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When Entertainment Meets Science: Summit Boosts Innovative Education JAMES UNDERDOWN SI May June 11 CUT_SI new design masters 3/25/11 10:01 AM Page 5 [ NEWS AND COMMENT When Entertainment Meets Science: Summit Boosts Innovative Education JAMES UNDERDOWN Can the entertainment media, with their formidable skills, help educate young people about science? That was just one of the hopes as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) hosted the unusual Summit on Science, En ter - tainment, and Education at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Cal- ifornia, on February 4, 2011. The all-day symposium featured a top- shelf lineup of speakers from all over the United States on the status and direction of science education today. Each of its From left: Superstring theorist Brian Greene, writer/director/producer Jerry Zucker, and educator Tyler Johnstone three categories (science, entertainment, discuss ways to attract students to the world of science. and education) was well represented by in- novators in their respective fields with rel- her students to testify how they are drawn tainment who need help with content. evant knowledge and experience. toward science. In this day and age of Thanks to a $225,000 grant from the From the world of science, luminaries myriad distractions, catching the eye of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, such as Ralph Cicerone, NAS president; students is more of a challenge than ever. the Ex change “is seeking proposals to es- Sean B. Carroll, biologist; and Charles But the program didn’t begin and end tablish collaborative partnerships among Vest, president of the National Academy with a group of experts bemoaning the scientists, entertainment industry profes- of Engineering and president emeritus of failures of the education system and sionals, and educators to develop educa- the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pointing fingers at Hollywood schlock tional products or services that effectively were present. All of the participants in the merchants. (None of the latter was in at- leverage the resources of the entertain- science section of the symposium, includ- tendance as far as I knew.) Com puter- ment community to improve educational ing Neil DeGrasse Tyson and superstring gaming wizard Will Wright talked about outcomes in science classrooms.” theoretical physicist and author Brian how well-designed games can foster great We in the skeptical community should Greene, recognized the need for scientists creativity by encouraging players to invent welcome these efforts. Many a false belief to be able to communicate both ideas and aspects of their virtual worlds. Google’s rests on a poor understanding or a misun- enthusiasm to the general public. chief technology advocate, Michael Jones, derstanding of how the universe works, so The Walt Disney Company’s Liza - discussed how the Google Maps people any improvement in science education beth Fogel and Tony DeRose from Pixar put the “Gee!” in geography in well under will help us demystify a wide range of Animation Studios joined event co-spon- a decade. All the speakers—with some public misconceptions—from the local sor Jerry Zucker to give a much-needed poetry and animation sprinkled in—con- school-board fence-sitters who ask for Hollywood perspective. All were hopeful veyed their great passion for their work equal time for intelligent design to Fox about entertainment’s role in future sci- and hopes for the future. News personality Bill O’Reilly whose ence education while mindful that both In the late afternoon, the audience was YouTube video shows him asking, “How the television and movie industries are broken up into five groups and tasked did the moon get there? Who put it for-profit businesses. It was encouraging with brainstorming new and creative there?” to hear that both Disney and Pixar are ideas for how educators, scientists, and There are many smart kids out there making conscious efforts to educate in entertainers can empower student learn- who can be rescued from Bill O’Reilly’s new and creative ways. ing in the sciences. These organized and level of argumentum ad ignorantiam, some Educators such as award-winning facilitated sessions were summarized and of whom might even become in spired high school science teacher Janet English presented to the entire gathering at the enough by science to make it a lifelong and middle school innovator Tyler John- end of the day. pursuit. Maybe endeavors like this sum- stone also contributed their on-the-job The brainstorming sessions were held mit will help turn some young heads and perspectives to the discussion, while partially at the behest of the Science and make our lives a bit easier. Karen Cator of the U.S. Depart ment of Entertainment Exchange, a program of Education and creativity expert Sir Ken the National Academy of Sciences that Jim Underdownis the executive director of the Cen- Robinson added ideas about how we connects scientists and other experts with ter for Inquiry–Los Angeles and the chair and learn best. English even brought some of those developing science-based enter- founder of the Independent Investigations Group. Skeptical Inquirer | May / June 2 01 1 5 SI May June 11 CUT_SI new design masters 3/25/11 11:54 AM Page 6 Loftus Wins AAAS Evolution May Win in Court But Not in Scientific Freedom and the Classroom Responsibility Award Kendrick Frazier Creationism may indeed have lost every cent who do not personally ac cept hu - one of its major U.S. federal court cases man evolution in the least conservative over the past forty years, but it may be districts. These antievolution views cou- winning the battles in Amer ica’s class- pled with a reluctance to teach evolution rooms. in conservative school districts help cre- That is the conclusion of a study of ate new generations of adults with sim- the evolution-creationism battle in the ilar views, Berkman and Plutzer warn. nation’s schools by political scientists On the plus side, they estimate from Michael B. Berkman and Eric Plutzer the data that 28 percent of all biology of Pennsylvania State University that teachers consistently implement the was published in the January 28, 2011, major recommendations and conclu- issue of Science. sions of the National Research Council. Berkman and Plutzer used the Na- These guidelines call for in troducing ev- tional Survey of High School Biol ogy idence that evolution has occurred and teachers whose data “reveal a pervasive that it is a unifying theme in biology. reluctance of teachers to forthrightly ex- Noted psychologist and Committee Six in ten teachers—“the cautious 60 for Skeptical Inquiry fellow Elizabeth plain evolutionary biology.” Berkman and Plutzer also say the data reveal “a percent”—just want to avoid contro- Loftus has been presented with the versy. Many have never taken a course in American Association for Advance - cycle of ignorance in which community evolution and feel unconfident in their ment of Science (AAAS) Scientific antievolution attitudes are perpetuated ability to defend it. These teachers fail Free dom and Responsibility Award. by teaching that reinforces local com- to explain the nature of scientific inquiry The award notes her investigations munity sentiment.” and otherwise legitimize creationist ar- into “false memory” and calls her “an In the most socially conservative guments, even if unintentionally, say ideal example of a scientist who is dis- school districts, composing about 15 tinguished for both advancing science percent of the districts surveyed, nearly Berkman and Plutzer. “The cautious 60 and applying it to make critical contri- four in ten teachers personally do not ac- percent may play a far more important butions to society.” cept human evolution and consequently role in hindering scientific literacy in the Specifically, the award honors her devote little time to evolution in their United States than the smaller number for “the profound impact that her pio- classrooms. This contrasts with 11 per- of explicit creationists.” neering research on human memory has had on the administration of jus- Skeptically Speaking Podcast Celebrates tice in the United States and abroad.” Second Anniversary Loftus is Distinguished Professor of Gurmukh Mongia social ecology and professor of law and cognitive science at the University of Weekly Canadian skeptical radio week Schell answers questions from lis- California, Irvine. Her discovery that show and podcast Skeptically Speaking teners who either call into the show or memories can be planted or manipu- celebrated its second anniversary in submit a question live via the Internet. lated led her to identify what has been March. The popular program is hosted Previous guests have included Phil “the called False Memory Syndrome. The by Desiree Schell, a scientifically minded Bad Astronomer” Plait, Adam “Myth- American Psychiatric Association has Edmontonian who describes herself as busters” Savage, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER declared repressed memory research being “constantly fascinated by how the columnist Massimo Pigliucci, and many “dead” because of Loftus’s research, the world works.” Each week Schell guides others. AAAS said. Loftus is a member of the Schell will also be a guest at the up- National Academy of Sciences. She is her listeners through an exploration of also the top-ranked woman on the Re- scientific and skeptical issues through coming TAM (The Amazing Meeting) view of General Psychology’s list of "100 interviews with researchers, authors, and 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada. More informa- Most Eminent Psychologists of the experts. tion about the show and its past 20th Century." Skeptically Speaking appears on episodes can be found at www.skepti- The award was presented Febru ary twenty-six radio stations across North callyspeaking.ca. 19, at the 2011 AAAS annual meeting America, its podcast gets 15,000 down- Gurmukh Mongia operates a blog and podcast in Washin gton, D.C. (See page 13 for loads each week. The show’s motto is related to critical thinking called The Dumbasses Loftus’s acceptance remarks.) “Call in.
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