NCB Science advice paper comment Pt 3

III. [p8] "To increase the relevance of science to students there is a strong case to include more contemporary (and possibly controversial) issues in the science curriculum…
The school science curriculum should provide opportunities to explore these complex issues to enable students to understand that the application of science and technology to the real world is often concerned with risk and debate."

A. I do not believe this is appropriate in the primary grades. Children of primary age are not able to grasp the idea of bias and how it affects the interpretation of statistical evidence, nor can they fully understand the idea that there may be no "right" answer.

B. This is appropriate at the secondary level where students are intellectually capable of learning and applying methods of reasoning (of which the scientific method is merely one) and also have a strong internal drive to make their own decisions and forge their own solutions. It is at this age when personal relevance of content to students’ lives is important to consider. However, it does take a skilled teacher to draw students into considering and acknowledging the breadth of their sphere of “personal value and relevance”. For this reason it is vital that secondary science teachers are provided with regular opportunities to upgrade their knowledge of scientific and technological developments, particularly if they teach in the fields of biology, biochemistry or physics.

[edit: this section was added 5 Nov]
C. It is no small matter for a curriculum to advocate the teaching of controversial issues as part of science classes. These issues are controversial because there is significant disagreement about the ethics of particular types of research or particular applications for research. Expecting a teacher to provide a fair and balanced assessment of a topic which engenders high levels of feeling and emotion within the scientific community and the general public seems akin to asking for complaints to be made about teachers’ approaches to the topic.