[extropy-chat] Science in K-12 Education

[Nicholas Anthony MacDonald]

>The shocking truth is that the *average* typical American
>is a creationist!  Or might as well be.  Adventist historian
>Ron Numbers, in his excellent book The Creationists, shows that 
>when people are randomly selected and given questionnaires about
>evolution, their answers demonstrate so little basic understanding
>of evolution, answers that are clearly and repeatedly self-
>contradictory, it is almost meaningless to label the person either 
>creationist or evolutionist.  Fellow Americans, we know not
>jack about evolution.  Sad.  

Mainly because scientific education in the K-12 years is abysmal.  Science classes bore all but a few hard-core nerds to tears, quickly chasing them into service industry jobs, business, the arts, or technician-troll level CS work.  Same goes for history, I might add- many of my fellow students don't see much "practical" reason to gain a solid foundation in real historical knowledge, and instead either ignore it completely, or embrace a picture of history imbibed in their Sunday-school classes.

I didn't learn to appreciate science or history in my classes.  I learned about both on my computer- playing SimEarth, SimLife, and Civilization... which lead me to reading Sagan, Dawkins, Gould, Diamond, and various historical works that were far more interesting than anything ever thrown at me in school.  It's a damn shame that Maxis is busy making junk entertainment like "The Sims" rather than updating their amazing educational software.  SimEarth, SimLife, and SimAnt not only taught ecology and genetics, but made it fun.  Most "educational" software is designed for hand-holding and has, by definition, gained a bad reputation- not these games.  We need more like them.

-Nicq