tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941612014165723839.post1092751979036795062..comments2014-11-06T11:05:36.172-08:00Comments on Science Literacies 2014: Memo 3: Explanation and Argument Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04288157704159727422noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941612014165723839.post-59726403737902688812014-09-10T06:38:07.624-07:002014-09-10T06:38:07.624-07:00I am similarly alarmed by the implications of scie...I am similarly alarmed by the implications of science needing to 'borrow' reading and writing from other subjects like English or history. I think that science comes with its own communicative challenges, and that overcoming these by including them in our curricula might be a crucial step toward enhancing and deepening scientific literacy for the nation. If Nye and Tyson have done so much for this cause, and we would call them well-spoken scientists, then it makes sense that we ought to do more to make sure students (future scientists) can communicate complex ideas in popularized, everyday English. In our methods course, we recently were tasked with developing a challenge for some gifted Nashville high school students who attend a once-a-week school for math and science. This challenge came on the heels of their own generally unsuccessful attempts to explain their own scientific research to us, and I think it did them good to practice explaining while limited to the language of everyday English. It seems to me that educating students to speak (publicly and privately), explain, argue, and defend in common English and without the flourish of jargon, might do a substantial amount for the cause of advancing scientific literacy.Jackson Reimershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12551390625749083205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941612014165723839.post-18219646340383531502014-09-10T06:28:58.697-07:002014-09-10T06:28:58.697-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jackson Reimershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12551390625749083205noreply@blogger.com