Science Education & Policy

University 'Ethics Boards' As A Way To Evade Scientific Controversy

Evaluations of research ethics do not benefit from a tick-box approach.  Australia’s social science research, like that in most developed countries since the infamous Milgram experiments took place at my alma mater in 1961, occurs under the watchful eye o ...

Article - The Conversation - Mar 6 2015 - 6:19pm

Smoking Bans Don't Lead To Smokers Quitting

Picking cultural winners in the name of public interest is a time-honored tool of government and the social engineers giving them input, but the reasons for bans are often suspect. Banning cigarettes in bars and restaurants rather than creating an evidence ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 3 2015 - 1:22pm

What If NYC Changed Its Policy For Admission To Elite High Schools?

New York City professes to be tolerant, diverse and outcome-oriented in many ways- education for elites is not among them. 6 percent of 8th graders will get to go to one of 8 specialized elite schools, based on test scores and all of the racial, social an ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 5 2015 - 10:53am

Obsessing Over Gender Differences In Test Scores Won’t Fix Anything

New gaps are opening up in educational achievement between teenage boys and girls, according to a comprehensive new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Analysis of its 2012 Programme for International Student Ass ...

Article - The Conversation - Mar 6 2015 - 11:30am

Teaching Inorganic Nomenclature (Part 5): A Challenge to Modular Instruction

It was mentioned in part 4 that a self-study modular instruction on teaching inorganic nomenclature was piloted and have been proven effective.  However, the use of the module was not implemented.  Why was the modular instruction not implemented? Nobody h ...

Blog Post - Camilo Tabinas - Jun 6 2015 - 5:49pm

The IPCC Ponders Its Future

When there’s a report in the news about the latest science on climate change, the source is very often the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This body plays a very important role in global climate change policy around the world. It ...

Article - The Conversation - Mar 9 2015 - 5:30pm

Rice Science In Africa Gets A New Director General

Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley, new Director General of AfricaRice, doesn't want to just improve rice science for Africa, he wants to make the continent a world leader in it. The rice sector in Africa is going to be “evidenced-based and therefore very solid ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 15 2015 - 7:19pm

Banning Fast Food In Los Angeles Hasn't Helped Obesity Or Diets

Bans are all the rage in states like California and New York but the key question is whether or not they actually work; the entire developed world is facing an obesity crisis so if bans are the only thing that will prevent a strained health care system fro ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 19 2015 - 2:30am

Schools Blamed For Lack Of Female Role Models In STEM

The annual Rethink Media conference was held yesterday at Birmingham City University to address the future of the digital landscape and the challenges facing the sector and, predictably, there was plenty of blame to go around, and assurances that the answe ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 19 2015 - 9:21pm

Obama Administration New Guidelines For Fracking On Public Lands

The big question in policy circles for the last month has been, would the Obama administration that has repeatedly said that putting solar panels on public land should be allowed side with science or with environmentalists when it came to natural gas? ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jul 6 2015 - 11:33am