THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENCE AND SCIENCE EDUCATION This is the second part of two parts from t

            THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENCE AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

    This is the second part of two parts from the address given at the
    Science Teacher of Missouri Spring Conference 1992, Rolla, Missouri

                          by Dr. Clifford McCullum

    I'll pick first the revolution in modern physics.  To the physicist
this means all of the ideas about the physical universe that have been
generated since quantum theory was devised and used as a basis for
studying that physical universe.  It involves a plethora of concepts
among which are relativity, atomic structure, nuclear structure, mass
energy,  nuclear  energy,  etc.  The  names  of stellar investigators
associated with these are even more numerous than the concepts.  Any
attempt  at  listing,  even  as  examples,  is to court rebukes for
practicing personal favoritism, but here are a few: Planck, Einstein,
Rutherford, Bohr, Fermi, Gell-Mann.

    Through all of this revolution has run the yearning for more
fundamental universals.  What  is  the  universal  unit  of  structure
of the atom? What is the universal unit of energy? Of mass-energy?
Shouldn't  we  be  able  to  identify  the  common  element  of
structure and operation in light, electricity, magnetism, and gravity?
This was the center of Einstein's attention during  the  last  years  of
his life.  Perhaps some day!

    I'll list next the DNA Revolution in the language of life.  This is
based upon a mechanistic viewpoint as to the  nature  of  life.  It grew
from the application of physics and chemistry to the study of life  and
life  systems.  From  Darwinian  evolution  the  path  winds through
genetics to molecular biology.  It certainly meets the criterion that a
revolution to  be  one  should  produce  impacts  in  other fields.
Bioethical issues develop daily as DNA science and technology grow and
develop.  Theology faces new challenges at the same time and old value
systems struggle and new ones explode around  us.  Bioengineering  is
no  longer  an  abstraction;  life  can  be diagrammed and ordered at
will, or so it seems.  A very readable account of the DNA story is The
Eighth Day of Creation by Horace Freeland Judson.  Like  modern
physics,  the  personalities  involved  are  numerous.  Of  course,
James  Watson,  Francis  Crick, and Maurice Wilkins should be named.
But there are many others; among them, Rosalind Franklin, George Gamow,
Jacques Monod, Max Delbruck, and Linus Pauling.

    My last revolution is harder to limit.  It has to do with the search
for beginnings - the search for origins.  First,  we  are  searching
for the origins of the universe.  We have an increasing certainty as to
the biography of stars - our sun included.  The Hertsprung-Russell
Diagram is an insightful guide to that history and extrapolations beyond
the diagram are yielding more and more exciting gestations.  We may not
have final answers as to what the first few seconds in the  life  of
the  universe  were  like,  but the overall age of the universe is
growing and the space geometry of it is expanding.  Recent  discoveries
using  an  NASA  satellite  it is believed will fill in gaps in the
story of what happened after the Big Bang occurred as  matter  coalesced
to  form  galaxies,  stirs, planets, and other units we have recognized
in our physical universe.

    Second, we are searching for the origins of life on this earth and
in our entire universe.  This is intimately connected with molecular
biology.  As this search continues, vitalism, as a point-of-view about
life,  is  weakening.  Oparin,  the  Russian  biochemist, Harold Urey
and his colleague and student, Stanley Miller, and Sidney W. Fox  have
all  outlined  convincing  steps  in  this  evolution. Many others are
also working and asking questions.  What kind of life are we looking
for? Is  our  earth's  life  alone  in  the  universe? Is our earth's
life unique in the universe? Are other metabolic systems, other than an
oxygen / carbon dioxide one, possible elsewhere in the universe?

    As our search for origins proceeds, the debate between mechanists
and vitalists waxes, as does the dispute between the creationists and
the evolutionists.  Also, we are changing our conceptions of time in the
history  of  the  universe  and  our  conceptions of space in the
cosmography of the universe.

    As we think of the history of science I am suggesting we pin our
thoughts for organizational purposes on revolutions in scientific
thought.  Copernican,  Darwinian.  and  Freudian  in  pre-twentieth
century.  Modern  Physics,  DNA,  and  Search  for  Origins in the
1900's.

    But what does this have to do, if anything, with science teaching?
Well, for  me  it  tends  to  stimulate  some  random  thoughts  as to
what I have done in the past as a science teacher, and what I might do
if I'd ever have the chance again.  First, I fear  I  was  almost always
dealing with outdated material in my classes.  A lot of this is
necessary, for science does  evolve,  and  ideas  at  the  frontiers are
often too difficult for the novice.  But those of us as teachers must
always keep  in  mind  that  understanding  grows  and  does  not
suddenly emerge in full blossom.  Isaac Asimov was a great teacher for
all  of  us  and  I  was  impressed  by  the  parenthetical  remarks he
used in one of his last books, Atom.  Listen: "This is no longer the
situation, but let us suppose it is and answer  the  question  on that
basis.  We can always qualify the answer later."