Scientists from the Eyes of Children

The following are excerpts and figures from the following paper:

Downloaded from academia.edu

Here are some of the drawings (downloaded from academia.edu) :

• "Depicting scientific knowledge as power (multiple legs and arms)"

• "Depicting scientific knowledge as ability to transform reality"

• "Being alone and spending a life deeply focused inside the laboratory"

• "Scientists can be destructive"

Drawings of scientists by children reveal their impression of science and scientists, but these also provide a glimpse of how society as a whole projects science and scientists to all of its members.

Scientists, climate change, and the media

by Flor Lacanilao

Climate scientists have been warning about "the risk for big storms and serious flooding in New York" for the past 12 years. Perhaps this warnings -- together with the accurate, timely weather forecasts, and excellent preparation, like early evacuation -- have prevented more deaths, despite the biggest to hit the U.S.  

Death toll is less than 100. Compare that total deaths with those of our much less powerful typhoons -- like the 2009 Ondoy with 280 and the 2011 Sendong, said to be nearly 1,500 -- and the figures will tell you how much work we need to do seriously and capably. 

With the inevitable and increasing destruction from changing climate, like the superstorm, our governments and the public have only to depend on the important role of scientists and media people. Best and worst examples of these are seen in, respectively, developed and underdeveloped countries. 

One role of the scientists is to explain the nature and processes of climate change and related events, like those seen below.

In their job, crucial for the media people is to know first who the scientists are, so they can be effective in informing their readers with useful information. This will help the government and the public to effectively prepare for, and to lessen, the impacts and damage to property and human life.

Three examples are shown below: in an article by a climate scientist and two news reports -- by an international and a local media.  

Kevin Trenberth, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, discusses -- in Super storm Sandy  (Scientist, October 31, 2012) -- the relations between  climate change and the destructive hurricane. Knowing the different key information in these events is important in designing ways of adapting to their impacts.

In the Associated Press release -- Scientists Look At Weather Pattern  (in Manila Bulletin, Nov 1, 2012) -- three reporters name seven distinguished climate scientists, led by Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. They brief the readers on various aspects of climate change and the superstorm Sandy. Like the preceding science article, useful information on climate change and for adaptation measures is given.

A typical example of a news report on climate-related issue from local media is Reclaiming land seen as measure to deal with climate change  (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Nov 1, 2012). It does not name any scientist or give evidence-based (properly published) information. It cites a government Bureau Director, a Department Secretary, an architect, a government reclamation agency, and the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Science (NIGS). 

No scientist is mentioned, although there are 2 or 3 at NIGS, who have contributed useful popular articles, views, and advice on climate-related issues and disasters. Recent active contributor is Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay.

Change of doing things is long over due, for those working and reporting on natural disasters facing our country. Increasing loss of human life and damage to property from climate-related events call for more  determined action -- with the right people in charge (Put right people in charge of science, education  (PDI Oct 20, 2011).

Flor Lacanilao

Retired professor of marine science

University of the Philippines Diliman

While the Philippines Moves to Spiral Approach, Missouri Does the Opposite

School districts in the state of Missouri are changing their science curriculum for Grades 6 to 8. The reform primarily changes science instruction from a spiral approach to a field-focus curriculum. The Philippines, on the other hand, with DepEd's K to 12 goes in the opposite direction. Without debating which direction is the correct one to take, both need to face the challenge of a major transition. Poor implementation of an education reform leads to failure even if the change is the correct prescription. A major part of the implementation is the transition stage, which is crucial for the success of the reform. It is therefore necessary to pay close attention to the transition process as this stage can easily lead to failure if not implemented correctly. Missouri's efforts are assisted by institutions of higher learning within the state. One is Lindenwood University.

The Spellman Clock Tower of Lindenwood University reflecting its view on education

One dissertation from Lindenwood University tackles specifically the transition of Missouri school districts to the new science curriculum: 

http://gradworks.umi.com/3450281.pdf

Abstract 

This investigation examined the transition from a spiral science curriculum to a field-focus science curriculum in middle school. A spiral science curriculum focuses on a small part of each field of science during each middle school year, more of a general science concept. In contrast to that, the base of a field-focus curriculum is that each grade level focuses on a specific field of science, more of a high school like concept. The literature reviewed provides a history of science education, the steps of the change process, and the importance of professional development. The literature review provided a basis for determining trends in the science education. 

The researcher collected a variety of data to understand the process that districts move through to transition to a field-focus science curriculum. Interviews provided information concerning the transition process of three Midwestern school districts that have arranged their curriculum into a field-focus alignment. Teacher surveys of one district supplied the perceptions of the professional development involved during the transition process. The researcher also examined school district student achievement data in the area of science. 

Suggestions made through this investigation focused on the Eight Steps to a Successful Change when implementing a field-focus science curriculum alignment. Following the suggested steps will help a transition go smoother.

This study specifically looks at the New Heart School District in the state of Missouri. The science teachers in this district have agreed to abandon the spiral approach and adopt a field-focus approach to teaching science. The rationale was simple - surrounding school districts that have instituted this reform are doing better in statewide standard exams. The following are among Alwardt's findings regarding the transition New Heart School District undertook:

• Transition is always difficult so it is important that evidence supporting the reform is shared. In this particular case, data supporting the notion that a spiral approach leads only to a superficial treatment of topics and does not prepare students for the the rigor expected in standard tests.
• Communication is vital between supervisors and teachers. These need to be regular so that updates and concerns are immediately addressed.
• All necessary materials required for the new curriculum are promptly provided to all teachers. This effectively alleviates tension and anxiety toward the new curriculum.

As Alwardt emphasizes, "Transitions are inherently difficult for teachers." While trying to adjust to the change, teachers still have the obligation to give the very best instruction to the students. There are no "dress rehearsals". It is therefore very important that teachers during this stage are heard and supported. With these in mind, one can evaluate how DepEd in the Philippines is implementing its K to 12. One should understand and appreciate the crucial role of teachers in education reform.

"x=why?"

Michael Alison Chandler of the Washington Post wrote a yearlong (2008-2009) series "x=why?" on high school math education.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/x-equals-why/2008/09/wasnt_once_enough_1.html

The series had more than a hundred articles reliving one school year. Chandler, an education reporter, found a way to bring math in the classroom to the readers of Washington Post by sitting in a high school math class in Fairfax county. Fairfax county schools are among the best nationwide. Still, the articles describe current challenges of math education in the country. Chandler started this series with an article "Wasn't Once Enough":

Now I report to school every other day at 7:20 a.m. There, for 80 minutes each session, I join 27 other Fairfax Rebels in a windowless room, under the laminated gaze of Albert Einstein. Together, in somnolent camaraderie, we practice solving linear equations and graphing inequalities and take turns at the Smartboard. These days, I carry a three-ring binder full of graph paper in my canvas work bag, along with a TI-84 graphing calculator, a handful of mechanical pencils, and a purple, rubber eraser that smells like grapes. I am 32 years old. 

I have homework to complain about and studying to procrastinate, and last Saturday, I spent the better part of an afternoon holed up in a D.C. public library finishing a take-home test. I am not yet exactly sure what I am going to do with this algebra (or why I am doing this). This blog is part of my attempt to figure that out. 

x=why? is a place where I aim to bridge the cultural divide between math people and the rest of us, to make the abstractions of algebra a little more lifelike. Visitors will find scenes from math classrooms, profiles of people who use math at work, research about math education, debates about how best to teach math, and--why not?-- an occasional pop quiz, for which I invite you to submit your best, or your worst, word problems.

And after one semester, she wrote:

I have come a long way from the day I stared blankly at a Virginia Standards of Learning test, perspiring from the foreign language before me and flashbacks of a high school math teacher who once wrote on my report card: "Michael is not in the Circle of Knowing." 

Still, success in math comes at a price: Time. 

Effort and diligence make a good math student. The difference between the math student I am now and the math student I was 15 years ago is improved study skills and, thank goodness, a little less hormone-induced despair. (Oh and about $100,000 in college tuitions, a decade of work experience, and a Washington Post audience that gets updated on my quiz scores...)

 And at the end of the year,

...What I discovered at Fairfax High was a hard-working teacher who knew her math, a fast-paced, too-crammed curriculum, and a group of teenagers who mostly tried their best. Sure, there was a guy who snoozed in the back and a reliable smattering of shrugs when the teacher came around to check homework. But I was surprised by the high number of students who stuck around after class to ask for help...

...I also learned a lot about math beyond Fairfax, including the wars over how math should be taught, how other countries approach training math teachers, and how many college students in the US still require math remediation.

We are far from our goal of becoming a math literate society. Many students still say they are uninterested in math, even in high-performing Fairfax County. But encouraging all students to pursue math further is an important start...

Indeed, the series presented a lot about high school math. Some are simple and short yet extremely thought provoking. One example is the short post entitled "Is Math Fun? Should it Be?. It featured a video made by a high school student in Virginia:

Chandler then wrote:

Math can be interesting all by itself if you don't get too fogged or behind. Many teachers I know try to lure students in with the concepts alone.

I recommend reading the articles of Chandler. After all, her quiz scores in algebra were not bad:

Inquiry-Based Teaching Practices and Student's Science Achievement

Discovery-based approaches to science education in primary and secondary schools are now widespread across the globe. It is now possible to assess the impact of these programs on learning outcomes. Such exercise may not provide crystal clear cause-effect relationships since proper controls are not present, but a good statistical analysis of current data may still furnish useful correlations. Although discovery-based learning may seem a precise philosophy of education, it is in fact a spectrum of approaches and techniques. There is a range of how much support a student receives in a discovery-based classroom.

Kevin Gee and Kenneth Wong of Brown University have recently published a paper in the International Journal of Education Research in which the performance of students from eight countries (US, Mexico, Japan, Finland, Australia, Canada, Spain and Italy) in the science section of the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has been closely examined in the light of various inquiry-based approaches to science education. The abstract and the first two figures from the paper are posted here with kind permission from the authors.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035512000365

The above investigation looks at four distinct approaches that have been commonly employed in discovery-based learning:

• Use of models or applications (coded as APPLICATIONS) - explaining what students learn in science inside the classroom relates to the outside world.
• Laboratory (hands-on) activities (coded as HANDS_ON) - doing experiments to explore a concept in science.
• Interaction (coded as INTERACTION) - classroom activities that allow for debate and discussion among the students
• Independent Investigation (coded as INVESTIGATIONS) - students are asked to design their own experiments and test their own ideas.

The results are displayed vividly in the following graphs:

First, only one index positively correlates with science achievement: APPLICATIONS. This is the only approach that seems transferable from one country to the next. This approach requires teachers who can capably highlight the relevance of science to society. For HANDS_ON, three countries, Australia, Mexico and Italy show a negative correlation. Australia differs from the other two with its students scoring above the average of 500. This index, without doubt, requires resources (laboratories and equipment) which probably play as a major factor. The INTERACTION index perhaps demonstrates the risk of students learning the wrong things if students are left to learn from each other. Finally and most importantly, the last graph (PISA 2006 Science Scores versus INVESTIGATIONS index) shows a very significant correlation that exists across all countries in the study. Gee and Wong write in their discussion/conclusion:

...the evidence seems to strongly suggest that students who independently select and carry out such investigations tend to have lowered science achievement....

The take home message from this study is that learning in science benefits from teaching within the context of world issues, current events, and everyday lives, but as other educators in the field have forewarned, a purely discovery-based approach which does not provide adequate support or guidance may do harm to science education.

How Does One Lure Back Much Needed Talent and Expertise

The US likewise looks at other countries to find ways to improve its educational system. For example, an article in the Washington Post was published several months ago describing South Korea. Here is a paragraph worth our attention:

...South Koreans who had gone abroad to study were lured back with handsome salaries to teach. And the best students in the country were recruited with the promise of free tuition and an exemption from mandatory military service, in return for a promise to work in a government lab for three years after graduation. Over the years, Kaist graduates have filled government research institutes and top jobs at companies like Samsung and Hyundai....

Recently, I received an invitation to teach during the summer in China. The Sinoway International Summer School Program currently involves the following universities:  East China Normal University, Shanghai, Nanjing University, Nanjing. Beijing Normal University, Beijing, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou. The package includes:

Salary: $6,000 USD per course session taught (after-tax).Typically each Visiting Professor teaches between two to three course sessions and therefore receives $12,000 - $18,000 in the salary component.
Welfare: Free hotel accommodation during the term of teaching, Up to 2,000USD reimbursement for an international round-trip economy class air ticket between the U.S. or Canada and destined SIE host university, for both you and one close family member; Accident insurance coverage for you and your family member; Reimbursement of RMB 1,000 for transportation or communication expenses incurred during the Employment Term. Total value of all welfare is around $7,200.
Other Benefits: One assigned teaching assistant to help with academic affairs; One assigned welfare assistant to help with your daily living needs in China.

Whether this is attractive enough is one question but the fact is that there is considerable and reasonable effort to make it attractive. Another example is Brazil, as reported by the Public Radio International: 

"The government has more than tripled the budget for the Ministry of Science in the last ten years."

Margarida Fontes published a paper in Science and Public Policy entitled "Scientific Mobility Policies: How Portuguese Scientists Envisage the Return Home". In this article she stated:

Thus a substantial number, especially among the younger generation, express the desire to return and to “make some contribution”, but only if more favourable conditions are found at home. Their behaviour reflects some pragmatism, but their comments often express sadness or frustration with the impossibility of returning under reasonable conditions and with the waste of resources their situation epitomises, given the high investment made in them.

The Philippines needs to look closely at this issue as well. Scientific mobility, if completely unbalanced, which aptly describes the Philippine situation (outflow of talent greatly exceeds inflow), has profound implications on a country's development or progress. Patrick Gaulé points out this imbalance in his article, "Do highly skilled migrants return permanently to their home countries?":

Brain drain can be a good thing for the source country; one benefit is that some skilled workers eventually return. Unfortunately, there is little evidence on the incidence and nature of such return migration. This column presents new data on the return-migration decisions of foreign faculty based in US chemistry departments.

Science Lessons Forum for elementary and secondary schools

The following is an article I wrote for the Philippine Star in 2006. The article is also included in the book, Selected Essays on Science and Technology forSecuring a Better Philippines. C.A. Saloma, E.A. Padlan and G.P. Padilla Concepcion, editors, University of the Philippines Press, Manila (2009).

STAR SCIENCE By Angel C. De Dios, PhD
The Philippine STAR 11/23/2006

The computer classroom, like any classroom, is a place, first and foremost, for learning and not teaching. This is a simple but nonetheless an important point. When we focus on learning, we provide an environment that is rich in opportunities for discovery and inquiry. On the other hand, an emphasis on teaching may carry the detrimental scars of negative experiences adults have had acquired in the past as well as our own limitations. Learning requires facilitation. It begins with resources and continues with guidance. Students, especially children, are generally visual, sensing, active and sequential learners. It is within this premise that the Science Lessons Forum has been assembled.

The Science Lessons Forum contains learning resources for teachers, students and parents. Each lesson starts with a news article. The forum can therefore be regarded as learning science as a current event-based subject. The news article (obtained from press releases from universities and articles provided by eurekalert.org, livescience.com, sciencedaily.com, and other science news sources) is usually a text explaining in layman or popular language a recent scientific discovery. These articles are generally short as they are only meant to arouse one’s quest for knowledge. The bulk of the science lessons lies in the exploratory questions found at the end of the news article. These questions are asked and answered by links to websites that have been chosen for their clarity, correctness and style. Efforts were made to arrange the questions in some useful pedagogical order. Most of these websites are chosen for their visual content. Some of these websites are dynamic. Some are interactive. Some carry audio material. And each lesson ends with interactive games relevant to the topic to attract further the interest of the learners.

For example, in one of the topics, the leading news article relates the story of the recent Guimaras oil spill. This article is then followed by the basic question as to why one should be concerned with oil spills. The answer to this question is provided by a link to a site called "oil and water don’t mix" made by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which provides a highly interactive cartoon-based presentation on the immiscibility of oil and water and its harmful environmental consequences. (A screen shot has been added here as an illustration)

http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/Educational_resources_and_information/Kids/Oil_and_water_dont_mix/oilspill.swf

The Science Lessons Forum is based on a philosophy that incorporates what we know about learning into teaching. The forum does not recommend that we abandon the traditional lecture-based classroom. Instead, the suggestion is to tailor the lectures with a style that takes into account the preferences of young learners. With these in mind, one can see the rationale behind the structure of each lesson.

As a summary, the Science Lessons Forum provides resources that hopefully will facilitate the learning in the classrooms. These, unfortunately, are just resources. These simply embody a starting point. To make the forum work, it requires participation. The forums will only facilitate learning if there are facilitators. And this is the call for all parents and teachers. Reading and examining the contents of the forum is the first important step.

One of the important features of the Science Lessons Forum lies in its outline, in which learners are guided on how to explore concepts, ideas and phenomena. It is expected that the time spent on these lessons will translate into developments in the areas of reading, mathematics and reasoning. Thus, it is projected to have an impact on almost every aspect of education. The placement of the science lessons in a forum creates an atmosphere of feedback. Messages and queries can be posted. Conversations on various topics can be cultivated. These pages are dynamic and they could become interactive with our participation. Although the webmasters could access the statistics of the forum and determine how frequent the science lessons are being used, what is more significant is the fact that the readers – students, teachers and parents – can post. It is this aspect that makes the Science Lessons Forum unique. And at this early stage of the forum, we hope that this interactive capability, which is built on the framework of the Science Lessons Forum, will grow with time. The Science Lessons Forum currently has 300 topics with thousands of links, and can be found in:

http://bouman.chem.georgetown.edu/sciencelessons.html

The Science Lessons Forum is part of the Alay Computer project of Paete, Laguna. Some of the topics have already inspired the local leaders of Paete, Laguna while they search for better ways of protecting their environment and for more sustainable means of livelihood. In this year’s National Achievement Exam, the schools of Paete obtained mean percentage scores in the upper 60s and mid-70s, a marked improvement from a couple of years ago when their scores were in the 25-35 range.

Politicians Should Think and Debate Like Scientists

Thinking Like Scientists; Encouraging Evidence-based Debate
by Flor Lacanilao

I hasten to say that science is not the only way of knowing things. Through religion, through literature, reflection, meditation, and any number of other approaches, we gain understanding and knowledge of our world. But the most reliable knowledge—that can be applied societally, to an entire community or country—is knowledge that has been tested empirically, that is based on the leveling effect of evidence. Evidence shouldn’t depend on one’s socioeconomic status or one’s political affiliation. Evidence has a democratizing effect that is healthy for our country. It’s the most politically useful way of knowing things. (Rush Holt, Scientist, October 9, 2012)

Two interesting articles about elections, politicians, and scientific thinking appeared in recent issues of the leading journal Nature and science magazine Scientist. They are views of the only physicist in the US Congress, Rush Holt. Whereas they address problems in the most developed country, many in the Philippines will find the discussed subjects relevant and crucial also to the country's persistent problems, ongoing debates, the elusive sustainable growth, and poverty reduction. 

Holt's Nature article ("US election: Politicians should think like scientists") is not freely accessible, but the Scientistarticle on him is copied in full below -- a question & answer interview. He argues that evidence-based, scientific thinking could improve lawmakers’ decisions. Our other government officials, industry leaders, media people & commentators, science administrators, educators, concerned organizations, and graduate faculty will also find his views useful to their work.

Flor Lacanilao

Retired professor of marine science

University of the Phihlippines Dilaiman

-----------------------

Q&A: Mixing Science and Politics

Scientist

By Beth Marie Mole | October 9, 2012

Politicians could make better decisions if they thought more like scientists, says Rush Holt, the only physicist in Congress.  

In the heat of election season, scientists—and 85 percent of voters are clamoring for candidates to explain their positions on alternative energy sources, climate change policy, and federal funding for research, among other science-related issues. But one scientist-turned-congressman wants more. Representative Rush Holt (D, NJ) doesn’t want politicians to merely think about science, he wants them to think like scientists. In a recent opinion piece in Nature, Holt argued that scientific thinking—based on logic and evidence—could improve lawmakers’ decisions on issues ranging from voting systems to air transportation security. The Scientist spoke with Holt about his thoughts on blending science into politics.

The Scientist: What inspired your opinion that scientific thinking can improve politics?

Rep. Rush Holt: It became apparent to me that my constituents like the fact that I’m a research scientist that decided to go into Congress. And I’ve been asking myself, “Why?” Sometimes people say, “Well, we want somebody who will understand scientific technicalities and languages.” But most of the time I find it’s not that, but rather, people want someone who makes decisions based on evidence. People are really troubled by the idea that politics is driven by ideologies now, and debate is usually just posturing. Science moves away from political spin because it’s tied to evidence. In science, questions are answered provisionally, with the understanding that provisional answers are subject to revision as evidence dictates, which is not very common in a political debate.

TS: How can we incorporate more scientific-thinking into political discussion?

RH:  In the long-term, we should have better science education. And that doesn’t mean training more scientists; it means helping non-scientists think like scientists. The real solution is to get all of the lawyers and business people—anyone who’s elected to Congress—to understand how you compose evidence-based debates and how you learn to refine your understanding of a question based on evidence.

In the short-term, I think we have to turn to scientists. They should be talking about how a person—including a member of Congress—can ask questions in an open-minded way, so that they can be answered based on evidence and subjected to criticism. It won’t be easy, obviously—it’s a tall order—but who better to do that than scientists?

TS: So are you suggesting that more scientists should be involved in politics?

RH: Well, not everyone who thinks like a scientist is a scientist. There are many people who can help broaden the debate and open people’s minds, such as engineers and other technical professionals. But, of course, the twin-prong of my argument is that scientists should be able to think politically and be engaged politically. We certainly need more of that—and people have been saying that for decades.

TS: But couldn’t having more scientists engaged in politics have its downsides, too, such as politicized scientific studies?

RH: Of course, scientists are no less arrogant or pigheaded than other humans are, but the scientific process subjects them to a public review that leads to progress, and that’s what we need.

TS: Do you think a scientific approach is always the best way to think about an issue or policy?

RH: I hasten to say that science is not the only way of knowing things. Through religion, through literature, reflection, meditation, and any number of other approaches, we gain understanding and knowledge of our world. But the most reliable knowledge—that can be applied societally, to an entire community or country—is knowledge that has been tested empirically, that is based on the leveling effect of evidence. Evidence shouldn’t depend on one’s socioeconomic status or one’s political affiliation. Evidence has a democratizing effect that is healthy for our country. It’s the most politically useful way of knowing things.

TS: After more than a decade in Congress, what have you learned about working in politics and what advice would you give to other scientists trying to encourage evidence-based debate?

RH: Trying to balance the competing interests of around 700,000 constituents—which each member of Congress has to do—each constituent with a different idea of how we should be spending our time and our money and what’s important in our society, it’s hard work. This is intellectually harder than physics; psychologically and physically harder, too. But it’s also more important, and more satisfying.

I’m a realist and a pragmatist. I don’t go around dismissing people who think illogically or who are governed by rigid ideology. You have to work with them. But I would also like to work toward the day when we have less rigid ideologies governing the debate in Congress.

--------------------

Eating Paper in a Classroom

The previous post in this blog ended with:

"The true challenge to education is doing both; maintaining curiosity while instilling discipline, learning hard work while at play, and having one's eyes and ears wide open while standing on the shoulders of giants in the past."

Mark Mason wrote as a comment, 

" The confines of a modern Western school are fences and guards, teachers and principals, orders and punishments. The task of a teacher is to be present and engaging in the context of the curiosity of a child. Discipline is a fancy word for beating the dignity and spontaneity out of a child, for the purpose of producing a child who fits the needs of the economic system. Backwards. Education is the other way around. The presence of a teacher in response to the curiosity and needs of the child. Few people in the Western world have any idea what freedom is. Teachers and administrators of schools do not."

This comment resonates even loudly with the following recent incident in the Philippines reported in the Philippine Star of a teacher who made students eat paper for being noisy:

Teacher makes students eat paper 
By Flor Z.Perolina (The Freeman) Updated September 22, 2012 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - An “Outstanding Teacher” of the Paknaan National High School in Mandaue city is now in hot water after she was accused by her students of letting them eat paper after they did not make what she told them to do. 

Josephine Babatuan, school principal, said the incident happened last September 5 yet but it was only reported to her last September 10.  

The teacher, in her explanation to the principal, said that she told her students to do a seatwork while she went out for a while to get her medicine in another room as she was suffering from high blood pressure. 

Photo downloaded from http://thechiefest.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/5-verses-in-psalm-119-were-glad-david-didnt-mean-literally/

The blog http://percivalontheverge.wordpress.com makes insightful comments on this story. While most people would focus on the unacceptable behavior of the teacher, "percivalontheverge" is asking the important question of why the students actually followed the order of the teacher to eat paper:

"...What is troubling is that most of the students chose to follow the ludicrous order. If Math is a subject that demands immaculate logic that stretches and strengthens the mental capacity of students, how come they succumbed to following something they know to be absurd at best and harmful at worst (or even fatal because of the possibility for choking)? How come most of them chose to be automatically obedient in the midst of a subject that requires them to think hard?" (http://percivalontheverge.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/6/)

"Following something they know to be absurd" is a key phrase.  The students knew that they did something wrong. My guess is that this guilt has dramatically changed their sense of right and wrong. The classroom, at this point, was no longer place of learning. It was no longer a class in logic but a place where punishment was about to be given and critical thinking had been suspended. The teacher, who represented authority, at this point, was now absolute. In society, blind obedience goes awry especially when the authority is corrupt. But there must be recognition and respect for those who learned before us.

Although the lack of poor judgment of the teacher in handling the situation is evident, the student's response to the punishment highlights a serious problem in education. This problem is in fact related to how society sometimes deals with issues. With an ever increasing presence of the internet, one can only lament at how easily hoaxes could spread, for example. This is likewise a manifestation of a lack of critical thinking. People can easily believe what they receive if their minds are already preconditioned. In the case of the students inside the classroom, this could be guilt. For others, these are prejudgments or biases. In all cases, thinking seems to have stopped.

"Instilling discipline", "hard work", and "standing on the shoulders of intellectual giants of the past" all refer to the rules. But these rules are not the same as fences and guards. The rule is simply not to stop thinking.

Young Children Think Like Scientists

My son, Alexander, when he was six months old

Research shows that young children think in similar ways as scientists do. With the growing realization of how crucial early childhood education is, these latest results point to great opportunities in introducing science to children. A child does employ a natural way of addressing problems and experimentation. In fact, we may not be aware of this, but everyone, including adults, do this. There are still, however,  major differences between the natural problem solving and experimentation that a young child does, and what a scientist or any other person who practices the scientific method actually does. Scientists employ controls in designing experiments and analyzing data. This requires putting aside prejudgments, formulating a verifiable hypothesis, and critically evaluating the results of works of other scientists. This difference is highlighted by being able to account for what one observes in the light of what is already known. Nevertheless, the motivation is present as early as our toddler years and introducing science at an early age can work by taking advantage of what young children are inclined to do. To scientists, doing science is indeed a play as opposed to a torturing job. We do enjoy it.

Alison Gopnik at the University of California, Berkeley, had been working in this area. A recent review by her has been recently published in the journal Science. The abstract of that paper is posted here as well as a TED video describing her work. A video released by the National Science Foundation is also shared in this post.


Science 28 September 2012: 
Vol. 337 no. 6102 pp. 1623-1627 
DOI: 10.1126/science.1223416
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6102/1623.abstract

Scientific Thinking in Young Children: Theoretical Advances, Empirical Research, and Policy Implications

1. Alison Gopnik

+

1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

ABSTRACT

New theoretical ideas and empirical research show that very young children’s learning and thinking are strikingly similar to much learning and thinking in science. Preschoolers test hypotheses against data and make causal inferences; they learn from statistics and informal experimentation, and from watching and listening to others. The mathematical framework of probabilistic models and Bayesian inference can describe this learning in precise ways. These discoveries have implications for early childhood education and policy. In particular, they suggest both that early childhood experience is extremely important and that the trend toward more structured and academic early childhood programs is misguided.

"Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Her research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play.Alison Gopnik takes us into the fascinating minds of babies and children, and shows us how much we understand before we even realize we do." - http://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think.html

Babies Are Born Scientists

New research methods reveal that babies and young children learn by rationally testing hypotheses, analyzing statistics and doing experiments much as scientists do

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125575

Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke with NSF about her research on young children's early learning. Credit: National Science Foundation

Being shown how to do something has advantages, for both young children and for scientists, as well as disadvantages. Most importantly, being taught something instead of exploring it for oneself discourages exploration that can lead to new conclusions, and research indicates this is the case for young children, Gopnick said.

The true challenge to education is doing both; maintaining curiosity while instilling discipline, learning hard work while at play, and having one's eyes and ears wide open while standing on the shoulders of giants in the past.

The Problem with Reforms that Focus on One Piece

Right from the beginning, it is apparent that education reformers in the Philippines are fixated in the number of school years of basic education. With this emphasis, the real solutions have eluded those who are in power to improve the educational system. Comparisons are made against other countries but these studies have already been preconditioned by an agenda that the Philippines lacks years in basic education. Such inclination steers the observer into focusing mainly on curricula, which is perhaps the least important factor contributing to the quality of education. 

When the United States, for example, compared its mathematics education against that of Singapore, a more thorough examination was performed. This is illustrated in the work of the American Institutes of Research entitled, "What the United States Can Learn From Singapore’s World-Class Mathematics System: An Exploratory Study (and what Singapore can learn from the United States)".

Figure downloaded from  http://www.air.org/focus-area/education/index.cfm?fa=viewContent&content_id=598

Here are excerpts from the above study (I emphasize the first sentence of the last paragraph):

"...Analysis of these evidentiary streams finds Singaporean students more successful in mathematics than their U.S. counterparts because Singapore has a world-class mathematics system with quality components aligned to produce students who learn mathematics to mastery. These components include Singapore’s highly logical national mathematics framework, mathematically rich problem-based textbooks, challenging mathematics assessments, and highly qualified mathematics teachers whose pedagogy centers on teaching to mastery. Singapore also provides its mathematically slower students with an alternative framework and special assistance from an expert teacher. 

The U.S. mathematics system does not have similar features. It lacks a centrally identified core of mathematical content that provides a focus for the rest of the system. Its traditional textbooks emphasize definitions and formulas, not mathematical understanding; its assessments are not especially challenging; and too many U.S. teachers lack sound mathematics preparation. At-risk students often receive special assistance from a teacher’s aide who lacks a college degree. As a result, the United States produces students who have learned only to mechanically apply mathematical procedures to solve routine problems and who are, therefore, not mathematically competitive with students in most other industrialized countries. 

The experiences of several of the U.S pilot sites that introduced the Singapore mathematics textbooks without the other aspects of the Singaporean system also illustrate the challenges teachers face when only one piece of the Singapore system is replicated. Some pilot sites coped successfully with these challenges and significantly improved their students’ mathematics achievement, but others had great difficulty...."

Math teachers in Singapore are required to undergo a hundred hours per year of continuing education. Teachers in Singapore are also experts in the subjects that they teach. Teachers also receive enough pay to support their cost of living. Time inside classrooms is time well spent. The comparison between instructional time can not be made purely on the basis of the number of minutes in classroom time. The textbooks are different. The curriculum cannot be evaluated thoroughly by just browsing at the contents and structure of the lessons taught. A close examination of the textbooks used is necessary to see how mastery and depth as well as a focus on problem solving are evident. For students who take more time to learn, expert teachers are assigned, not the other way around. These are major elements of Singapore education and to focus on years of education completely misses these important factors.  

Rolando S. dela Cruz, president of the Darwin International School System, recently wrote in the Manila Bulletin, "The Science Dilemma in Philippine Schools". He pointed out:

Lack of training of teachers, overpopulated classrooms, dull curricula, outdated teaching methods, lack of equipment, and books offering Mickey Mouse lessons – these are some of the factors that lead to the poor state of science teaching. This is worsened by the general culture that undermines scientific thinking and technological innovation in favor of “bahala na” (“what will be, will be”) and “puwede na” (‘no need to excel”) in our daily national life. 

In the end, the educational system, family and government fail to effectively inculcate scientific thought that is necessary in the development of science and technology. This one whole system must be responsible in the large-scale dumbing down of generations upon generations of Filipinos in the field of Science.

The differences between Singapore and Philippine basic education goes beyond the walls of the classroom. The general environment in the Philippines is not supportive of math and science education simply because there are now several generations that have been poorly educated in these fields. Obviously, the Philippines is in no position, due mainly to lack of resources, to copy all of the elements that lead to a successful education program in the sciences and mathematics. This, however, is not a good reason to make Philippine education worse than it is now.

Sequence of Science Courses

DepEd's K to 12 employs the spiral curriculum in teaching sciences in high school. For example, in grade 8, the first quarter is assigned to chemistry topics which include the particle nature of matter, atomic structure, and the periodic table. The second quarter is mostly biology dealing with a wide spectrum of topics; the digestive system, cell division, biodiversity, and ecosystems. Physics is studied during the third quarter and in this year, the areas discussed are the laws of motion, work, power, and the different forms of energy. The fourth quarter is on earth sciences which include earthquakes, typhoons and the solar system. Looking back at Grade 7, one may then evaluate what the sequence of topics is and ask whether the various disciplines maybe influencing each other. In chemistry, Grade 7 talks about solutions, acids and bases, elements and compounds, and metals and nonmetals. Biology in Grade 7 seems to prepare students for Grade 8 biology as it covers parts and functions, heredity, and interactions within an ecosystem. Physics likewise as it introduces force, motion and energy. And the last quarter deals with the climate in the Philippines, the atmosphere, and eclipses.

Whether there are cross-disciplinary benefits is an important question. This in fact is an active research area for education in the United States. In this light, the sequence may be relevant. The spiral curriculum could be regarded as an extreme design of mixing the sciences. Cross-disciplinary benefits are more likely to happen when a student covers one branch of science for an entire year. The spiral curriculum can only devote one quarter of a year to each branch, so the topics student will be exposed per year in each branch of science are severely limited. The following in a study that describes how chemistry, for example, may aid in learning biology. This is an abstract of an Honors Thesis submitted by Lauren Kronthal to the Department of Chemistry at Georgetown University in 2012:

A Background in Chemistry Helps Students

Learn and Understand Biology

Lauren J. Kronthal

Thesis Advisors:  Sarah Stoll, Ph.D. and Gina Wimp, Ph.D.

Abstract

         With the booming science, technology, engineering, and math job market, the United States cannot afford to be behind in the sciences if it is to remain economically competitive with other industrialized nations. High schools are desperately trying to improve their students’ understanding of the sciences by switching the order of science classes based on the suggestions of educational researchers. Recently, educators have proposed that chemistry be taught before biology since chemistry is necessary to fully understand biological concepts, but no empirical studies have been performed to show that chemistry improves student understanding of biology. I, therefore, addressed the question: Does a background in chemistry help students understand biological concepts?

            To address this question, I taught different biological concepts by 1) providing the relevant chemistry background or 2) not providing such background. I gave an assessment with questions of varying difficulty levels for topics where a chemistry background was provided/not provided and graded student responses. I found that a background in chemistry significantly improved students’ scores on questions that tested basic recall of information and on questions that required students to create a new idea using their knowledge of the content. Other levels of questions had no difference in mean class scores between when chemistry was taught and when it was not taught. Overall, students performed significantly better when given a background in chemistry. These results show that teaching chemistry before biology in high school can help improve student understanding of biological concepts.

To understand what the above study is really about, it is important to look at exactly what topics were being taught in chemistry and biology. The chemistry lectures are on intermolecular forces, polar and nonpolar compounds, and solutions, while the topics covered in biology are the sugars; monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides, as well, as movement of ions and water inside cells. In this case, the biology topics clearly benefit from a background in chemistry. Chemistry provides a perspective that allows students to see the components inside a cell in molecular terms. What is important in this curriculum design is a deliberate effort to connect the topics between the two fields of science. Such is not evident in the DepEd's K to 12 science curriculum.

The biggest disadvantage of a spiral curriculum is the lack opportunity to cover a variety of topics within one discipline in a year. Each discipline requires steps. To get to intermolecular forces and a molecular understanding of solutions, there are prerequisites. The topics build on top of each other and a quarter is simply not enough time to cover enough to aid the student in another field. It is simply the nature of the subject. Thus, designing a curriculum that will achieve what is described above will require a year of chemistry before taking biology.

Whether taking one subject in science helps in another is an important question. A survey of how students perform in college science courses provides preliminary insights:

Figure downloaded from  http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/roboticscurriculum/research/Sadler%20Tai.pdf 

The above does not directly answer the question since this is a study of how students performed in these fields after finishing high school. However, although it does not specifically address how a student's background affects a student's performance on a science subject in high school, it clearly shows that there are cross-subject benefits. Of special interest, is how high school math influences a student's performance in all sciences, including biology. The fact that students who had high school calculus perform much better across the board is probably not so much on an improvement in background, but more on being exposed to greater challenges. These studies are still ongoing and these illustrate how reforms in science education should be made. Reforms in science education can not be simply dictated in a whimsical fashion.  

Why Physics First: An Alternative to Spiral Curriculum in the Sciences

There is a movement regarding science education in high school in the United States that has been increasing in popularity. Spearheaded by a Nobel laureate in physics, Leon Lederman, "Physics First" makes the claim that the proper sequence for teaching the sciences in high school should be physics, followed by chemistry, and then biology. The project "American Renaissance in Science Education" summarizes this order in the following flow chart:

Figure downloaded from  http://ed.fnal.gov/arise/arise_lml/arise_science.html

The University of Missouri currently has a program that helps train teachers in implementing the above course sequence. It is briefly described in a brochure with the following brief rationale:

Downloaded from  http://www.physicsfirstmo.org/files/Brochure%20Aug09B.pdf 

Bottom line: Unlike the spiral curriculum that DepEd's K to 12 promotes, "Physics First" is a response to our improved understanding of how the brain learns. There are additional significant differences. "Physics First", as demonstrated in the University of Missouri program involves summer workshops for teachers over a three year period. This reform does not take place with teacher training lasting for a week or two. An institution of higher learning is intimately involved not for weeks, but for years. The program is not imposed on all public schools. And in the limited, well-designed, controlled studies, regular evaluation will be performed. This is in line with a perspective from another Nobel laureate, Richard Feynman:

"Anecdotal evidence alone, however, cannot confirm the success of the physics-first curriculum. Richard Feynman, renowned physicist and Nobel laureate, spoke of this lack of credible studies in science education almost 40 years ago. "There is an enormous number of studies and a great deal of statistics," he said in a speech about education at the Galileo Symposium in Italy in 1964, "…but they are mixtures of anecdotes, uncontrolled experiments, and very poorly controlled experiments, so that there is very little information as a result." Following this logic, the physics-first curriculum cannot be declared a complete success without well-controlled studies showing its utility in raising science literacy." 

From "Physics First in Science Education Reform" 

Vikram Pattanayak

Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania

http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume6/issue7/features/pattanayak.html

Overcoming the Constraints of Poverty on Education

One can find quite a number of scientific studies on how poverty affects learning. Take this one from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for example (http://www.pnas.org/content/106/16/6545.long):

Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory

1. Gary W. Evans,¹ and 
2. Michelle A. Schamberg

+Author Affiliations

1. Departments of Design and Environmental Analysis and Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401

1. Edited by Bruce S. McEwen, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, and approved February 24, 2009 (received for review November 22, 2008)

Next Section

Abstract

The income–achievement gap is a formidable societal problem, but little is known about either neurocognitive or biological mechanisms that might account for income-related deficits in academic achievement. We show that childhood poverty is inversely related to working memory in young adults. Furthermore, this prospective relationship is mediated by elevated chronic stress during childhood. Chronic stress is measured by allostatic load, a biological marker of cumulative wear and tear on the body that is caused by the mobilization of multiple physiological systems in response to chronic environmental demands.

A large, robust literature demonstrates a pervasive income–achievement gap. Family income is a strong and consistent predictor of multiple indices of achievement, including standardized test scores, grades in school, and educational attainment. Family income matters to children's cognitive development (1–3), with more enduring economic hardship particularly harmful (4, 5). The income–achievement gap is already present by kindergarten and accelerates over time (6, 7). The longer the duration of childhood exposure to poverty, the worse achievement levels become. Achievement test scores and school performance, however, do not inform us about what neurocognitive processes are influenced by childhood poverty. Furthermore, the voluminous income–achievement gap literature is silent on underlying biological explanations....

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And here is another one (http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=psycd_fac):

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In fact, there are now a significant number of scientific studies that have been made examining the effects of poverty on education. These studies provide recommendations. For example, the above paper focuses on addressing the effects of poverty at an early stage, in preschool, where the effects of poverty on education have not yet accelerated, and therefore much more reversible. Here are some specific programs cited:

• Integration of health, nutrition, education, social, and economic development. 
• Collaboration with government agencies and civil society 
• Disadvantaged children (program)
• Program intensity and duration 
• Direct contact with children 
• Parent involvement 
• Opportunities for children for initiation and exploration 
• Traditional child-rearing practices with evidence-based approaches 
• Staff preparation and support 
• Attention to quality: structure (e.g., teacher–child ratio, group size) and processes (caregiver warmth and responsiveness) 
• Improve and evaluate strategies to increase effectiveness of outreach to disadvantaged children, including orphans. 
• Identify the characteristics of Early Childhood Development programs that are effective and can be expanded and implemented through existing health, nutrition, education, and social protection services 
• Examine the role of child development programs in mitigating the effects of poverty 
• Identify a set of globally accepted measures and indicators for child development to measure program effectiveness 
• Create and test a method for estimating the costs of models of early child development programs

It is quite clear from these numerous studies that the effects of poverty on education need to be seriously considered. An understanding of how poverty affects early childhood learning is necessary so that the proper intervention is applied. Poverty and poor education do reinforce each other in a vicious cycle, but perhaps, working on one may alleviate the other. Education provides an opportunity to escape poverty. Decoupling education from poverty may help in breaking the cycle. With this in mind, escaping poverty through education may not involve just the academics. Feeding programs, direct contact, program intensity and duration are probably obvious. But here is one highlighted by the New York Times writer Paul Tough.

Paul Tough recently wrote a book entitled:

How Children Succeed

http://www.paultough.com/the-books/how-children-succeed/

Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

Why do some children succeed while others fail?

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs.

But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control.

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Perhaps, this is a good place to start: Character Education - after all, it is one of the core areas of the K to 12 program. The current values mapping of Deped's K to 12 for Kindergarten through Grade 3 includes the following: conscience, health, care for oneself, self-control, honesty, empathy, respect, kindness, sincerity, generosity, obedience, order, love of God, and preference for the good. It seems that even with a wide array of values enumerated by DepEd, the list still missed quite a significant number of the skills mentioned above. What is surprising is that the values of perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism and self-control are qualities required by science. Since science is not taught in the early years as a formal subject, DepEd's K to 12 misses an excellent opportunity to teach these skills. DepEd's K to 12 was introduced with the following adjectives: "Enjoyable, easily understood lessons using the language spoken at home, less contact time, and interactive." (DepEd Press Release, January 11, 2012. Paul Tough must have considered perseverance as very important to have mentioned it first on his list.

To know more about "grit", here are some excerpts from Jonah Lehrer's article, "Which Traits Predict Success (The Importance of Grit)":

"...And this leads me to one of my favorite recent papers, “Deliberate Practice Spells Success: Why Grittier Competitors Triumph at the National Spelling Bee.” The research, published this month in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science,  was led by Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at Penn. (Anders-Ericsson is senior author.)... ...The first thing Duckworth, et. al. discovered is that deliberate practice works... ...The bad news is that deliberate practice isn’t fun and was consistently rated as the least enjoyable form of self-improvement. Nevertheless, as spellers gain experience, they devote increasing amounts of time to deliberate practice. This suggests that even twelve year olds realize that this is what makes them better, that success isn’t easy.......Factors like grit are often the most predictive variables of real world performance. Thomas Edison was right: even genius is mostly just perspiration."