First Paragraph
My purpose in this article is to increase awareness about long-standing problems in science education and then, in Part II, to build a case for how marine scientists, and scientists in general, can help improve science teaching and learning at all educational levels. What follows relates a personal journey, started 11 years ago when a former undergraduate who had worked in my research lab convinced me that there was a better way to teach the laboratory portion of our introductory marine science course than by simply lecturing. I was initially quite reluctant to delve into the world of science education, because I didn’t think that pedagogy was anywhere near as important as the straight delivery of solid content knowledge (= lecture). After all, that’s how I learned science, and if it worked for me, then it should work for other students!