PUBLICATION Science Literacy: Essential for Decision Making Joann P. DiGennaro January 2005 Program on Information Resources Policy Center for Information Policy Research Harvard University The Program on Information Resources Policy is jointly sponsored by Harvard University and the Center for Information Policy Research. Chairman Managing Director Anthony G. Oettinger John C. B. LeGates Joann P. DiGennaro founded the Center for Excellence in Education with the late Admiral H.G. Rickover and has served as its President since 1983. CEE sponsors the Research Science Institute and the USA Biology Olympiad for academically talented students to nurture them to careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology, and to further international cooperation among future leaders of the global community. To date, Ms. DiGennaro has negotiated science and educational agreements between the Center and 49 nations, and she advocates education for the gifted in speaking engagements in many countries. An attorney by training, she is the author of Scholarships and Fellowships for Math and Science Students. Joann DiGennaro serves on numerous Boards, including the US Army War College and the Sts. Cyril and Methodious Foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria. She is active in US philanthropy and has implemented educational and business projects in China and Bulgaria. She formerly served on the Board of Visitors of George Mason University and has consulted for UNESCO in several southern nations of Africa. Copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Not to be reproduced in any form without written consent from the Program on Information Resources Policy, Harvard University, Maxwell Dworkin 125, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA 02138. (617) 495-4114 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.pirp.harvard.edu ISBN 1-879716-92-5 P-05-1 January 2005 PROGRAM ON INFORMATION RESOURCES POLICY Harvard University Center for Information Policy Research Affiliates AT&T Corp. PDS Consulting Australian Telecommunications Users Group PetaData Holdings, Inc. BellSouth Corp. Samara Associates The Boeing Company Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Booz Allen Hamilton LLP Center for Excellence in Education Strategy Assistance Services Commission of the European Communities TOR LLC Critical Path TransMedia Exchange CyraCom International United States Government: Ellacoya Networks, Inc. Department of Commerce Hanaro Telecom Corp. (Korea) National Telecommunications and Hearst Newspapers Information Administration Hitachi Research Institute (Japan) Department of Defense IBM Corp. National Defense University Korea Telecom Department of Health and Human Lee Enterprises, Inc. Services Lexis–Nexis National Library of Medicine John and Mary R. Markle Foundation Department of the Treasury MITRE Corp. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Motorola, Inc. Federal Communications Commission National Security Research, Inc. National Security Agency NEC Corp. (Japan) United States Postal Service NEST–Boston Verizon Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp (Japan) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is has been said that few thoughts are original. It also has been stated that solutions to difficult problems need to be broken into simplest components and synthesized and massaged with information already out there. Such have been my observations and thoughts in completing this document: Science Literacy: Essential for Decision Making. Professor Anthony G. Oettinger, Chairman, Program on Information Resources Policy, Harvard University, provided me the opportunity to work under his seasoned and meticulous tutelage these past few years to complete this document with an interdisciplinary focus about science for policy and policy for science. What seemed like a slam-dunk became an auspicious and laborious undertaking. From the corporate world to the academic world, from law school to over twenty years of administrating a nonprofit educational organization, I was not as prepared as I thought I was for the rigors of looking at issues from venues of all requisite stakeholders. Professor Oettinger was patient in guiding my political orientation to that of a chronicler of scientific policy analysis. I am a better person for having had the honor to work with this distinguished scholar, a leader in US governmental policy. As President of the Center for Excellence in Education, that I co-founded with the late Admiral H.B. Rickover, I owe a great deal of gratitude to the Board of Trustees and to the Center’s Chairman, Mel Chaskin, who approved my acceptance of Research Affiliate at Harvard in the Department of Program Information Resources Policy. I particularly thank Admiral Bob Inman, the Center’s former Chairman of the Board and my mentor, for encouraging me to undertake this project. To Michael Jordan, Chairman and CEO of EDS, and to Gordon Binder, former Chairman of Amgen, I am indebted for their conversations and guidance. To Nick Gouletas, Chairman of American Invsco, I tip my hat for saying, “Go for it. You have things to say that need to be heard.” This work is my own. For any mistakes, I am totally responsible. As to differences of opinion about the content, I welcome more dialogue to better understand decision-making and to assist in the formulation of better US policy. Contents Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... iii Chapter One: Introduction............................................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Public Perception and Public Policy ....................................................................3 2.1 The Theoretical Context.................................................................................................. 3 2.1.1 Individual Cognitive Processing ......................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Public Cognition.................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Mass Media as Filters......................................................................................................4 Chapter Three: Science and Public Policy ...................................................................................7 Chapter Four: Silicone Breast Implants: The Courts and Scientific Evidence ........................9 4.1 What Happened ............................................................................................................... 9 4.2 Impact: The Press, Litigation, and Regulation ................................................................ 9 4.3 Comment ....................................................................................................................... 10 4.4 The Courts and Expert Testimony: A Dilemma..............................................................11 Chapter Five: Three Mile Island and Risk: Science and Public Perceptions.........................15 5.1 What Happened ............................................................................................................. 15 5.2 Impact of TMI ............................................................................................................... 16 5.3 Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 20 5.4 Courts and the Law ....................................................................................................... 23 Chapter Six: Research Funding: Trends, Controversies, Public Perception ..........................27 6.1 Basic or Applied? ..........................................................................................................27 6.2 Trends in Federal Funding............................................................................................. 29 6.3 Controversies................................................................................................................. 33 6.4 Public Perception........................................................................................................... 34 Chapter Seven: Perspectives........................................................................................................37 7.1 Science and Popular Beliefs.......................................................................................... 37 7.2 Science and the Media................................................................................................... 40 7.3 Science Policy and Realpolitik...................................................................................... 41 Chapter Eight: Scientific Literacy and Science Education.......................................................45 8.1 Where We Are: The Deficit ........................................................................................... 45 8.2 Educational Needs....................................................................................................... 47 Chapter Nine: Toward the Future ..............................................................................................51 Acronyms .......................................................................................................................53 Tables 6-1 U.S. R&D Expenditures, by performing sector and source of funds, 1953-98 .................33 8-1 National Rankings in Standardized Tests ..........................................................................48 8-2 TIMSS Rank v. Expenditure per Pupil..............................................................................45