I agree that students should acquire a scientific background, but there are different contexts for doing this. I am quite disturbed by the trend to give PhD degrees in multi-disciplinary fields where the students get a survey knowledge of many topics and never do anything in depth. Even back in my teaching days when I taught science courses for liberal arts students I required them to design and carry out at least one scientific experiment on their own.
Of course different fields carry out research in different ways. When I studied physics we followed strict protocols -- data were written in indelible ink in bound notebooks, and I was shocked when I switched fields to see people modifying and erasing their raw data if they found the results uninteresting. I also learned that measurements have units, while in some fields if you want to know what units the published measurements were made in you have to call the author! There is no real reason why students in a course on environmental studies should not do some real science. After all, even in a straight ecology course the topics are only a small part of the field. Think of the potential to take students on a field trip where they see the zonation of the grasslands, the contortions of sedimentary strata, the coloration of different water bodies, and seek to understand all of these environmental phenomena. Bill Silvert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Stettner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 8:24 PM Subject: Re: ECOLOG-L Digest - 17 Nov 2007 to 18 Nov 2007 (#2007-312) > "So, if the students do not have that background, then I think you are > wasting your time teaching "ecology" and what you should be teaching is > "environmental studies." That could easily be geared to unprepared > undergrads, and could fill in some of those voids that you mentioned your > students have. > > Cheers, > > Jim" > > Yikes! As a self-teaching student with Vermont College myself, I am > cringing at the thought of an "unprepared undergrad" attempting to grasp > environmental studies WITHOUT a solid understanding of multi-disciplinary > ecology. I am finding that too many of my fellow students are > single-minded and wholly without any concept of basic scientific > principles or methods. They are feeling with their emotions instead of > thinking with their brains. That, in my opinion, sets the stage for > disaster -- truly caring people out there attempting to "fix" nature's > "problems" with "solutions" that cause worse problems than before. All in > the name of The Environment...and no science in sight. No geology, > climate history, basic chemistry or physics or thermodynamics. > > In other words, as a student, I do not consider myself a responsible > scientists unless and until I realize that each question I answer leads to > more questions. > > Respectfully, > Kelly Stettner
