When Chemists Attack

An old blog post of mine looked at an apparently minor issue that comes up from time to time in science education: the problem of language. I asked students to simply tell me – before I went over this sort of thing in class – what they thought scientists meant when they use the word “theory”.

Here are the results of the same question asked to a group of students in 2006.

1. Theory: is what you think the outcome will be. Theory: Guessing on what you think will happen in a situation.
2. Theory is an idea that has not been proven.
3. The best educated answer or solution.
4. It’s something that you will use during the experiment to help you get the results of the experiment.
5. The closest knowledge as you can get on the subject you are working on.
6. Theory – an explanation that is not proven yet.
7. Any scientific experiment that has not been proven.
8. A theory is what you believe will happen.
9. Theory – scientific study of how something works using a formula.
10. A theory is formed when you have a hypothesis that has been tested and retested.
11. Something happening over time.
12. Theory is a belief. It is not a proven fact.
13. A theory is an idea of what may be going on.
14. A theory is something thought to be true without scientific proof.
15. The definition of the term theory is science is your judgement of experiments.
16. Theory – is an assumption of how something works.
17. Theory is used as an idea in an experiment, that has not yet been proven as fact.
18. You have to test things to prove a theory.
19. The definition of theory is something we think is going to happen.
20. A theory is a speculation about the result of experiments or laws prior to conclusive test evidence.
21. Beliefs tested as the cause and effect of an experiment.
22. The meaning behind things. Why things react and work the way they do.
23. A theory is a supposition that is backed up with evidence or experimental support as opposed to a hypothesis which has not as much experimental support but is an educated guess.
24. A theory is a belief of something like "The Creation Theory" or "The Big Bang Theory" of how the earth came to being. A theory hasn’t been proven, it’s a explanation that makes sense unless proven otherwise.

While there are glimmers of understanding in there, I’ll still have to conclude that your average person just doesn’t know what science is about. You can certainly see the signs of religious anti-science indoctrination, too. (Look at the bolded answers.)

Same as it ever was?