Thread by @karamballes

While there are ppl in the BBC engaged in intentional minimising, I think a greater number of reporters are surrounded with misinterpretation and don't understand the nuances when scientists explain

Not enough journalists are scientifically literate

https://twitter.com/danielgoyal/status/1506991874564837393

To be honest I think we have an issue with the science curriculum and exam structure as clearly intelligent ppl, well educated in others lack basic functional understanding of scientific principles

It feels like there is a hierarchy of the acceptability of ignorance

In English the inability to do the basics, bad grammar and poor spelling,are considered by many to be a source of shame or embarrassment

Struggling with maths appears to be more socially acceptable than literacy issues

Ppl laugh off the inability to do maths, many don't feel shame at not knowing their timetables, I'm not judging and saying they should, just observing

With Maths there isn't generally shame, however you do get a sheepish response "I should know how to do this but I dont"

With science we don't even see this, a lot of ppl see science as something for other ppl to worry about

I think many ppl don't understand what science is, we focus on the facts and theories that have been produced by science,but we don't spend enough time getting ppl to understanding the scientific method, science is a process of observation, data collection and analysis

We do cover this in GCSE science, there are required practicals, you get exam questions where methods must be evaluated or written from scratch, Biology papers in my opinion are best at this, however Science is a double or triple award qualification, triple is pretty good for

top end students looking to study the subject beyond GCSE but I do wonder about the format of double

Might it be better to have it split into two separate qualifications, a functional science GCSE and a second GCSE that builds on this

Does every 14-16 year old really need to memorise 20 odd equations to understand the basics of physics if they won't be going onto A level?
I've seen kids learn to knock out model answers but without properly understanding the principles underlying the answer

I would prefer to see majority of students gain a good grounding of the foundations of science rather than getting swamped with more detail than is necessary, for some students it's too much and it demotivates them, they give up and don't get a pass grade

Wouldn't it be better for students to get one decent GCSE grade in science than 2 grades below the pass grade of a 4

One 4 is a lot more valuable than two 3s, we need a more flexible range of courses

I would like to point out this is all just musing whilst on the bus, but scientific literacy is a massive issue, Ive seen it when supporting schools reps with head teachers, although I still don't get how one head hadn't heard of FFP2 or HEPA a couple of months ago

A head who has been better than many on many safety measures, for instance having introduced masks before gov guidence and then keeping them for longer.