Science Education for Everyone: Why and What?

Overview & Synopsis

What the author explores in this essay is not so much the "whether" of general science education, but the "why." What exactly constitutes good science education, and how can one recognize when students have received it? Once this question has been answered, the answer to the "what" question--the actual content of the curriculum--is relatively easy to find. There are (at least) two different kinds of things that go under the name of "science education." One involves the education of future scientists and engineers--an endeavor that is in pretty good shape (although improvements are always possible). The other involves the education of what the author calls "the other 98 percent"--the students who will not go on to careers in science and technology. It is this latter sort of education that the author wants to discuss. In particular, he wants to ask what sort of education the other 98 percent should get in the sciences.