How to teach science.

1. Let students get their hands dirty. . .

2. Yes, spend more money on science. . .

3. Celebrate mistakes.

Why bother?

. . . the U.S. is falling behind other countries in science: By 2010, Asia will have 90 percent of the world’s Ph.D. scientists and engineers.

It sounds threatening, but I don't think that this is the true concern, the most damaging effect of science illiteracy and disinterest. The real problem is that failure to gain skill in scientific thought processes cripples everyone no matter what their academic specialty. Historians and English majors need it as much as engineers.

Our work is less involved with physical reality since we have become a nation of cubicle dwellers. We work with abstractions and live sedentary lives. We have fewer opportunities to engage with tasks that informally instill some of the skills of engineering and scientific thought. If such thinking is not taught in the ever lengthening portion of our lives spent in educational institutions it is less likely to ever be grasped. Worse, those who are profoundly ignorant are none the less told that they have been educated, that they are the elites or at least well above others.