Hi All,
Seems though the discussion has leaned toward teaching standards I'll relate an incident that happened in early 2006 to my one and only daughter then attending the local high school.
It is also related in this 2008 thread here:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ighlight=Sedna
where science educational standards issues are discussed. There is also an interesting story there from David (astraltraveller) that bears reading, but here is my one:
My daughter did astronomy as part of her "comprehensive" education two years ago at a large public high school in southern Sydney in Yr 10 2006.
Of course, she didn't let Dad know she was doing astronomy in science, she didn't want me looking over her shoulder at what she was doing. But ...
One day near the end of the section (April or May I think) she came home and asked:
"Dad, Sedna
isn't a planet, is it?" "No it isn't" I replied ... "Why do you ask?" (privately I was very proud that she knew that despite her "apparent" disinterest in astronomy).
"Well, we were taught today that it
was a planet and I asked the teacher whether she was sure and the teacher said she was".
"Hmmm ... well the teacher is wrong I'm sorry."
"Yep I told her that it was wrong and that she ought to check it out, and then the teacher said it would be in the exam at the end of the week and that if I answer that Sedna is not a planet,
I will be marked incorrect and loose the marks. What should I do?"
At this point I should point out that I have a reserved, well-mannered and respectful daughter who did not and would not have said any of this in a hostile manner. She was (and still is in her 1st year at Uni now) a top student -- straight As.
Well that wasn't hard.
I told her to go into the exam and give the
correct answer and if anything comes of it, I would deal with it. I also armed her with print-outs of several pages from the IAU website on the status of Sedna definitively confirming its KBO/non-planet status by the only body that has authority to make pronouncements on the subject.
She did the exam. She took Dad's advice. She was marked wrong.
After the exam, she (privately) took the point up with the teacher and produced the IAU documents that conclusively proved the point in her favour.
The teachers response was (can you guess??):
(a) Oh yes, I see you are right. I'll fix it right away. Thanks for putting me straight.
(b) The curriculum documents clearly instruct that Sedna is the 10th planet in the solar-system. It is the only answer I can accept. What the IAU says is
irrelevant.
Yep you guessed it, b.
Luckily parent-teacher night was the next week. It was an interesting conversation we touched firstly on the issue of the status of Sedna. The teacher asked "Well what makes you an authority on the subject?" -- so I told her.
Then, we discussed the absolute authority of the IAU on the issue of nomenclature (where she expressed considerable doubt about whether that could possibly be correct given the content of the curriculum documents). I then showed her again the print-out of the IAU web page that explicity states that
Sedna is not a planet.
Following this, we had a bit of a "fireside chat" over the role of the teacher, the importance of teaching factually correct material and lastly upon scientific method.
The marks were restored.
Was the correct material ever taught? Who knows. I'll bet all my daughter's classmates are still under the impression Sedna is a planet.
A sad but true story.
Best,
Les D