what gives scientists confidence in the validity of the theory of evolution, the value of vaccination, and the reality of current global warming — all “hot topics” (no pun intended) in today’s political landscape. A society that is dismissive of science achieves that condition through acquiring a disrespect for the discovery of knowledge. That’s a dangerous condition for any society to be in. As professionals we should be able, from the very beginnings of our careers, to explain the underpinnings of our discipline to all who ask.
Teaching Geology for Educating Citizens about Science
Edward B. Nuhfer, CPG-2808 (retired)
enuhfer@earthlink.net
Ed Nuhfer holds a doctorate in geology from University of New Mexico and served as a past Editor for AIPG. His geology expe- rience includes university teaching, geological surveys and private industry. In recent years, he has served several universities as their Director for promoting success in university teaching and developing higher level reasoning skills in students.
Only a small portion of students in geology classes ever
become professional geologists. Most students in our classes are those fulfilling a general education requirement. Our read- ers already know that these are the requirements of the insti- tution that all students, regardless of major, must meet. The students meet these by taking one to three courses from each of the metadisciplines of science, social science, humanities, mathematics, and arts. (A metadiscipline describes a category under which several disciplines are united through a developed way of knowing that they hold in common. Science’s way of knowing unites several familiar disciplines like biology, chem- istry, geology, and physics.) When one seeks to understand why these requirements exist, one visits the institutions’ catalogs to read their sections on general requirements. Under the science requirement, the primary outcome that the institutions usu- ally express is for students to understand what distinguishes science and how it works.
Most college faculty have experienced a student complaint:
“Why do I have to take a course in xxx? How will I ever use THAT in my job?” We need to realize that reasons exist for such questions, and some reasons are not flattering to educators.
(1) The student has never read the catalog section on
general requirements. (2) The writers of the catalog section on general education
never rendered sufficiently clear explanations to address such common student questions.
(3) The student asking the question does not yet com-
prehend the difference between becoming educated and becoming trained.
46 TPG •
Apr.May.Jun 2019 (4) The students’ professors never made sure that the
students understood the meaning of education and the metadisciplinary way of knowing that underlies their own major.
(5) The institution does not educate for respecting varied
ways of knowing and thinking, even between the disciplines and metadisciplines that collectively support the general education program.
Our discipline of geology lies within the metadiscipline
of science, which has a signature way of knowing for under- standing and explaining the physical world through testable knowledge. Our companion disciplines of chemistry, physics, biology, and environmental science all employ that basis for knowing. However, students can more easily explain what distinguishes these disciplines than they can explain the way of thinking that unites them. I discovered this when a class assignment produced a life-changing experience for me.
My class assignment was for my students to go into the community and interview a practicing scientist about the path that took them into their career as a professional. The stipulations included that they must find their professional outside the university, and that they must ask one question in the interview: “What is science?” That particular metropolitan campus differs from most other institutions in that its students don’t leave the area after graduation. That situation produces a large local group of supportive alumni and valuable contact between students and alumni. Thus, some professionals inter- viewed were our own graduates.
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