They were the beacon of hope and a light into the future almost a half-century ago. Two of the most beloved wonders of the world, then—science and mathematics—have become two of the most controversial subjects in today’s public and private education system. Science is suffering from variable results based off shaky theories and continual research into itself, causing its constants to change—changes that most people cannot or will not understand or accept.

Meanwhile, mathematics suffers from an overall deep dislike of the subject by many people and by the birth of technology, which grants quick access to complex equations by a sequence of keystrokes—much unlike the mid-1900s, and before, when problem-solving was drawn out in laboratory notebooks or on classroom chalkboards.

Conversations have turned away from bouncing ideas and thoughts from one person to the next. Now, we often repeat aloud the words and numbers displayed on screens from waves of data bounced between the electronic devices. With this disconnect applied to the fundamentals of math, it is quite easy to forgo understanding the entire equation, ending up just spitting out the answer.

So, how can people really learn about and like math when they don’t want or need to? It doesn’t help that parents reinforce this behavior when they pull out their phones to calculate a tip or convert fractions into decimals. Why would a student choose to pick up a pencil and a lab notebook if the mentality toward math is to use a smartphone to come up with an answer?

As it turns out, all of these anxieties and fears of science and mathematics affect the ability of children in the classroom. Some believe it has to do with the fact that “parents’ and teachers’ own math anxieties and their beliefs about whether math ability is a stable trait may prove to be significant influences on children’s math attitudes.”¹

Another example of detrimental effects these attitudes toward math have on children are the deep-seeded gender stereotypes about girls’ inabilities to excel in mathematics. This, alone, could prevent a student from fulfilling her potential simply because of a culture perpetuates this belief about both math and science.

Science is constantly under the scrutiny of religious leaders. It is hard to imagine that the creationism and evolution-based ideologies could be any further apart. Most creationist leaders toss aside scientific research that contradicts creationism, no matter how solid or well-researched it may be.

In some states, where religion plays a huge part of daily life, this ideology can affect the classroom significantly. Students are not taught that science is a living, breathing subject. Instead, many are taught that science had its shot and has, in some ways, failed to prove itself.

It is imperative that adults stress the importance of science and math, and the advantages they provide us in improving our culture and careers, as well as our understanding of the vast universe we call home. With these key elements in mind, students can prepare themselves for a bright and successful future ahead.

Source

1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-011-9996-2

For many students of science, learning how to read scientific papers can pose a challenge in the beginning. With the use of referencing scientific papers in the media, classroom, and on websites, it is vital to be able to read and correctly interpret scientific papers.

Scientific papers are almost always prefaced with an abstract—a summary of the hypothesis, research, and results. However, some abstracts can be fairly short, may contain a significant amount of scientific jargon, or do not convey the in-depth research done by the paper’s authors.  Some websites also require you to have an account to be able to read the paper’s full text. You may feel overwhelmed, at first, so here are a few tips to help you read and understand a paper from beginning to end.

1. Give it a quick first read. Using a lab notebook, write down the name of the paper. Be sure to take notes while reading. Use the header words of each different section—for example, Introduction, Conclusion, etc.—so you are able to keep your notes organized.  Quickly skim the paper and write down main themes, theories, research data, and other terms or phrases that stand out.
2. Create a list of phrases or terms that confuse you. In your laboratory notebook, be sure to create a way to identify unfamiliar and/or confusing terms or phrases. Different sciences may use familiar terms as a completely different meaning. Some sciences use the context of words to explain research that may not make sense in layman’s terms.
3. Research words you do not understand. Use a scientific dictionary to research unfamiliar terms or phrases. Once you have gathered all of the information in context of the paper, re-read it again carefully. Be sure to compare your new understanding of the paper to your notes. Double check that the notes you have written down in your lab notebook are correctly aligned with the paper’s data. Key elements to look out for are the publishing date, hypothesis, sample size, collection methods, and conclusion(s).
4. Pay attention to figure details. Many papers include graphs, infographics, and/or tables. It is key to take notes on the figures in the order of which they are mentioned in the paper. It is very important to understand the effects of scaling within the graph(s) to be able to correctly interpret the data. Record the information you learned in your laboratory notebook.
5. Interpret the data in student scientific notebooks. Use your laboratory research notebook to answer the questions. You may have to go back and read sections several times while comparing your notes to the paper in order to get a better understanding of the subject. Be sure to do independent research on the same or similar studies.
6. Ask yourself the following questions:

-What is the hypothesis?
-What are the data collection methods?
-What does the data say about the hypothesis?
-What does the conclusion say about the hypothesis?