(no subject)
BRUCE W SCHWEITZER (BQXC94A@prodigy.com)
Sun, 2 Jun 1996 21:29:32, -0500I enjoyed reading the article "Imposing Science on the Liberal Arts
Student" by Karl Giberson and Kathy Frederich in the new PERSPECTIVES.
The challenges involved in presenting controversial, complex, and
sometimes foreign topics to students from widely differing
backgrounds seem overwhelming to this non-teacher. I liked the
inclusion of hands-on group activities to give non-science types the
experience of using scientific methods to solve a problem in which
there are not always obvious ways to a solution. The only question
I have with the article is the wording of one of their questions to
assess scientific literacy. How many practicing scientists will tell
you that they "fully understand" topics such as the big bang,
ecosystems, quarks, Darwin, and cold fusion? Maybe almost everyone
should fall into the "don't fully understand" category. Bruce
Schweitzer