DiigoNotes - Letter from Jonathan King to Boston Globe (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

• Letter from Jonathan King to Boston Globe (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

  • the current state policy, which focuses on chasing an arbitrary score

    on a standardized science test, derails efforts to engage students in

    the processes and prospects of science and technology.

  • Scientific advances depend on nurturing the full

    spectrum of human intellectual diversity.

  • Under current education policy, hands-on

    experience-based learning has been replaced by a “What’s the right

    answer?” syndrome. As always, test scores tell us a great deal about

    disparities in students’ wealth and backgrounds, but little about how

    to help all students channel their curiosity about the natural world

    into productive scientific work and study.

  • We need to set aside high-stakes exams and give all students access to

    inquiry-based, hands-on science experiences instead of scripted,

    shallow test prep.

  • The writer is a professor of molecular biology at MIT.

    — Jonathan King

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• Education