Two extinctions are imminent. One will be tragic. The other is long overdue.
The species we'll miss is Myxine glutinosa, or the hagfish, which scavenges the ocean bottom for carrion. Myxine is losing its niche partly because of natural pressure. Bony fishes have surpassed it in predatory and reproductive proficiency. Human influence, however, also plays a part in this pending extinction. Tankship mishaps have caused crude oil silt to accumulate on the ocean floor, thereby degrading Myxine's habitat.
The other doomed creature is Educatorus isolationa, an educational hermit species oblivious to topics beyond the realm of a particular discipline. Natural pressures on Educatorus have included the information explosion, along with a recent onslaught of highly evolved educational ideas. Humans have endangered Educatorus by developing and practicing interdisciplinary education.
Currently in the Educatorus habitat, movements are supporting the appearance of all sorts of learning (reading, writing, arithmetic, thinking skills, career education, and so on) “across the curriculum.” The proponents are hearkening to research indicating that students learn more and retain what they learn longer when ideas from different subject areas are connected.
The problem with teaching science across the curriculum has been the way we have defined science. Science is thought to be solely a set of concepts unifying a particular area of science (like physics). Science is not seen as rich in skills that can be applied in other subject areas.
Thinking about science in this concept-bound way is producing shockingly poor results, even among our best students. For example, Champagne and Klopfer have reported that 80 percent of the physics majors at large universities were unable to relate what they knew to real-world situations (1984).
The eminent scientist George Gaylord Simpson has provided a more useful definition: Science is an exploration of the material universe in order to seek orderly explanations (generalizable knowledge) of the objects and events encountered— but these explanations must be testable (1969).
Suddenly, with Simpson's definition, science includes certain cross-curricular attributes: the curiosity to explore, the ability to create explanations, and the capacity to test a hypothesis and determine its validity. Once these basic ingredients of science are accepted as essential elements of all K–12 science courses, it is easy to justify science across the curriculum. Anything that promotes exploration, encourages the creation of explanations, or calls for verification and validation is science.
The art student who experiments with theories of perception is applying science. The physical education student who tests several ways to perform the high jump is doing science. And the history student who must decide whether Robert Fulton invented the steamboat or was simply the first to make it commercially successful employs the same skills that scientists use to determine the accuracy of statements.
One of the most promising aspects of the cross-curricular trend is Science/Technology/Society. For 20 years, this interdisciplinary approach has engaged students in the consideration of problems and issues that they have identified or encountered.
Suppose, for example, a student wonders, what if birds stopped singing? From this point of curiosity, doors open to other lines of inquiry: Why do birds sing? How do they sing? How do birds survive? How can people help birds survive? Do we have any local problems that affect birds? If so, what can be done about these problems?
Exploring such issues accomplishes two important objectives. First, science provides a real-world context for tasks in basic skill areas. More reading and writing occurs as students seek out and report information, mathematics is needed to quantify data, and social studies takes on greater relevance.
Second, science within a framework of social dynamics piques curiosity and interest. It also makes learning very lifelike. Rustum Roy of Pennsylvania State University has estimated that 90 percent of all the problems in today's society are based in science and technology.
Once problems and issues combine with curiosity and interest, the learning and retention of information is greatly enhanced. As soon as this dynamic is working well, science cannot and need not be contained in a class called science, and we have a chance of producing students smart enough not to kill off all the hagfish.
