Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, March 11, 2013 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
James Trefil
"The Other 98%: Science Education For Everyone - A Story In Three Heresies"
ABSTRACT -- People in the industrialized world live in a society where progress is increasingly driven by scientific and technological change. As citizens, they are often called upon to make judgments about issues that have a scientific component. An understanding of science in no longer a frill for such citizens, but a necessity. By and large, however, our educational systems have failed to produce a scientifically literate public. In this talk, Prof. Trefil will argue that scientific literacy is part of a larger body of knowledge known as cultural literacy. He will talk about the sorts of knowledge citizens need to function in a technological society and outline ways in which the educational system (both formal and informal) can be used to deliver that knowledge. Data on international surveys of scientific literacy will be presented, and examples of curricula based on the ideas of scientific literacy from American grade schools and universities will be discussed.
SPEAKER -- James Trefil was born in Chicago and educated in the public schools. He has a B.S. in physics from the University of Illinois, B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oxford University, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Stanford.
He is Clarence J. Robinson professor of physics at George Mason University, having previously worked at the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, Fermilab, CERN, and Argonne National Laboratory.
Prof. Trefil has written more than 40 books about science for the general audience. He has served as Contributing Editor for Science for USA TODAY Weekend and as a contributor and consultant for Smithsonian and Astronomy magazines. He has also served as a commentator advisory board member for NPR and PBS. He also served as Chief Science Consultant to the McDougal-Littell Middle School Science Project.
He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association of the Advancement of Science. Prof. Trefil received the 2000 Andrew W. Gemant Award for linking physics to the arts and humanities, given by the American Institute of Physics and the inaugural Science Book Editor’s Award of the AAAS. In 2008 he was given the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award. He frequently lectures to state and federal judges on science and the law.
His interest in scientific literacy began with a contributed essay to E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy and continued through participation as a coauthor of the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (3rd edition, 2002). he has served on the Content Review Boards for the National Science Education Standards and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
His textbook, The Sciences: An Integrated Approach with Robert Hazen is in its 7th edition. His most recent book is Science in World History.