A review of John Rudolph's Why We Teach Science (And Why We Should)  By John L. Rudolph, UK: Oxford University Press.2023. 224 pages. (Hardcover). ISBN: 978‐0192867193

Abstract

As the global COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating climate change effects illustrate, distrust in science carries dangerous, even lethal consequences. Moreover, these consequences are not evenly distributed, with marginalized groups within and across nations experiencing disproportionate harmsoften as a result of the actions and inactions of others. Distrust, denial, and confusion about settled scientific knowledge produces both increased suffering and widened disparities.Impacts from the growing crisis of trust in science have ignited the attention of scholars across the fields of science, public health, history of science, and science education. For example, historian of science Naomi Oreskes (Why Trust Science?), educational psychologists Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer (Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It), and most recently the National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering (2023 Nobel Prize Summit: Trust, Truth, and Hope) have argued that the erosion of trust in scientific knowledge and institutions is a matter of urgent societal importance (Oreskes, 2019;Sinatra & Hofer, 2021). They offer multifaceted suggestions for how society might strengthen public understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge and bolster trust in scientific institutions. These scholars argue that the changing information landscape demands a coordinated approach from policymakers, journalists, science communicators, and other members of the public, adopting purposeful strategies to inoculate the public against misinformation and disinformation and to rebuild our collective trust in scientific knowledge. Science education, they argue, is positioned to play a key role in this effort.Reforms to education and additions to school curricula are frequently offered as panaceas for broader societal challenges. However, meaningful action requires a reflective evaluation of what is currently practiced and where change might be possibleand justified. We need to examine our current system of science education to explore what, why, and how current science education practices would need to change if countering science denial and misinformation were a central goal. How might science education be tailored towards repairing trust in science? How would a focus on building trust interact with other stated aims of science education? What is currently happening in science classrooms? Whatif anythingshould change?