Podcasts Education Lab Out Loud Episode 2 - Biologist Sean B. Carroll

Episode 2 - Biologist Sean B. Carroll

Published: Oct. 22, 2007, 4:59 a.m.

b'Dr. Sean B. Carroll (Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and\\nan Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the\\nUniversity of Wisconsin) talks to us about evolution, his new project, and science literacy. \\n\\n\\n\\n\\n

Sean B. CarrollPreview from the show:

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"What\\nI am very convinced of, from all sorts of experiences of trying to\\ncommunicate science, is that storytelling is a really valuable\\ningredient of that. And I don\'t mean storytelling in sort of a\\nsimplistic way, but just engaging the audience, whether they are\\nstudents or teachers or laypersons, with the drama of scientific\\nexploration, scientific discovery, even scientific debate.\\n Because it\'s pretty darn common that when scientists find\\nsomething new, something unexpected, there\'s a wrestling match for a\\nwhile, figuring out whether a new view is emerging, or whether someone\\nelse is off base. And all of this is a very human enterprise -\\nthere\'s a whole lot of human nature in the game of science."

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-Sean B. Carroll, discussing a textbook adjunct from Benjamin Cummings that will be available next year

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"I really wish that teachers had fossil collections...I think that when kids put their hands on fossils - something happens."

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-Sean B. Carroll, on a wish he has for teachers

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"Scientific Literacy is broader\\nthan just evolution. Evolution is perhaps the poster child for\\nthe acute problem that we have. But I think that it\'s really hard\\nfor a student to grasp, and I think it\'s really hard, I think for\\na citizen to grasp, when they are just getting the moving banner at the\\nbottom of CNN - [like] "scientists say", "this fossil means that" or\\n\\n"this gene discovery means that." Those are just punchlines and\\ndon\'t really understand the size of the entire enterprise or the\\ncumulative knowledge that\'s built up and how that\'s tested and things.\\n Now you could say - how do you convey all that? Practically\\nspeaking, I think part of the way you convey all that is that those who\\nare communicating to the public, and I would say especially the media -\\nhave to have a better grasp of it."

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-Sean B. Carroll, on scientific literacy

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"I think getting the scientific\\nmethod, and knowledge of the scientific method across in the classroom\\nis really more important than any particular science content."

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-Sean B. Carroll, on teaching science

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"I can\'t encourage anyone more\\nstrongly to read what the judge said about the intelligent design case\\nin Dover... It\'s a masterful opinion."

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-Sean B. Carroll, on intelligent design in schools

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