Being discerning about science news
Science and its global dimensions is a fast-moving subject, as discussed in Unit 3 of this course. Hardly a day goes past without an attention-grabbing headline hitting the news. An important new discovery, a useful application or perhaps an environmental threat will almost certainly raise new perspectives and global issues for consideration. By their very nature, these up-to-the minute news items give relevant contexts to course content and are more often than not motivating to pupils as well as teachers.
It is, however, important to be discerning in dealing with the mass of new science-based information produced daily. A small number of well-chosen news articles will be far more effective in embedding global perspectives than open or random access to science news.
Practise being discerning about news items in the Activity on the right.
Activity Resources:
- Images
- Interactive
- Sound
- Text
- Video
Activity
With practice, this activity can be a quick and effective exercise for teachers and pupils to be more discerning about the new science they read about.
- Select your own global science news stories and relate them to the template provided under the Text icon above. This outlines the key criteria to help select news items which are worth consideration and those that are not by identifying positive features. The criteria are based around the reliability of the news source, the validity of the data and evidence, the basis of the explanations, and how this builds on previously accepted knowledge and theories.
- Use the final column of the template to make your decision on whether the news item is worth consideration or not.
- This column may also be useful to make a note of the key science knowledge and understanding and, importantly, the implications for society in the UK, globally, and for individuals.
- You may then consider where the news story fits into your course content and how you might apply it to your teaching.
Good sources
You explored good sources of science news stories in Unit 3. These, and some further sources, are listed below: BBC website SciDevNet The 'Hot Issues' section of ASE Global on the ASE website: ASE New Scientist Guardian science pages Telegraph science pages These all have the latest science news and many up-to-date stories with a global dimension.
Remember, also, that the tabloids, with their lower reading ages, often have very accessible science news stories.
