Bora and I chat with students about why we blog:

* Special thanks to Abel for sharing the images!  For a terrific detailed description of the day, visit Terra Sigillata…

“We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long.”

You want me to respond to that gibberish? Seriously? The man got the history of Greenland wrong… need I really wax poetic on the rest? It’s not a question of ‘what this planet is all about‘, but rather what planet is the RNC Chairman on?

My take is that I’m embarrassed for the Republicans. No, I may not always agree with their policies, but in terms of who is representing their image right now, surely they can do so much better…

We had a lot of fun and special thanks to GenomeBoy for inviting us to explore ideas with his terrific class! The other ‘Beacons of the Bloggerati‘ had cameras, so photo to come. 

After the morning in such wonderful company, I’m already looking forward to next year!

If this video is any indication, both eruptions have the potential to do a lot of damage and it seems to me they’re not mutually exclusive. So let’s keep an eye on each.

(And spare the fruit fly funding too).

What you see is smoke, steam, and ash shooting up thousands of feet near Tonga. And while this activity poses little threat to islanders right now, the image reminds me why I’m in favor of “something called ‘volcano monitoring’,” even if the Louisiana governor disagrees.

Weightwise, my take is that we humans have an interesting habit of coming in all shapes and sizes and the most beautiful tend not to fit a particular mold. That said, being healthy–inside and out–is everything.

I received several emails in agreement, and especially enjoyed hearing some of your own stories and challenges. A young woman named Marguerie requested that I post this video to support her ‘commitment to improving the self-esteem of girls everywhere.’ Sure sounds good to me!  So without further ado, from Dove’s fantastic Campaign For Real Beauty:

The Evolution Of Beauty

Here she is…

You’ve read about the controversy and now it’s time to weigh in. According to Reuters, Dora will continue solving mysteries related to the environment, wildlife, and school while maintaining her sense of adventure.

As I wrote last week, I hope the middle school aged explorer remains curious, clever, self confident, and kind. And if she chooses to do so while wearing cute shoes, she’s entitled. Isis and I agree that brains and social consciousness are not defined by appearances.

So folks, what do you think?

Yesterday, we considered the meaning of scientific literacy in America… or lack thereof. So let’s take this discussion one step further as it’s a particularly interesting topic. According to the National Academies:

Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. It also includes specific types of abilities. In the National Science Education Standards, the content standards define scientific literacy.

Scientific literacy means that a person can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. It means that a person has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena. Scientific literacy entails being able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions. Scientific literacy implies that a person can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed. A literate citizen should be able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it. Scientific literacy also implies the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately.

Individuals will display their scientific literacy in different ways, such as appropriately using technical terms, or applying scientific concepts and processes. And individuals often will have differences in literacy in different domains, such as more understanding of life-science concepts and words, and less understanding of physical-science concepts and words.

Scientific literacy has different degrees and forms; it expands and deepens over a lifetime, not just during the years in school. But the attitudes and values established toward science in the early years will shape a person’s development of scientific literacy as an adult.

Okay. Now if we assume Monday’s comment thread is representative of Intersection readership at large, most folks agree that quizzing the general populace on a series of facts doesn’t necessarily provide much information. So, let’s continue…

First, are you satisfied with the definition outlined above? Further, how we might more reliably measure the state of scientific literacy in this country?

Memo to Ingraham:  This kind of neanderthal behavior is not all that becoming of a ‘positive role model‘.  The message we should be all sending to women everywhere–right, left, and across the spectrum–is the truth:  Our worth is defined not by how we look, but who we are.

So if that’s the best Laura can retort, I encourage her to kindly sit down.

In our forthcoming book, Unscientific America, Chris and I mention those national surveys where regularly, a large percentage of U.S. citizens fail to correctly answer basic science questions that they supposedly learned in school. 

Last Friday, the latest results were released from the most recent quiz by the California Academy of Sciences and Harris Interactive.  (See how you do answering test questions here).

From Science Daily:

Despite its importance to economic growth, environmental protection, and global health and energy issues, scientific literacy is currently low among American adults. According to the national survey commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences:

* Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
* Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
* Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered with water.*
* Only 21% of adults answered all three questions correctly.

Knowledge about some key scientific issues is also low. Despite the fact that access to fresh water is likely to be one of the most pressing environmental issues over the coming years, less than 1% of U.S. adults know what percent of the planet’s water is fresh (the correct answer is 3%). Nearly half didn’t even hazard a guess. Additionally, 40% of U.S. adults say they are “not at all knowledgeable” about sustainability.

But, wait a second… Before rushing to attack the American education system, first consider:  What do such quizzes actually reveal?  Is it fair to use the results as evidence of scientific illiteracy?  Furthermore, what does that term really mean?