Tunya Audain
February 17, 2016
Just A Granny . . .
Awhile back I grew alarmed about current “transformations” in education — the shift from knowledge and skill “transmission” to “soft competencies” of critical thinking, creativity, etc. (in Western English-speaking nations: USA, UK, AU, NZ, Can)
It was a serendipitous Internet search for “sponsored reading failure” that kicked out an extraordinary piece that speaks to this topic at hand — BS Science.
Here is a just-retired editor of a Journal on Teaching of Science with a front seat on a quarter-century of watching “constructivism” debase science and the teaching thereof. I downloaded this 60 pager when it was free but academics can access it using their means — Reflections on 25 Years of Journal Editorship. Michael R. Matthews.
As a granny I am concerned about the legacy we leave future generations plus the dangers for social engineering when politics and beliefs displace science and evidence in policy-making.
There ought to be an agency or method by which research misconduct can be tapped and countered.
I am not an academic and cannot possibly do justice to Matthews’ article to raise the proper alarms. But I see that both the author Earp and commentators here are sensitive to the ethics of the matter and we might see some development. Looking forward to the fuller article later this Spring.
[posted in significant conversation — Unbearably Assymetry of Bullshit — about research misconduct in Science and other resesrch — a lot of good comments, eg. 80% of "research" is meaningless http://quillette.com/2016/02/15/the-unbearable-asymmetry-of-bullshit/