Experimentation on the science syllabus puts feelings before facts

SCIENCE as taught in Queensland schools is a "social and cultural activity" based on "personal experiences", a view rejected by the deans of science.

SCIENCE as taught in Queensland schools is a "social and cultural activity" that generates explanations of natural phenomenon based on "personal experiences", a view rejected by the nation's deans of science as fundamentally misunderstanding the nature of scientific inquiry.

The description is contained in an overarching statement introducing the syllabus for physics, chemistry and biology for Years 11 and 12 entitled: "A view of science and science education."

"Science is a social and cultural activity through which explanations of natural phenomena are generated," it says.

"Explanations of natural phenomena may be viewed as mental constructions based on personal experiences and result from a range of activities including observation, experimentation, imagination and discussion.

"Accepted scientific concepts, theories and models may be viewed as shared understandings that the scientific community perceive as viable in light of current available evidence."

The view of science as outlined by the Queensland Studies Authority was utterly rejected by the Australian Council of Deans of Science, representing the heads of science faculties in the nation's universities. The council's executive director, John Rice from Sydney University, said it was a misleading view of science and misunderstood "the unique way in which science goes about understanding things".

"That statement makes scientific knowledge sound as though it's no more than the fantasies of a bunch of scientists," he said.

"That's quite wrong. It fails to understand the way in which science grounds itself in observation and testable hypotheses."

The Queensland Studies Authority said the statements concerning a view of science and science education should be read in the context of the entire syllabus and it was not, and was never intended to be, a definition of science.

The authority said the statement was "intended to reflect the complex nature by which scientific understandings have progressed".

"The extract is referring to a way of viewing science education that makes the subject engaging and meaningful in the classroom," the QSA said in a statement.

"The process of deriving scientific facts and empirical knowledge has occurred as scientists have observed, experimented, imagined and discussed their understandings. QSA's science syllabuses make clear that there is a body of conceptual knowledge and facts that underpin the study of subjects such as physics, chemistry and biology." The authority said all teams writing science syllabuses for Queensland included a practising scientist and science education academic and were informed by research, the emphasis in tertiary courses and a review of practice nationally and internationally.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek has written to Premier Campbell Newman asking to refer the state's syllabuses and the QSA to the parliamentary committee on education and innovation.

Mr Langbroek said he recently met a group of teachers and academics concerned about the curriculum and the assessment of maths, science and physics in Queensland schools.

"The Newman government is committed to ensuring that Queensland school students receive the best education experience possible," he said.

"Part of that commitment involves reviewing all aspects of the department including those that affect the educational outcomes of Queensland secondary-school students."

Mr Langbroek said this included a number of statutory bodies within the department such as the QSA, as well as the department itself.

Professor Rice said the national science curriculum made a similar error, oversimplifying the idea of scientists proving and disproving hypotheses to suggest that scientific knowledge was agreed by consensus among scientists.

The national science curriculum for students up to Year 10 describes science as providing "an empirical way of answering interesting and important questions about the biological, physical and technological world".

"Science knowledge is contestable and is revised, refined and extended as new evidence arises." it says.