GEOFFREY DOBSON, senior lecturer in molecular science at James Cook University in Townsville, believes that science education needs an overhaul. Writing last month in the Journal of Chemical Education (vol 74, no. 4), Dobson says that school science tends to be taught as a body of established facts. As a result, young people often see science as boring, irrevelant and offering little scope for creativity. Dobson argues that science is a dynamic process with no absolutes. What we see as the body of knowledge has stood the test of observation and critical analysis, he says, but it can always be overturned by a new experiment or a novel theory. The challenge to the educator is to present that flavour without devaluing the current body of knowledge. His thoughtful paper deserves attention.
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