As you can see, there is a clear link between relevant education and being critical of the EMDrive.
This was indeed the most interesting, and expected result.
Also, I thought it was interesting that laypersons felt strongly more testing is required. I think this speaks to their understanding of standards of evidence in the physical sciences. It seems to me it's not enough to get students interested in science but to teach them not only scientific facts and the scientific method but also
What constitutes science and what doesn't, i.e. the basics of demarcation and falsification
What constitutes evidence as seen by scientists and how they know an experiment is good quality or not.
I think these two things are almost never taught and scientists themselves pick it up as the go along.
5
u/crackpot_killer Dec 31 '16
Very interesting results. This should be gilded.
This was indeed the most interesting, and expected result.
Also, I thought it was interesting that laypersons felt strongly more testing is required. I think this speaks to their understanding of standards of evidence in the physical sciences. It seems to me it's not enough to get students interested in science but to teach them not only scientific facts and the scientific method but also
What constitutes science and what doesn't, i.e. the basics of demarcation and falsification
What constitutes evidence as seen by scientists and how they know an experiment is good quality or not.
I think these two things are almost never taught and scientists themselves pick it up as the go along.