Bad Biology

Everyone agrees that education is important. Similarly, it has become a commonplace to say that we do not educate the children of the nation as we should. Improving education is a particularly complex task, but part of the problem is that we are unable as a society to define what a "good education" really is. It is a particular problem in patients who are politically and emotionally charged. One of the most bitter of education is that which is closest to my heart: biology. Let me put some thoughts on what a good education in biology should look like, and what are the benefits of this could be at both the individual and societal level.

First, and perhaps more importantly, it is essential that all sciences, including biology, are taught as a process and a way of thinking, rather than a set of facts that are "real" and must be memorized. For example, one of the most amazing ideas of biology is that much of the weight of an oak tree was actually pulled off the air. If someone just told me that, and I had no idea where the information came from, I think they were a little goofy, at best, or try to sell me a bill gods, at worst. With a real understanding of scientific inquiry that has come to this discovery, I not only believe, but more importantly, I also understand and remember. Now, even the simplest of scientific experiments to replicate used to elucidate the question: "How does a weight gain of plants? would be difficult in the classroom average and probably not the best use of valuable time. But research into case studies like this is a fabulous way to learn both on scientific facts and scientific thought.

Once we start thinking about biology as a process of learning about living and teaching of biology as an opportunity to understand this process and refine their critical thinking at the same time, we are in a position much stronger to improve science education in our time. At this stage, we are well positioned to reliably prove scientifically literate high school graduates and also to tackle a more politically teaching aspects of the teaching of biology.

Without doubt, the most politically charged aspect of biology is evolution. It is also among the most important unsolved scientific ideas. If we present evolution in the classroom as a "great man, Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and we now know that people are descended from monkeys, without God's help" we are the only ones to blame if 65% of U.S. citizens are creationists. Evolution education might not be quite so bad in most schools, but I bet it is not too much better. What do we lose if evolution is understood by only a minority of Americans? Well, from an aesthetic standpoint, it seems a shame that so many of us do not understand one of the great ideas on how the world works. From a practical standpoint, it is just scary that most farmers use antibiotics to help their livestock weight gain and most patients who do not follow the teaching of their doctors when it comes to taking antibiotics does not understand the role they play in promoting the development of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

A frequent complaint I hear from students in high school biology classes is that there is so much memory. This is more closely related to the failure of our educational system as one might think at first. Certainly, there is a significant amount of new vocabulary that students need to know if they will be able to speak, think, read and write about new concepts. However, a biology course should never feel like a bunch of memorization slog through. The most important thing we can do to change this is to focus on the hows and whys "of biology rather than simply the conclusions that biologists.