Measles on the rise

"Health experts are issuing a warning about measles after an unexpectedly high number of cases this summer."

Well just in case anyone is wondering what the effects of a dumbed down science curriculum that favours uninformed debate over peer-reviewed evidence is, we have an "unexpected" rise in measles cases. Colour me surprised.
I'm sorry OCR, but science is not about opinion based debate because not everyone's opinion is equal. There has been enough evidence post-Wakefield to dismiss the initial Lancelet paper as nonsense and to allow doubt about the safety of MMR to creep into the curriculum is irresponsible at best.
We can expect future media scare stories on issues such as MMR and WiFi as long as this kind of "don't worry about the actual evidence, there is no right or wrong answer" style of debate continues. Whatever happened to evidence based science?

 

Plan for 'easier' science exams

Exam boards in England are planning to put more simple questions in science papers, the Times reports.

A document seen by the newspaper says that from next year, some papers should consist of 70% "low demand" questions, instead of the current level of 55%.

The document was prepared by the umbrella group of exam boards, the Joint Council for Qualifications.

The organisation denies examiners are being told to make GCSEs easier and says instead, the bar is being raised.

clicky

Physics missing from A-Level top 10

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6950084.stm

That's less than 3.9 percent of A-Level exam entries being for physics.

A few choice snippets from the above article


"The think tank Reform said that on a longer view, since 2000, entries in such key subjects were mostly down - maths by 10% and physics by 14%, for example."

"David Brown of the Institution of Chemical Engineers said the results were encourgaing but masked the growing skills crisis facing science and technology in the UK. "We are confronted by a major shortage of talented scientists and engineers,"


"He rejected the idea that in a subject like maths, in which almost 44% already get A grades - there would inevitably be a need for an even higher, A** grade."

44% A grade in maths? well at least there is further maths to skim off the cream of the crop


My pet peeve  though is this quote


"At a joint council news conference, Greg Watson of the OCR exam board said critical thinking encapsulated the sort of skills that were in demand by universities and by employers.

For example, anyone working in science would benefit from being able to evaluate the arguments for and against the MMR vaccine, he said."

I'm guessing Greg Watson has never worked in science; you don't evaluate arguments in science, you evaluate the evidence dammit. I'll be writing more on this in an article I'm hoping to have finished by the end of this week.

Untill then bye and forgive any poor editing/spelling/grammar...you know what happens when you slam a car into reverse on the motorway? Yeah, that's my brain about now.