CHED 78 |
| Chemistry is both the central science and the familiar science. The familiarity of chemistry must be fully exploited in reaching the various segments of society, especially the non-specialists. The chemical sciences are vital to our democracy. They bring a wide range of goods and functions to everyone. Science literacy is necessary for the democratic process to work. I make a distinction between scientific literacy, expertise in a particular field, and science literacy, a broad appreciation and understanding of science and its practitioners, and of what science is capable of achieving and what it cannot accomplish. Science literacy enlightens and enables people to make informed choices, to be skeptical, and to reject shams, quackery, unproven conjecture, and to avoid being bamboozled into making foolish decisions where matters of science and technology are concerned. Science literacy is for everyone-chemists, artists, humanists, all professionals, the general public, youth and adults alike. |
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George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education: Symposium in Honor of A. Truman Schwartz
1:30 PM-5:00 PM, Sunday, March 25, 2007 McCormick Place North -- Room N229, Level 2, Oral
Division of Chemical Education |