We’ve spent this section discussing the nature of modern science and, of course, this entire book is about science. You also know that you’ve been learning science in school since you were very young, and you’ll be required to continue studying science throughout the rest of your school years. So it must be important, right? But why? Use the following discussion to come up with your own list of reasons.
Group Discussion
The Value of Science
- Working in small groups, come up with a list of at least three reasons why science has value to us, both as individuals and as a civilization.
- Then come together as a class and your teacher can write on the board all the reasons the various groups have come up with. If the same reason was listed by more than one group, put tally marks of how many groups listed that reason.
- What were the three most commonly listed reasons? If there are ties, you might hold a class vote to come up with a class list of the top three reasons science has value to us.
This can be a fairly brief discussion. Notes:
(1) Students should write down their small group lists as concisely as possible.
(2) When you come together as a class and you are writing the reasons on the board, use your judgment to reword the reasons more concisely, and to decide if the reason from one group is essentially the same as a reason already listed, even if the group worded it a bit differently.
(3) If you need to hold a class vote, you could do this is one of two ways: (i) If you have limited time and want to do it quickly, just vote on the ties; (ii) if you want to do something more sophisticated that will carry over to lessons in math and civics, you could make this an exercise in ranked choice voting. If you choose to do this:
- Give each statement on the board a letter (A, B, C…)
- Hand out a set of “ballots” (one per student) on which the students should indicate their first, second, and third choices by writing in the letter of the statement they are choosing (e.g., First Choice – G, Second Choice – B, Third Choice – E).
- Collect the ballots and tally the results by assigning 3 points for a first place vote, 2 points for a second place vote, and 1 point for a third place vote. The three statements that have the most total points are the top three choices of the class. Note: You can have students help with the tallying.
As you’ve probably realized from your discussion, there are many possible reasons that can be offered for why science has value. No one list of reasons is necessarily better than any other list, but here is the list of the top three reasons cited by the authors of this book:
- Science gives us a way of distinguishing possibilities from realties.
The idea behind this reason is that we can usually come up with many possible explanations for what we observe, at least at first. Only by examining scientific evidence can we decide which of these possibilities might actually represent reality. The question of Earth’s place in the universe provides a good example. As we discussed in this chapter, the daily rise and set of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars in our sky had at least two possible explanations: They might actually be going around Earth every day, or their observed motion might be a consequence of us living on a rotating Earth. Recall that both possibilities were considered for more than two thousand years, and it was only through the accumulation of scientific evidence that we could finally rule out the first possibility and confirm that the second was correct. - Science provides us with a way of bringing people to agreement.
This statement simply reminds us of the way science advances. We collect evidence that anyone can in principle examine, we analyze the evidence to come up with potential models that would explain what the evidence means, and we then put our models to the test. If a model makes predictions that fail, then we know it must be revised or discarded. If it makes predictions that are verified, then we can assume it is on the right track. If the model succeeds repeatedly and in varied circumstances, then the evidence can eventually become so overwhelming that anyone who looks at it will reach the conclusion that the model is valid, and at that point we can consider it a scientific theory. Again, the Copernican revolution provides an example. The debate about whether Earth was the center of the universe went on for more than 2,000 years. Then, over a period of barely more than a century, the evidence became so overwhelming that virtually no one argued any further for the Earth-centered view. The evidence had brought everyone to agreement, an agreement that is shared around the world by people of every religion and culture. - Science is the primary driver of technological progress.
Every modern technological advancement relies on science. This includes mechanical devices (for example, bicycles), electronics (for example, lights, cell phones, computers), medicine (for example, treatments and vaccines), and more. Without science, we would have no more technology than our ancestors did thousands of years ago.
Group Discussion
The Value of Science – Author’s List
Work in small groups to discuss the author’s list above of three reasons that science has value. For each of the three reasons, decide whether you agree with the stated reason’s validity, giving examples to explain why or why not.
This can also be a fairly brief discussion. Notes:
- Be sure to emphasize to students that they are now evaluating the authors’ opinion-based list, not some absolute list of three values of science.
- Students might also want to discuss the meaning of “value.” For example, the same technologies that have made important advances possible also can be used destructively (in war, for example, with nuclear weapons, bioweapons, cyberwar, etc.). This can lead to an interesting discussion about whether science is always of value, or should be subject to some limitations.
Journal Entry
What is Science? — Revisited
Return to the journal entry you made at the beginning of this chapter about how you would define science and distinguish something we consider science from something that is not science. You should have left space to write more, so now use that space to evaluate your earlier entry. Write a paragraph or two in which you explain whether and why (or why not) you still agree with what your earlier entry, and how your own understanding of the nature of science has changed through what you’ve learned.
This journal entry asks students to revisit what they wrote at the beginning of the chapter. Encourage them to be very thoughtful and detailed in their responses.