On 20 Oct 2009, at 10:53, Kevin Cowtan wrote:
I don't have time for a full exposition, but here's a couple of
illustrations of changes which are taking place which have direct
impact on science communication. In the UK at least, teaching
strategies have changed to reflect the fact that appeals-to-
authority no longer carry the weight they used to - school science
involves more discovery based learning. Similarly, TV science
documentaries no longer attempt to communicate facts, rather they
tell stories, usually following the intellectual journey of a
scientist of scientists in reaching a discovery.
I thought that the point of Enlightenment science was a rejection of
(Aristotelian) authority, basing science of empirical observations. If
properly conducted, Science is inherently not based on authority but
on evidence. Good school science teaching was always based on
discovery (my first chemistry book was called "Chemistry by discovery")
It is true that coverage of science in popular media is generally poor
Phil
