Humane Issues in the News: Tennessee Passes "Denial Science" Law

Learning to think critically and question information and issues is an important part of schooling (or at least it should be). But what if "critical thinking" is used as a cover for inaccurately framing mainstream scientific theories?

Recently Tennessee became the second state (Louisiana was the first) to pass a law that allows public school teachers to “help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories,” such as biological evolution and global warming.

On the surface, the new law seems to support a healthy encouragement of critical thinking, respect for others' opinions, and improved environmental literacy. Proponents of the law say that it's merely a means of encouraging critical thinking and "evidence-based reasoning."

Opponents of the law, such as Eugenie Scott, director for the National Center for Science Education, say the real goal is "a permission slip for teachers to bring creationism, climate-change denial and other non-science into science classrooms.” As a representative from the National Association of Biology Teachers said:

"Concepts like evolution and climate change should not be misrepresented as controversial or needing of special evaluation. Instead, they should be presented as scientific explanations for events and processes that are supported by experimentation, logical analysis, and evidence-based revision based on detectable and measurable data."

It's too soon to tell what kind of impact such a law might have, but any legislation that hinders true critical thinking and authentic learning (such as the recently proposed 50 "banned" words on standardized tests in New York schools) should spur us all to pay attention.

Sources Consulted:

Nature.com
The Guardian
Slate.com

~ Marsha

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