I think it's important that the argument for better science education isn't simply pushing science as knowledge, information you know, but science as a process or as skill, a way of looking at the world and learning through experimentation and challenging preconceived ideas. Science is a tool that helps you learn about the world around you.

I don't really buy this and never have. Science as I was (often) ineptly taught it in school was all about knowledge. What you're describing is rationalism, or observation. I know that the "scientific method" is a buzz-phrase that schools stress now because they pretend it helps their students in real life, but what they're actually doing is taking credit for common sense.

That being said, it applies to all school subjects. Teachers would do well to reinforce that students are not just writing a paper about Huck Finn, they are learning how to process ideas and articulate their thoughts in a way that others can understand. History isn't just about memorizing dates, but about connecting information and seeing the causes and effects of world events. Learning from the past informs the present.

Sure, although memorizing dates would be a hell of a start. Kids used to have to actually learn things in school -- when battles happened and where, who the rulers of X were -- and now they just "synthesize." ...another buzzword. You can't synthesize something you have no basic grasp of; if kids can't even tell me where Austria is I refuse to waste my time reading their paper "connecting the events" of World War I.

I'm not even going to touch on actually trying to instill a "joy for learning," I just think it's important to contextualize what it is a student is learning. The details may not be directly relevant to their lives, but it could be. The ability to process the intricate workings of a process is important. It requires a good teacher to be able to relate topics to students lives, and a great one to show them how to do that themselves.

Enjoying learning is vital but I think basically impossible to instill externally. Everyone has to figure that one out for themselves. Having good parents who stress reading etc. from day one is much more crucial than having teachers who make the classroom "fun." If you only manage to teach kids to enjoy learning things that relate to their own lives, you're going to raise a bunch of narrow-minded ignoramuses. It's got to be more.

In short, I don't think we as educators do anything right, to say nothing of teaching "critical thinking" (--what does that even mean?). But forcing kids back to the classical education habit of instilling basic knowledge that will never be forgotten would be a start. However, I've tried teaching kids things in various circumstances for various occupations -- it's hard. It's borderline impossible to get kids to learn if they don't already care innately. So who knows.

EDIT: thanks for responding; it sucks writing up paragraphs on hubski and having no one see them.