Why do we learn science?

There is scarcely a day that goes by that a student informs me that there is absolutely no reason to learn (fill in the blank) because they are not going to be a scientist! As a teacher ... See More

There is scarcely a day that goes by that a student informs me that there is absolutely no reason to learn (fill in the blank) because they are not going to be a scientist! As a teacher of both math and science, my primary mission is to help students develop critical thinking skills to use for everyday decision-making. In science class, we merely present them with information, and hopefully a structure for problem-solving. This article does a nice job of explaining why we should be teaching science from the point of view of developing responsible, thinking adults. It does not focus on the scientific method, but rather a pyramid of learning skills that we need to instill in our kids to help them become lifelong learners.