Understanding Science

The University of California, Berkeley, launched a new Web site this month that could prove quite useful for science teachers looking to pique bored students' interest. Titled "Understanding Science," the site seeks to demystify the topic, and make it appear as lively, engaging and imaginative as it actually is. Of particular interest is the "For Teachers" button. There, teachers will find "lounges" especially devoted to their grade level. The site is still in the beta stages, but it already holds a wealth of neat tips and resources.

BERKLEY, CALIF. -- If you think you know what science is and how science works, think again.

A new University of California, Berkeley, Web site called "Understanding Science" paints an entirely new picture of what science is and how science is done, showing it to be a dynamic and creative process rather than the linear -- and frequently boring -- process depicted in most textbooks.

Funded by the National Science Foundation as a resource for teachers and the public, the material was vetted by historians and philosophers of science as well as by K-12 teachers and scientists from many disciplines.

"Through this collaborative project, we hope to overturn the paradigm of how science is presented in our classrooms," said Roy Caldwell, a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology who led the project along with colleague David Lindberg. "The Web site presents, not the rigid scientific method, but how science really works, including its creative and often unpredictable nature, which is more engaging to students and far less intimidating to those teachers who are less secure in their science."

"Part of the fun of science is lost when you present it as a linear thing," said Natalie Kuldell, an instructor in biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and one of 18 scientific advisors for the project. While the five-step process described in textbooks -- ask a question, form an hypothesis, conduct an experiment, collect data and draw a conclusion -- isn't wrong, "it is an oversimplification," she said.

Within the Web site, personal stories contributed by top scientists around the country illustrate the interplay of exploration, peer review and outcomes, and demonstrate the different pathways to discovery taken in different fields of science, from biology to cosmology.

For the complete press release, visit UC Berkeley's Web site.