Science in the classroom is separated from the real world outside
When people learn science, they normally learn it in a classroom. Therefore, the knowledge they build is valid only withing the walls of the place where they learned. Extrapolating what happens on a blackboard to something that can help us understand the reality in which we leave is achieved by a very limited number of students. This is one of the problems of education is content based because education is not curiosity driven. However, I think that Citizen science can bridge the gap between school science and the real world.
In my high-school physics classes I tried to overcome this by linking the electric consumption in students' houses with the amount of water that flows through a dam (which the students visited earlier in the year). The same can be applicable to a chemistry class (burning of fossil fuels), or to a biology class (the energy that sustains life, etc.)
I believe that the current situation was generated because incremental change leads to unsustainable educational paradigms. But there are some possible changes. First, science education should not distinguish disciplines. Secondly, science education should be method-oriented.
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