Cognitive Daily: How concerned should scientists be with "framing"?

Cognitive Daily: How concerned should scientists be with "framing"?:

"The debate about Chris Mooney and Matthew Nisbet's recent Science article has gotten quite contentious. Nisbet and Mooney contend that if scientists hope to persuade the public to value science, they must take heed of recent research on 'framing.' In other words, they claim, scientists are failing at presenting their message effectively."

In last week's class on UNESCO, our guest lecturer presented a case study for discussion. It was based on a fictitious small island nation, with a deteriorating environment, that wished to develop a tourism industry to promote economic development. The island was presumed to have requested UNESCO's communication and education program to help it consider how to develop the island information infrastructure to advance its aspirations to develop tourism. A lively discussion took place, and of course there are many ways that improving the national information infrastructure can achieve that purpose.

However, my immediate response was that the issue was poorly framed. In fact our students, deeply interested in education, saw the problem of the island in terms of education -- quite rightly. And of course, education is UNESCO's strongest suit.

But UNESCO is also a scientific organization, and has a lot to say about what science has learned about sustainable development, and especially about the protection of the environmental amenities of small island nations. This ties into environmental tourism especially.

UNESCO is also a cultural organization, and has a lot to say about the protection and utilization of cultural resources -- and especially cultural tourism. But the development of cultural industries (arts and crafts, music, etc.) is a natural complement to cultural tourism, with each supporting the other.

Returning to Mooney and Nisbet's point, perhaps the evolution debate should be framed in terms of the risks of not accepting evolution. If the U.S. educational system does not teach the theory of evolution, we will find it difficult to educate the scientists to exploit modern biology for economic growth. We will also find our graduates looked down upon by the graduates of other educational systems that do teach evolution. We will also be seen as two-faced when we criticize Islamic nations for politicizing education by teaching Moslem ideology instead of modern science.