June 26, 2008

Science + inspiration = ?

Efforts to recruit more students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (now referred to as the STEM disciplines) might lead teachers to change the equation for educating young people. Though they work in fields dominated by theories, proofs and methods, practitioners are increasingly advocating for a heavy dose of inspiration.

In a June 1 New York Times op-ed piece called “Put a Little Science in Your Life,”
Columbia physics professor Brain Greene laments that most science classes focus on mastery of skills without offering students the motivation of an overarching story, a method akin to forcing music students to endlessly practice scales before they are allowed to even listen to a great symphony. “We rob science education of life when we focus solely on results and seek to train students to solve problems and recite facts without a commensurate emphasis on transporting them out beyond the stars,” Greene writes.

A similar article in the June 16 issue of Newsweek, titled “Lessons in Life (Science),” recounts the experiences of City University of New York biology professor Sally G. Hoskins, who switched her perspective to teach a required course for non-majors. “I’ve tried to look at biology as an outsider, as someone who experiences my field only on TV, where female scientists apparently spend a lot of time blow drying their hair and shopping for push-up bras between blood-sample-scraping expeditions,” Hoskins writes.

She then recounts how she uses stories on development of the polio vaccine to teach students the necessity of animal testing and how she shows videos on seahorses simply because classes find them interesting. Rather than trying to teach students only the basics of scientific laws and principles, Hoskins would “be happy if (students) leave with the idea that, just like music and art, science is a creative process.”

According to Hoskins, Greene and others, more unites science and liberal arts than divides them. Science and art offer new paradigms through which students can view the world. Both have long, rich histories that can stand in the way of their relevance to the present. They take practice and study that may dissuade students from taking interest, while inspiring others to diligent study.

Even with exceptional teachers offering constant encouragement, not all students will show a strong aptitude for science and math, nor will all students fall in love with quantum physics or advanced calculus. Not every student appreciates Bach, Chaucer or Caravaggio, but access to these masterpieces engages many through a method few science courses attempt. Curious students will always seek to understand and aspire to add to the canon of brilliant work that comes before them. Learning one’s place in history, both through historical study and through an understanding of unfolding developments is far less discouraging than some instructors would believe.

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