Abstract
Traditional science education has an unfortunately dogmatic character: students are taught scientific conclusions, but they learn very little about the chronological steps by which those conclusions were established. In particular, science education does not give future scientists an adequate understanding of the fact that the fundamental scientific principles which support modern technology began life as controversial hypotheses. But if we want a future in which further liberating innovations are the norm, we must find a way to produce scientists and engineers who are comfortable with controversy and have sound judgment about which controversial issues and hypotheses are fruitful to engage with. A natural way to achieve this goal—and to help science education better capture the true nature of science in the process—is to refocus science education around historical scientific controversies and their eventual resolutions.
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Notes
- 1.
Note that “was” and “legitimate” are crucial here. Controversies are eventually settled such that the issue is no longer (legitimately) controversial. And not all claimed controversies (or, for that matter, consensuses) are legitimate.
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Norsen, T. (2016). Back to the Future: Crowdsourcing Innovation by Refocusing Science Education. In: Aguirre, A., Foster, B., Merali, Z. (eds) How Should Humanity Steer the Future?. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20717-9_9
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