Science Education Quotes

“The purpose of science is not down-scaling everything to physical level and measure, but to penetrate deeper into the realm beyond the sensory perceptions and bring more in-depth knowledge and wisdom to the world.”
― Amit Ray, 72000 Nadis and 114 Chakras in Human Body for Healing and Meditation

“If a teacher has only love for the cause, it will be a good teacher. If a teacher has only love for student, as a father, mother, he will be better than the teacher, who read all the books, but has no love for the cause, nor to the students. If the teacher combines love to the cause and to his disciples, he is the perfect teacher.”
― Leo Tolstoy

“Dr. Mary Atwater's story was so inspiring. Growing up, Dr. Atwater had a dream to one day be a teacher. But as a black person in the American South during the 1950s, she didn't have many great educational opportunities. It didn't help that she was also a girl, and a girl who loved science, since many believed that science was a subject only for men. Well, like me, she didn't listen to what others said. And also like me, Dr. Atwater had a father, Mr. John C. Monroe, who believed in her dreams and saved money to send her and her siblings to college. She eventually got a PhD in science education with a concentration in chemistry. She was an associate director at New Mexico State University and then taught physical science and chemistry at Fayetteville State University. She later joined the University of Georgia, where she still works as a science education researcher. Along the way, she began writing science books, never knowing that, many years down the road, one of those books would end up in Wimbe, Malawi, and change my life forever.

I'd informed Dr. Atwater that the copy of Using Energy I'd borrowed so many times had been stolen (probably by another student hoping to get the same magic), so that day in Washington, she presented me with my own copy, along with the teacher's edition and a special notebook to record my experiments.

"Your story confirms my belief in human beings and their abilities to make the world a better place by using science," she told me. "I'm happy that I lived long enough to see that something I wrote could change someone's life. I'm glad I found you."

And for sure, I'm also happy to have found Dr. Atwater.”
― William Kamkwamba, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

“For example, there was a book that started out with four pictures: first there was a wind-up toy; then there was an automobile; then there was a boy riding a bicycle; then there was something else. And underneath each picture, it said "What makes it go?"
I thought, I know what it is: They're going to talk about mechanics, how the springs work inside the toy; about chemistry, how the engine of an automobile works; and biology, about how the muscles work.

It was the kind of thing my father would have talked about: "What makes it go? Everything goes because the sun is shining." And then we would have fun discussing it:
"No, the toy goes becaues the spring is wound up, I would say.
"How did the spring get would up" he would ask.
"I wound it up"
"And how did you get moving?"
"From eating"
"And food grows only because the sun is shining. So it's because the sun is shining that all these things are moving" That would get the concept across that motion is simply the transformation of the sun's power.

I turned the page. The answer was, for the wind-up toy, "Energy makes it go." And for the boy on the bicycle, "Energy makes it go." For everything "Energy makes it go."

Now that doesn't mean anything. Suppose it's "Wakalixes." That's the general principle: "Wakalixes makes it go." There is no knowledge coming in. The child doesn't learn anything; it's just a word

What the should have done is to look at the wind-up toy, see that there are springs inside, learn about springs, learn about wheels, and never mind "energy". Later on, when the children know something about how the toy actually works, they can discuss the more general principles of energy.

It is also not even true that "energy makes it go", because if it stops, you could say, "energy makes it stop" just as well. What they're talking about is concentrated energy being transformed into more dilute forms, which is a very subtle aspect of energy. Energy is neither increased nor decreased in these examples; it's just changed from one form to another. And when the things stop, the energy is changed into heat, into general chaos.”
― Richard Feynman, Pascua Libro de Colorear para Niños: Simpáticos conejitos - Cestas de Pascua - Huevos de Pascua - Tema de primavera - Niños y niñas de 4 a 8 años, 8 a 12 años

“We need science education to produce scientists, but we need it equally to create literacy in the public. Man has a fundamental urge to comprehend the world about him, and science gives today the only world picture which we can consider as valid. It gives an understanding of the inside of the atom and of the whole universe, or the peculiar properties of the chemical substances and of the manner in which genes duplicate in biology. An educated layman can, of course, not contribute to science, but can enjoy and participate in many scientific discoveries which as constantly made. Such participation was quite common in the 19th century, but has unhappily declined. Literacy in science will enrich a person's life.”
― Hans A. Bethe

“All science asks is to employ the same levels of skepticism we use in buying a used car or in judging the quality of analgesics or beer from their television commercials.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

“A long time ago,
there was diddly-squat.
Just nothing at all,
except... one tiny dot.”
― Joseph Raphael Becker, Annabelle & Aiden: Worlds Within Us

“When in a little corner
on a tiny blue dot,
deep under the ocean,
in a very special spot...
an itty bitty thing
woke up anew
and came alive.
I tell you, it's true!”
― Joseph Raphael Becker, Annabelle & Aiden: The Story Of Life

“Some joined in the dance
but stayed close to the waters,
like lizards and seals,
frogs, turtles, and otters.”
― Joseph Raphael Becker, Annabelle & Aiden: The Story Of Life

“Science is about studying non-practical nature and Engineering is about studying practical non-science”
― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar

“The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin even, or even different parts of the same continuum, but rather, they are manifestations of the same thing.”
― Mae Jemison

“Science is a broad church full of narrow minds, trained to know ever more about ever less.”
― Steve Jones, The Single Helix

“Creationists have an argument not with science, but with argument.”
― Steve Jones, The Single Helix

“Humanitarian Science 101
(Sonnet 1202)

BRAIN means Benevolent Reformer
Applying Information Nobly.
DATA means Determined Action
of Transformative Awareness.

Information Technology is primitive IT,
Civilized IT means Informed Transformation.
Heuristic and holistic can never go together,
Shortcuts only obstruct the rise of realization.

Electronics means electron artistry.
Chemistry is an art of bonding.
Mathematics is the art of numbers,
Evolution is the art of correcting.

Society without science dumps the world in stoneage,
Science devoid of society shoves the mind into iceage.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

“Society without science
dumps the world in stoneage,
Science devoid of society
shoves the mind into iceage.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

“Electronics means electron artistry.
Chemistry is an art of bonding.
Mathematics is the art of numbers,
Evolution is the art of correcting.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

“Math, Bio, Physics, Chem and Code, these five can make or break society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Rowdy Scientist: Handbook of Humanitarian Science

“No language speaks to computers better than code,
No language speaks of matter better than physics.
No language speaks of mind better than neurology,
No language speaks pattern better than mathematics.
No language speaks of thought better than philosophy,
No language speaks of emotion better than poetry.
No language speaks of justice better than sociology,
No language speaks of behavior better than psychology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“President Donald Trump was applauded by his party when he withdrew the US from the latest attempt at a UN climate accord. Deniers riddled his appointments to federal agencies. A fair portion of Americans believe there are scientific "sides" to the issue, when science isn't about "sides" at all--it's about evidence. Dismissal of climate change has become so entrenched in conservative ideology and identity that the greatest predictor of whether someone trusts the conclusions of climate science is not their science literacy, but their political affiliation. (From Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America (2021))”
― Katie Worth