Blogs / The Intersection

1) As Carl already pointed out, my good friend Vanessa Woods is working with bonobos in Congo and unfortunately they are suffering from a mysterious virus:

The virus has infected over 20 bonobos and counting, and has already killed four. Another 3 have died, we aren’t sure of the cause, so it could be as many as seven, which means the sanctuary has already lost over a tenth of its population.

The symptoms are a dry cough, followed by a runny nose. But then the bonobos start hyperventilating, it’s like they can’t get enough air. They die as quickly as 72 hours after the initial symptoms. The problem is, the virus hasn’t seem to run its course, it’s been through the nursery twice, and is bouncing back and forth between the enclosures.

If you have heard anything about this illness in great apes, please write to v.woods@duke.edu. To donate to Lola ya bonobo sanctuary where they desperately need medicine for these orphans, please visit www.friendsofbonobos.org/support.htm.

2) Because I’ve been traveling much of the week, the final panelist at the 2009 Science and Technology in Society Conference, Reynold Galope, will be featured on Monday.  I expect his topic, ‘Defining a Comparison Sample to Measure the Effect of Institutional Factors on Highly Creative Scientific Research: Issues and Options’ will provoke an interesting discussion.

3) A new science blog carnival will be published on 6 April at Scientia.  It’s for posts related to science, nature and medical topics and you can still submit entries here…

4) For those with access to Science, there is a terrific editorial (very much related to a prominent theme of Unscientific America) by Bruce Alberts on page 13 of today’s issue:

One senses that we are reaching a tipping point, where students who prefer to work in the world of public policy, government, precollege education, industry, or law will no longer be viewed as deserting science. Faculty and students can then begin to talk honestly about a whole range of respected, science-related career possibilities. This is crucial, because we must promote the movement of scientists into many occupations and environments if our end goal is to effectively apply science and its values to solving global problems.

Exactly.  There are many ways to work in science and I’m pleased to see this emphasized by Science’s Editor-in-Chief. Read on here…

While I’m preparing for Saturday’s education panel, let’s venture back to a related topic discussed here over the past several weeks.  I’m curious to find out how our new readers feel about the term ‘science literacy‘…

Do you think it’s something learned in the classroom or acquired by way of natural curiosity and keen intellect?  Is a student well versed in facts about photosynthesis and planetary orbits more scientifically ‘literate‘ than the poor test taker who spends afternoons reading about dinosaurs and searching for fossils in her backyard?  In other words, how might we best define the term–even before assessing it?

Comments on earlier threads suggest folks mostly agree that many heavily cited surveys using standard pop-quiz parameters do not convey much useful information about society at large.  So can we ever measure this term satisfactorily?

Furthermore, when does science literacy matter most?

Tomorrow I’m headed back to the District and delighted to be participating in the 2009 Science and Technology in Society Conference hosted by the ST Global Consortium at AAAS.  I’m on the career panel Saturday afternoon in excellent company with Alicia Jackson of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and Debra Mathews from the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. Earlier in the day, I’ll also be moderating a student panel on education–coincidentally the same theme of my panel at the NYAS Two Culture Conference in May. Chris and I take on this subject comprehensively in Unscientific America and I’ll have a lot to contribute to the discussion.  As for the purpose of the STS conference:

The emerging fields of Science and Technology Policy (STP) and Science and Technology Studies (STS) have become prominent disciplines in recent years.

The increasing prevalence of technology issues – in governmental policies and the public eye – demands a workforce equipped with the tools and training necessary to negotiate these complex relationships. Though often from different perspectives, STS and STP deal with many of the same issues.

Traditionally, however, there has been little communication between the two. Thus, the main purpose of the Conference is to bridge that divide and provide a forum for networking, bringing together graduate students from historically fragmented communities to learn from one another. We hope the event will add value to students’ research and writing, and contribute important new ideas to the S&T challenges of the day.

I always love the opportunity to speak with students and am really looking forward to the weekend.  The full agenda and list of speakers suggest it will be a wonderful event and I hope to see some readers there!

As promised, photos* from last Friday with ‘the Bloggerati‘.  Here I’m in terrific company with Misha, Bora, and Abel over lunch in Durham:

Bora and I chat with students about why we blog:

* Special thanks to Abel for sharing the images! For a terrific detailed description of the day, visit Terra Sigillata…

Here she is…

You’ve read about the controversy and now it’s time to weigh in. According to Reuters, Dora will continue solving mysteries related to the environment, wildlife, and school while maintaining her sense of adventure.

As I wrote last week, I hope the middle school aged explorer remains curious, clever, self confident, and kind. And if she chooses to do so while wearing cute shoes, she’s entitled. Isis and I agree that brains and social consciousness are not defined by appearances.

So folks, what do you think?

Yesterday, we considered the meaning of scientific literacy in America… or lack thereof. So let’s take this discussion one step further as it’s a particularly interesting topic. According to the National Academies:

Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. It also includes specific types of abilities. In the National Science Education Standards, the content standards define scientific literacy.

Scientific literacy means that a person can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. It means that a person has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena. Scientific literacy entails being able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions. Scientific literacy implies that a person can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed. A literate citizen should be able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it. Scientific literacy also implies the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately.

Individuals will display their scientific literacy in different ways, such as appropriately using technical terms, or applying scientific concepts and processes. And individuals often will have differences in literacy in different domains, such as more understanding of life-science concepts and words, and less understanding of physical-science concepts and words.

Scientific literacy has different degrees and forms; it expands and deepens over a lifetime, not just during the years in school. But the attitudes and values established toward science in the early years will shape a person’s development of scientific literacy as an adult.

Okay. Now if we assume Monday’s comment thread is representative of Intersection readership at large, most folks agree that quizzing the general populace on a series of facts doesn’t necessarily provide much information. So, let’s continue…

First, are you satisfied with the definition outlined above? Further, how we might more reliably measure the state of scientific literacy in this country?