By F. James Rutherford
With the intention to compete within the sleek international, any society this present day needs to rank schooling in technology, arithmetic, and expertise as one in every of its optimum priorities. it is a unhappy yet precise truth, in spite of the fact that, that the majority american citizens aren't scientifically literate. foreign experiences of academic functionality exhibit that U.S. scholars continuously rank close to the ground in technology and arithmetic. the newest research of the nationwide evaluation of academic growth has came across that regardless of a few small profits lately, the common functionality of seventeen-year-olds in 1986 remained considerably less than it were in 1969. because the global ways the twenty-first century, American schools-- in terms of the development of medical knowledge-- appear to be caught within the Victorian age.
In Science for All Americans, F. James Rutherford and Andrew Ahlgren brilliantly take on this devastating challenge. in line with venture 2061, a systematic literacy initiative subsidized by way of the yank organization for the development of technology, this wide-ranging, vital quantity explores what constitutes medical literacy in a latest society; the data, talents, and attitudes all scholars may still gather from their overall institution adventure from kindergarten via highschool; and what steps this nation needs to take to start reforming its procedure of schooling in technology, arithmetic, and technology.
Science for All Americans describes the scientifically literate individual as one that understands that technology, arithmetic, and expertise are interdependent firms with strengths and obstacles; who knows key thoughts and rules of technological know-how; who acknowledges either the range and cohesion of the flora and fauna; and who makes use of clinical wisdom and medical methods of considering for private and social reasons. Its innovations for tutorial reform downplay conventional topic different types and as a substitute spotlight the connections among them. It additionally emphasizes principles and considering abilities over the memorization of specialised vocabulary. for example, uncomplicated clinical literacy capacity realizing that the manager functionality of residing cells is assembling protein molecules in line with the directions coded in DNA molecules, yet doesn't suggest unavoidably understanding the phrases "ribosome" or "deoxyribonucleic acid."
Science, arithmetic, and expertise should be on the middle of the unconventional alterations within the nature of human life that may ensue in the course of the subsequent existence span; accordingly, getting ready modern-day teenagers for tomorrow's international needs to entail a pretty good schooling in those parts. Science for All Americans may help pave the way in which for the mandatory reforms in America's colleges.
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Chapter 8, THE DESIGNED WORLD, presents principles relevant to some of the key technologies of today's world. Chapter 10, HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES, includes a discussion of the Industrial Revolution. Chapter 12, HABITS OF MlND, includes some skills relevant to participating in a technological world. W. B E A U M O N T alternative designs for motorized bicycles, 1903. 2 5 SCIENCE FOR ALL AMERICANS • RECOMMENDATIONS T E C H N O L O G Y AND S ciE Nc E Technology Draws on Science and Contributes to It In earlier times, technology grew out of personal experience with the properties of things and with the techniques for manipulating them, out of know-how handed down from experts to apprentices over many generations.
What advantages and disadvantages are there to the alternatives? What trade-offs would be necessary between positive and negative side effects of each? • Who are the main beneficiaries? Who will receive few or no benefits? Who will suffer as a result of the proposed new technology? How long will the benefits last? Will the technology have other applications? Whom will they benefit? • What will the proposed new technology cost to build and operate? How does that compare to the cost of alternatives?
A system or device may fail for different reasons: because some part fails, because some part is not well matched to some other, or because the design of the system is not adequate for all the conditions under which it is used. One hedge against failure is overdesign—that is, for example, making something stronger or bigger than is likely to be necessary. Another hedge is redundancy—that is, building in one backup system or more to take over in case the primary one fails. 31 SCIENCE FOR ALL AMERICANS If failure of a system would have very costly consequences, the system may be designed so that its most likely way of failing would do the least harm.