Science Education and Information Transfer. Science and Technology Education and Future Human Needs

230 Pages·1987·4.778 MB·English

by  C. A. Taylor (Eds.)

Science and Technology Education and Future Human Needs
General Editor: JOHN LEWIS
Malvern College, United Kingdom
Vol. 1 LEWIS
Science and Technology Education and Future Human Needs
Vol. 2 FRAZER & KORNHAUSER
Ethics and Social Responsibility in Science Education
Vol.3 WADDINGTON
Education, Industry and Technology
Vol.4 GRAVES
Land, Water, and Mineral Resources
Vol.5 KELLY & LEWIS
Education and Health
Vol.6 RAO
Food, Agriculture and Education
Vol.7 KIRWAN
Energy Resources in Science Education
Vol.8 BAEZ
The Environment and Science and Technology Education
Vol.9 TAYLOR
Science Education and Information Transfer
Related Pergamon Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT*
Editor: PHILIP TAYLOR
Throughout the world educational developments are taking place: develop-
ments in literacy, programmes in vocational education, in curriculum and
teaching, in the economics of education and in educational administration.
It is the purpose of the International Journal of Educational Development
to bring these developments to the attention of professionals in the field of
education, with particular focus upon issues and problems of concern to
those in the Third World. Concrete information, of interest to planners,
practitioners and researchers, is presented in the form of articles, case
studies and research reports.
*Free specimen copies available on request.
SCIENCE EDUCATION AND
INFORMATION TRANSFER
Edited by
C. A. TAYLOR
University College, Cardiff
Published for the
ICSUPRESS
by
PERGAMON PRESS
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Copyright © 1987 ICSU Press
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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First edition 1987
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Science education and information transfer.
(Science and technology education and future human needs; vol 9)
Papers from the Bangalore Conference on Science and Technology
Education and Future Human Needs, held in Bangalore, India, Aug.
6-14, 1985, which was organized by the Committee on the Teaching of
Science of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
1. Science—Study and teaching—Congresses.
2. Science—Information services—Congresses.
3. Communication in science—Congresses.
4. Communication of technical information—Congresses.
I. Taylor, Charles Alfred. II. Bangalore Conference on Science and
Technology Education and Future Human Needs (1985). III. Inter-
national Council of Scientific Unions. Committee on the Teaching of
Science. IV. Title: Science education and information transfer. V.
Series.
Q181.A1S33 1987 507M 86-25229
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Science education and information transfer.
(Science and technology education and future human needs; vol 9)
1. Technical education.
I. Taylor, C. Α. II. Series.
607 T65
ISBN 0-08-033954-9 (Hardcover)
ISBN 0-08-033955-7 (Flexicover)
Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton & Co. Ltd., Exeter
Foreword
THE Bangalore Conference on "Science and Technology Education and Future
Human Needs" was the result of extensive work over several years by the Com-
mittee on the Teaching of Science of the International Council of Scientific
Unions. The Committee received considerable support from Unesco and the
United Nations University, as well as a number of generous funding agencies.
Educational conferences have often concentrated on particular disciplines.
The starting point at this Conference was those topics already identified as the
most significant for development, namely Health; Food and Agriculture;
Energy; Land, Water and Mineral Resources; Industry and Technology; the
Environment; Information Transfer. Teams worked on each of these, examin-
ing the implications for education at all levels (primary, secondary, tertiary,
adult and community education). The emphasis was on identifying techniques
and resource material to give practical help to teachers in all countries in order
to raise standards of education in those topics essential for development. As well
as the topics listed above, there is also one concerned with the educational
aspects of Ethics and Social Responsibility. The outcome of the Conference is
this series of books, which can be used for follow-up meetings in each of the
regions of the world and which can provide the basis for further development.
JOHNL. LEWIS
Secretary, ICSU-CTS
ν
List of Figures
FIG. 1.1 Example of cuneiform script 3
FIG. 1.2 Examples of so-called universal languages 3
FIG. 1.3 The pictorial message carried by NASA's deep-space
probe Pioneer 4
FIG. 1.4 Two optical illusions: top, are the vertical lines of equal
length?; bottom, are these hexagons or cubes? 4
FIG. 1.5 Wave traces of complex sounds: three are of different
kinds of music and one is audience noise 5
FIG. 1.6 Cartoon from the New Yorker 6
FIG. 1.7 Audience participation 8
FIG. 1.8 Mark Boulton talking about tape-slide techniques with
MAB posters as a background 10
FIG. 1.9 Part of a page from Denys Parsons' The Directory of
Tunes 12
FIG. 1.10 Top left, the original object; bottom row, left, the
diffraction pattern of the object; remainder of the bottom
row, diffraction pattern with increasingly restricted
aperture; remainder of top row, images obtained by
recombining the limited diffraction pattern from the
bottom row 14
FIG. 1.11 Top left, the original object; bottom left, its diffraction
pattern; bottom right, diffraction pattern restricted by an
aperture; top right, image obtained by recombining the
limited diffraction pattern 14
FIG. 2.1 The alpha culture stand close together and talk happily
about relatives 18
FIG. 2.2 The beta culture stand apart and engage in trade 19
FIGS. The beta culture also use a strange language and strange
2.3a, b signs 20
FIG. 3.1 The use of newspaper cuttings to make posters or readers 24
FIG. 3.2 Sample page from Yona Friedman's Water 33
FIG. 3.3 Sample page from Yona Friedman's The House 33
FIG. 3.4 An example of a proposed illustration for the tutor
manuals in the Adult Education Programme of the
Government of India 38
FIG. 3.5 Two ends of an information spectrum 41
FIG. 3.6 The Ecology in Action exhibit at a glance 43
FIG. 4.1 A montage of some of the posters on display 67
FIG. 4.2 Picture from a Science Centre publicity document from
China 68
χ LIST OF FIGURES
FIG. 6.1 The Videostar camera-recorder 81
FIG. 6.2 The compact cassette 82
FIG. 6.3 Faculties at EMRC supported by UGC 90
FIG. 7.1 Workshop session on microcomputers 95
FIG. 7.2 Map of an African village called Agwin 97
FIG. 7.3 Control measures against malaria 98
FIG. 7.4 The interaction between the parasite, mosquito and
human host 99
FIG. 8.1 Example of personal data entry 111
FIG. 8.2 Hands-on experience in the workshop 113
FIG. 10.1 Morse code communication equipment can be easily
fashioned from scrap material 158
FIG. 10.2 A toy designed for first year university students reading
computer hardware 162
FIG. A.l The "biotechnical knowledge for rural development"
cycle 167
1
Introduction
CHARLES TAYLOR
Preliminaries
I am not an information scientist, nor an information technology expert—I
am an ordinary university physicist. But in almost 40 years of teaching and
research I have come to realise that the transfer of scientific and technological
information to children and to the general public is every bit as important as the
search for information and its transfer to professional colleagues, which is
usually seen as the primary role of the research scientist. Experts in information
technology will soon discern that my reading in the field is very limited, but I
think that, for the purposes of this volume, which are entirely pragmatic, there
is an advantage in having an introduction prepared by an interested observer of
the field and a practitioner of some of its aspects, rather than by a theoretical
specialist.
There are three sections: first, a rather rambling discussion of what I
understand by information and by its transfer and technology; secondly, a
discussion of some of the topics that will be covered in later chapters or that
were touched on during the workshop sessions of the conference; and thirdly, a
rather philosophical section in which I want to suggest some tentative ideas of
my own.
This introduction is based on a plenary lecture given at the conference and
which was illustrated with demonstrations of several of the techniques
discussed; inevitably descriptions of demonstrations do not have the same
impact, but they are, nevertheless, better than nothing.
The Information Society
It is said that we live in an information society and that there has been an
information explosion during the present century. You have only to look at the
size of the current volumes of Chemical Abstracts on the library shelves and
compare them, or indeed any other volume of abstracts, with those of 75 years
ago, to realise the truth of the second statement. But what does the first
statement mean—"An information Society"?
Many people concerned with science and technology or with education would
probably immediately jump to the conclusion that we mean that we live in an
ι
2 CHARLES TAYLOR
age when the storage, transmission, and retrieval—and indeed the creation—of
information by electronic means has suddenly become commonplace, and this
is certainly not something that can be ignored.
The dreadful word "Informatics" has been coined; schoolchildren are
introduced to computers at a very early age—every primary school in the UK
has a microcomputer, though whether this is yet justified in terms of what they
do with them may be open to doubt. About 30 years ago a group of learned
gentlemen came to the conclusion that two, or possibly three, computers of the
size of the Ferranti Mercury would satisfy the computing needs of the scientific
and technological communities of the UK for the forseeable future. That must
be the understatement of the century!
Clearly our educational system must take all this into account and adjust,
both to the possible use of microcomputers in teaching other topics, and to the
preparation of students to take their place in the modern world of high
technology.
A Historical Note
But what do we really mean by "information" and is the idea of an
"information society" so very new? I would like to examine this idea a little
more closely.
When, as a tourist, we see a sign saying "Information" or "Renseignement",
or "Auskunft", etc., we expect to discover facts. How far is it to the railway
station? Where can I park my car? Which is the best theatre in town? What
time is the next bus to the beach? But information must surely be more than
facts?
Webster's Dictionary gives several definitions, including, for example:
Communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence. Knowledge obtained from
investigation, study, or instruction. A numerical quantity that measures the uncertainty
in the outcome of an experiment to be performed.
While on the subject of definitions, Webster defines "knowledge" as:
The fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through
experience or association.
But whether we are dealing with facts, knowledge or experiences, they can
only be meaningful when they are passed on.
So it seems that information must be intimately concerned with
communication.
Primitive man had a big advantage over all but his very near relatives among
the animals—he had a flexible face and two limbs that were not needed for
INTRODUCTION 3
support, and hence he could make facial gestures and signs. Presumably these
were the earliest means of communication, and one could certainly say that a
threatening gesture was a form of communication. But the gesture could only
be meaningful if both parties were present. The invention of signs and the
painting of signs and symbols on, for example, cave walls, carried things a little
further; the sign could still pass on its message in the absence of the sender. But
it was the invention of portable signs that was the first real breakthrough. I
suppose you could say, therefore, that the "information society" was born seven
or eight thousand years ago with the invention of the cuneiform system of
impressing wedge-shaped marks on a clay tablet and then baking it to preserve
it. The preservation was pretty permanent too! As a student I worked on clay
tablets of the period 3000 to 2000 BC and found out how the Sumerians
measured the area of their fields.
FIG. 1.1. Example of cuneiform script.
Information and Language
So language was born. But verbal languages can also be a barrier if no
common language is available. From time to time music and mathematics have
been described as universal languages.
2
E = mc
2
s = ut + i ft
FIG. 1.2. Examples of so-called universal languages.
But, if you think about it they are not really universal in the strict meaning of
the word.
In their book on visual communication in science, David Barlex and Clive
Carré quote an interesting instance of an attempt at a universal language.
When NASA's deep-space probe Pioneer was launched in the early seventies, a
pictorial message was placed on it which it was hoped might be understood by
other beings in space.
But Sir Ernest Gombrich, writing in Scientific American in 1972, pointed
out that this picture can only be interpreted if the observers have a great deal of
prior knowledge of certain conventions. The representation of three-
dimensional figures in terms of thin lines only works if you have seen such
drawings before; the drawing could be taken to be of some pieces of wire bent to
4 CHARLES TAYLOR
certain shapes; the woman's right arm only looks plausible if you know that it is
meant to be partly behind her. The arrow only makes sense if you have met a
bow and arrow before.
π - - ^,
FIG. 1.3. The pictorial message carried by NASA's deep space-probe Pioneer.
Richard Gregory, who has made a special study of optical illusions, has a
friend who was blind for many years and then in later life had his sight restored.
Richard tells how his friend was unable to "see" many of the common illusions
until several months after his sight had been restored. For example, the familiar
illusion of equal lines that look to be of different lengths, only works if you are
familiar with the corners of rooms or buildings.
/κ
\1/
FIG. 1.4. Two optical illusions: top, are the vertical lines of equal length? bottom, are these
hexagons or cubes?
The left-hand picture is like the external corner of a building that is near to
you; the right-hand picture is like the internal corner of a room that is away
from you. Your brain therefore compensates and makes the vertical line you
think is nearer, appear smaller. The cube, even when shaded, looks like a cube,
rather than a shaded hexagon, only if you are familiar with the convention.