Comments for Science and Society

Comment on Developing scientific literacy by Dick Tindall

Dick Tindall — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:11:31 +0000

The problem goes deeper than the education system - which, of course, is not perfect.
The general public are more educated in many quite complex non-scientific areas such as fashion, sport, music and many other subjects.
These are the topics for everyday conversation and most people would be embarrassed to admit total ignorance.
In contrast, I have heard Radio 4 presenters sounding proud when they say they have no grasp of a scientific topic.
This is a cultural predjudice similar to (the now old-fashioned) racial predjudice, in that it makes blanket assumptions about all science and scientists, (difficult-dull-dangerous).
As a start, some opinion leaders such as media presenters, perhaps even on Radio 1, should be made aware of the problem they are causing and asked to help by watching the way they talk.

Comment on Science Blogging by Famous for fifteen people « O’Really? at Duncan.Hull.name

Famous for fifteen people « O’Really? at Duncan.Hull.name — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:48:27 +0000

[...] bods from DIUS, must have been Mike Rose? probably and Steph Gray, see DIUS sciblog report. I liked the demo of how to embed funky DIUS widgets in your website (techie note to self: [...]

Comment on Download by UK government consults with public on science policy « The Plummet Onions

UK government consults with public on science policy « The Plummet Onions — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:33:16 +0000

[...] on, Brits. This is our society, our government, and therefore our policies. Understanding them is a good thing. Submitting opinions is an even better [...]