{"id":285850,"date":"2023-10-30T20:47:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=285850"},"modified":"2023-10-30T20:47:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:47:25","slug":"scientific-method-restored-to-science-education-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=285850","title":{"rendered":"Scientific Method Restored to Science Education in North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scientific Method requires that questions be asked, observations made, and hypotheses formulated, tested, and proven or rejected. Conclusions are always subject to challenges with new evidence and insights.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Gregory Wrightstone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a physicist, John Droz holds in high regard the Scientific Method, a 400-year-old approach to investigating reality. Rooted in Isaac Newton\u2019s work, which included creation of the calculus, the Scientific Method has long underpinned examination of the physical world and technological advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quite understandable it is, then, that Droz, who holds degrees in mathematics and physics, was prompted to do some investigating of his own after learning that his state of North Carolina had abandoned the teaching of the Scientific Method for the promotion of a faddish theory of entirely unscientific inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUpon reading a review of the North Carolina K-12 Science Standards, I was concerned that nowhere was the Scientific Method even mentioned,\u201d says Droz, who retired at 34 as a successful investor and launched a 40-year career as a \u201ccitizen advocate\u201d of wide-ranging pursuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having a particular concern about the current state of critical thinking, Droz ultimately filed a written complaint with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey subsequently said that they had received some 14,000 inputs on the Science Standards, and apparently, I was the only one bringing up the issue,\u201d said Droz, whose varied interests include climate science and election integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversy had its beginnings in 2012 when a newly formulated Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) began nudging out the Scientific Method from much of public education. Politically inspired by progressive ideology and backed by the National Research Council, National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the NGSS gained favor with the education bureaucracy of 45 states. The Scientific Method was replaced by something called \u201cScience and Engineering Practices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the public might not appreciate the implications of the Scientific Method\u2019s fading from public education\u2019s officialdom, but the loss is no less than a disaster to scientists and adherents of the traditional tenets of critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scientific Method requires that questions be asked, observations made, and hypotheses formulated, tested, and proven or rejected. Conclusions are always subject to challenges with new evidence and insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NGSS scraps this centuries-old process for computer models whose products are proof of nothing unless they are verified against real-world data and survive the challenges of new information. However, those criticizing the findings of this corruption of objective inquiry are often dismissed as \u201cscience deniers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowhere have the dangers of this travesty been more manifest than in climate science where a paganistic fervor has supplanted rigorous investigation and open debate. Challengers of the status quo are more likely to be met with ad hominem than data. Ideologically driven activists use flawed computer models to justify political actions like banning gas-powered cars, shutting down pipelines and spending trillions on \u201cgreen\u201d energy subsidies that provide no benefit to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In classrooms, students are encouraged by the NGSS to conform to politically correct views: Solar and wind energy are good. Fossil fuels are bad. Catastrophic global warming is the future. Carbon dioxide, a gas necessary for life itself, is pollution. Computer models that fail to predict weather days or months in the future can divine the behavior of the climate, Earth\u2019s most complex system, in the next century. Questioning the most absurd of hypotheses is heresy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately for North Carolina students, two members of the 18-person State Board of Education embraced Droz\u2019s view that the Scientific Method should be restored to the state\u2019s Science Standards, which it was in July. Droz said the support of the board members was instrumental in correcting the deficiency in state standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic that the Department of Public Instruction will soon address my second major concern that the state Science Standards need more specificity regarding critical thinking,\u201d says Droz. \u201cIt should be clear that there is an intimate connection between critical thinking analysis and the universal problem-solving procedure of the Scientific Method.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Droz\u2019s example of standing for scientific integrity is an inspiration to the CO2<\/sub> Coalition, of which he is a member. Determined to reverse the education establishment\u2019s degradation of science teaching, the CO2<\/sub> Coalition has created educational materials for students and educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CO2 Learning Center\u2019s<\/a> books, videos and lesson plans are free for the asking. The cost of failing to repel the modern attack on rational thought is incalculable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gregory Wrightstone<\/em><\/a> is a geologist; executive director of the <\/em>CO2<\/sub> Coalition<\/em><\/a>, Arlington, Va.; and author of \u201c<\/em>Inconvenient Facts: The Science That Al Gore Doesn\u2019t Want You to Know<\/em><\/a>.\u201d His latest book <\/em>A Very Convenient Warming \u2013 How modest warming and more CO2 are benefiting humanity<\/em><\/a> will be available soon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Scientific Method requires that questions be asked, observations made, and hypotheses formulated, tested, and proven or rejected. Conclusions are always subject to challenges with new evidence and insights. From Watts Up With That? by Gregory Wrightstone As a physicist, John Droz holds in high regard the Scientific Method, a 400-year-old approach to investigating reality. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":285853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Scientific Method requires that questions be asked, observations made, and hypotheses formulated, tested, and proven or rejected. Conclusions are always subject to challenges with new evidence and insights.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819140,691819102,691824122,691824123,691824121,691821002],"class_list":["post-285850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-science","tag-computer-models","tag-john-droz","tag-ngss","tag-north-carolina","tag-science-education","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-858.png?fit=1600%2C1054&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1cmu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":340077,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=340077","url_meta":{"origin":285850,"position":0},"title":"We teach kids only half the scientific method","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/20\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The vigilant folks at the CO2 Coalition have been saying we are no longer teaching the scientific method in public school science education classes. 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