University of California, Davis

Department Member, Education

Other Affiliations: University of Maryland, College Park, Education

About

My feelings about science education as best expressed in the following quote from Stephen Norris (1997):

“To ask of other human beings that they accept and
memorize what the science teacher says, without any
concern for the meaning and justification of what is
said, is to treat those human beings with disrespect
and is to show insufficient care for their welfare.
It treats them with a disrespect, because students exist
on a moral par with their teachers, and therefore have
a right to expect from their teachers reasons for what
the teachers wish them to believe. It shows insufficient
care for the welfare of students, because possessing
beliefs that one is unable to justify is poor currency
when one needs beliefs that can reliably guide action.”