admit mistakes in science

Recently the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette featured a Science News article on the massive number of flaws found in science text books. Those errors are compounded with the minimal training of science teachers.
Been there, done that. My cum laude college degree, course work and high national test scores qualified me in the late 1980s for certification to teach any math or science class from seventh grade up, except chemistry. While I felt prepared to teach Mathematics, even with certification I wished I had the time and money to be adequately prepared with two more years spent studying science. However, college was over; it was time to start teaching.
That first year, my son, who read my science journals, enrolled in my physical science class. Our first unit was one of my weakest areas. I studied a lot before I taught each lesson.
My son interrupted my lecture one day to tell me I was wrong. I insisted I was right.
After class he confronted me, showed me where I was wrong and concluded, “and you stood there and insisted you were right.”
I had to eat my words from the lesson and an incident with a former science teacher who had marked a correct answer as wrong on one of my son’s papers. The teacher was shown from the text book why my son’s answer was also correct. The only response was a shrug and refusal to give any credit.
When I questioned the discrepancy, I was told part of going to school was learning to give the answer expected. (Some people call it the “poke and puke” method of learning.) The Dilbert cartoonist has a heyday with similar discrepancies in business.
At the time, I had told my children that teachers, like parents, are human enough to make mistakes. They ought to be mature enough to admit it, I said. So the next day I corrected my mistake with the class.
My other major teaching mistake was believing I could trust the publisher’s pre-written Algebra tests. I used them until my three best students were stumped trying to solve a problem that needed techniques from the next unit. I apologized to the students and began writing my own tests.
I wish the text book publishers would stop the presses and fix their flaws. However, according to the article that is next to impossible.
Even knowing the mistakes the same problems crop up in edition after edition. Worse is the conclusion of Kenneth Ford, who taught science in high school and college. His review of an Addison Wesley text concluded, “No student will increase his or her understanding of science by using this text.”
The one whisper of change are Internet Web sites where publishers post errors and corrections.
Admitting there is a problem is painful. Correcting it can be costly. However, the end result is true knowledge. That is a goal worth seeking – if only to maintain student interest rather than dull it with the memorization of flawed facts. We do not need to continue with a course of action which contributes to low national scores in science.Arkansas can ill afford the cost.