• " ... and this I knew experimentally" ... George Fox
• "If we knew all the answers, there would be no point in carrying out scientific research. Because we do not, it is stimulating, exciting, challenging. So too is the Christian life, lived experimentally" ... Kathleen Lonsdale, quoted by Anne Thomas
• "Our program builds on the natural curiosity our children have for their immediate surroundings and supports exploration of their ever unfolding world" ... Lansdowne Friends School
• "Science has always been and should always be an advocate of the values of skepticism (humility?), for both cultures and individuals" ... Science as Storytelling or Story Telling

Science as Story Telling and Story Revision

Linear science	Seriously loopy science
Science as body of facts established by specialized fact-generating people and process Science as successive approximations to Truth Science as authority about "natural world"	Science as ongoing process of getting it less wrong, potentially usable by and contributed to by everyone Science as ongoing making of observations, intepreting/summarizing, making new observations, making new summaries Science as process of inquiry into anything, one which everybody is equiped to do/can get better at/be further empowered by, - a way of making sense of what is but even more of exploring what might yet be

Don't "teach science" but instead ... Create environments in which students can become better scientists Model for them the process of skeptical/humble, creative, transactional inquiry Think of science as a practical tool, continually being adapted Think of "the crack" as a feature rather than a bug (there are always multiple possible summaries, directions for new exploration) Becoming more skilled at process is the primary objective. "Content" demands can/will be satisfied by appropriate sequences of environments Teach/do science as: making observations, interpreting/summarizing/creating stories, in order to see what has not yet been seen, conceive what has not yet been conceived (by oneself and/or others)

Trying It Out

Which of the following two stories do you prefer?

1. The earth is flat (Flat Earth Society)
2. The earth is round

1. The sun goes around the earth
2. The earth goes around the sun

Which of the following stories do you prefer?

1. Existing life forms (including humans) are as they are because of a previous and ongoing process of evolution consisting of random change and natural selection (differential reproductive success).
2. Existing life forms (including humans) are as they are because of repeated creative acts of a supernatural being with a plan and intent?
3. Existing life forms (including humans) are as they are because of an initial creative act with a supernatural being with a plan and intent?
4. Other?

The Brain as a Scientist/Explorer/Story Teller/Story Reviser

The conscious/unconscious distinction

Conscious stories are not always "tested"; can go in one ear and out the other without impacting practice, understandings

Hands-on activities are fine for certain kinds of learning but do not necessarily generalize or produce improvements in ability to interpret or to appreciate the difference between observation and interpretation

Both hands-on and interpretive activities are needed to become more skilled at "making observations/intereting/summarizing/creating stories, in order to see what has not yet been seen/conceive what has not yet been conceived."

Just as observations can affect interpretations, so too can interpretations affect observations.

Try out noticing how interpretations affect observations, how observations can lead to new interpretations, further questions.

Things to try and build into lesson plans

• Start with something students are interested in, think they understand
• Observe, entertain possibility of observing differently
• Interpret, entertain possibility of interpreting differently
• See what observations/interpretations uncover misunderstandings, lead to new interesting questions
• Make predictions about the questions
• Make new observations
• And so on ...

For further exploration:

• The Importance of Process in Science, the Brain, and Education - notes for a talk (includes figures above)
• Revisiting Science in Culture: Science as Story Telling and Story Revising - article
• Emergent Pedagogy: Learning to Enjoy the Uncontrollable and Make it Productive - article in press
• Getting It Less Wrong, the Brain's Way: Science, Pragmatism, and Multiplism - article
• The Bipartite Brain - notes for a talk
• Serendip - "an expanding forum and a continually developing set of resources to explore and support intellectual and social change in education, in social organization ... and in how one makes sense of life"

• Paul Grobstein
  pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
  610 526-5098
  this material: http://serendipstudio.org/reflections/lansdownefriends/17feb06.html

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