Comments on: Cosmos 2014 is coming

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 19:31:29 +0000

I agree that there is bad teaching. You can learn French (or any language) very well in some teaching contexts, poorly in others; I tend to agree that language learning is not done the best way and was unhappy to learn that my daughter, when in HS, was “learning” Spanish the same way I was “learning” french in grade school and high school.

But It is not accurate or fair, and hurts the cause of science education by tossing our most important allies under the bus, to make a blanket statement that science teaching is “horrific.”

Also, you are Canadian. All Canadians know French.

By: WallyBob

WallyBob — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 18:03:25 +0000

That pic is @ Seven Sisters country park, East Sussex, UK. One of my regular walks.

By: Kurtis Baute

Kurtis Baute — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 13:03:52 +0000

In defence of Druyan, I think that science is poorly taught in school. So are many other topics. We can’t tell if she was singling out science because she thinks it’s the worst-taught topic, or if she focussed on science because that is what she was talking about – science communication. I don’t think her comment is unwarranted or unfairly science-biased.

As an example, here in Canada, we are required to take French in school, but the classes are all about the grammar rules, not about conversing – and I never learned anything. I thought I just wasn’t able to learn a second language, something that I later learned wasn’t true. Science was the same way for me, we learned to memorize facts – and I never even knew what a scientific theory really was. I didn’t have a science teacher that got me excited about science until university (after I’d read some books and figured I’d give a science class a try for fun). I’m sure there are teachers that show it differently, but it was a ‘gruelling experience’ for me at the time – just like French.

By: Eric Lund

Eric Lund — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 14:38:49 +0000

I agree that Ms. Druyan is being unfair in singling out science teaching. There is a lot of bad teaching in schools these days, not just limited to science. Part of it is that this country places a low value on teaching as a profession, so it doesn’t attract the best and brightest. (Until about 40 years ago teaching was one of the few professions where women were allowed, so this is actually one of the few downsides of improving gender equality.) And part of it is the anti-science (and more broadly, anti-intellectual) streak that has too much power in too much of this country. I’m not saying that all teachers are bad, just that we should (and could, with suitable cultural and financial priorities) be better at it.

Your post didn’t mention this, but (as I recalled, and Wikipedia confirms) Druyan is Carl Sagan’s widow. That’s why she has to be involved in this project.

By: Sylvester B

Sylvester B — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 00:42:03 +0000

“walked a mile each way TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY”…etc.

By: Sylvester B

Sylvester B — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 00:41:12 +0000

High School science should be taught with a sense of wonder. As I recall my high school classes (a helluva long time ago) it was so interesting that after school I walked a mile each day to read the Harvard series on astronomy. My son Dennis inherited my sense of wonder, and has a motorized reflector telescope that on clear nights provides a look into the infinite.

I am glad to see that we will have a new Cosmos to supplement the current “Through the Wormhole” with Morgan Freeman. I never cease to be awed by this universe we are blessed to be living in.