Why is Science Important?

I’ve come full circle. Before school started last August, I asked my students to write an essay addressing the following question:

“Why is science important?”

Their responses were interesting, to say the least. But, I’ve been thinking about that question all school year. Now, with the benefit of all that extra time, here’s my answer.

Learning and applying the scientific method helps develop a framework for decision making and for analysis. The “scientific method”  provides a road map on how to figure things out. And it doesn’t have to be big things; it could be as simple as figuring out why the Christmas lights won’t go on.

People assume some general level of understanding of scientific principals. If you become a parent, you’re going to be asked questions like, “Why is the sky blue?” or “Where do vegetables come from?” and you’re going to want to be able to provide some sort of informed answer. 

It’s important to have a fundamental understanding of the world around us - how and why things happen. If you have absolutely no grounding in science, you’ll find yourself believing almost anything. Trust me, folks have been taking advantage of people’s scientific ignorance for a long, long time. If you have a basic understanding of science, you can help yourself. 

Science informs our species' fundamental curiosity. Humans are always exploring, wondering and thinking about things. Science is a method of looking at the world and understanding why things work the way they do, where our species fits in and how everything interacts with the universe as a whole. 

And that’s why science is important, as I see it.