Gopalan, Radha
(2021)
Editorial : i wonder, June 2021.
i wonder....
ISSN 2582-1636
Abstract
Terms like climate change, global warming, ozone layer depletion, mass extinction
and, now, the pandemic have become part of our everyday vocabulary.
Young people are exposed to these terms, not only in their school curricula,
textbooks, and classrooms, but also as a flood of information and (mis)information
from myriad sources — social media, TV etc. Researchers report how this has led to
two contrasting impacts among children and young people. Anxiety and a sense of
hopelessness on the one hand, and acceptance and indifference on the other. Both
these conditions dent our ability to respond, as the physicist Fritjof Capra puts it,
“by cooperating with Nature's inherent ability to sustain life.” Building the ability
to cut through this noise to understand scientific 'truth' is a first step. This would
help, in science educator Jonathan Osborne's words, “pupils emerge with an
interest in science, a confidence to talk about it, and a willingness to engage with
science wherever and whenever it crosses their paths.” Implicit in such learning is a
comprehension of how nature sustains life — the web of intricate, interconnected
relationships that afford resilience, and support the flourishing of human societies
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