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Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by elgabogringo on Saturday June 04, 2016 @01:37PM (#11837124)
"In board testimony, Bigelow said PPS’ science textbooks are littered with words like might, may and could when talking about climate change."

Skepticism in science? Unacceptable!

Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by stdbrouw on Saturday June 04, 2016 @01:48PM (#11837171)
Would you accept a geography text that explains to your kids that the world may be round and that the evidence suggests that the earth is not the center of the universe?
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by tomp on Saturday June 04, 2016 @02:06PM (#11837261)
Any other formulation is disingenuous. We don't know that the Earth is the center of the universe. Hell, even Elon Musk said we might be in a simulation a few days ago!

Ideally, you should also tell the kids which evidence suggests a theory.

Elon Musk: The chance we are not living in a computer simulation is 'one in billions'

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/new...

Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by stdbrouw on Saturday June 04, 2016 @02:13PM (#11837293)
"Knowing" is generally considered to imply that we think something is beyond reasonable doubt. If you can only speak of knowledge in the sense of logical entailment, the word would be useless because then nobody knows anything. Words like "maybe" and "possibly" would also become useless, because they then apply to all knowledge. A distinction that doesn't distinguish between things is not a useful distinction to make.
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by kaleidic on Saturday June 04, 2016 @04:26PM (#11837833)
Reasonable doubt is a legal term, not a scientific one.
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by Joof on Saturday June 04, 2016 @02:10PM (#11837276)
Are we not the center of the observable universe?
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by qbrass on Saturday June 04, 2016 @06:19PM (#11838417)
Most of the observable universe is in front of you, so you're not in the center of it.
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by whatshisface on Saturday June 04, 2016 @01:57PM (#11837216)
I'd support that.

Elememtary textbooks contain almost exclusively the seminal theories that we are very sure about. If we expressed our certianty there, kids might get the idea that all of science is similarly so.

In science, "the evidence suggests..." is a very high seal of approval. I'd place more emphasis on making them understand that than I would on adding a few nines to their certianty that the earth is round.

Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by stdbrouw on Saturday June 04, 2016 @02:09PM (#11837273)
Can't say I know what the US curriculum is mostly like, but I was taught about the Bohr atomic model before learning about how they figured out why it wasn't exactly right and we talked about how Newtonian physics was superseded by relativistic physics. There are better ways to express the scientific ethos than to just prefix every statement with "maybe".
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by fleitz on Saturday June 04, 2016 @01:54PM (#11837200)
I would accept one that cited the IPCC report noting a warming hiatus for the last 15 years :)
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by darpa_escapee on Saturday June 04, 2016 @01:53PM (#11837199)
Some scientists think the complexity of life might be evidence of intelligent design.

Scientists believe the Grand Canyon could be evidence of a global flood 4000 years ago.

Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by fractallyte on Saturday June 04, 2016 @02:20PM (#11837333)
These people are not scientists.

They conveniently forget that real scientists study independently what these people's own 'God' created. Rather than confront the truth, they retreat to insane (literally: non-sane) ideas about the universe.

Disclaimer: I teach computing in a creationist school in London, UK. I refrain from expressing my utter disgust that such places exist.

Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by darpa_escapee on Friday June 10, 2016 @10:15AM (#11876478)
It's almost as if climate change denialists ignore actual science in the face of a conveniently profitable ideology, as well.
Re:Portland school board bans climate change-denying materials by fractallyte on Sunday June 05, 2016 @12:46AM (#11839666)
Hmm... I'd be very interested in talking to the person(s) who downvoted this. Do you think creationists are scientists? Have you had any extended interactions with them? Have I written something that is - to this audience - inflammatory?