Berkeley debuts science Web site for kids, teachers

Contra Costa Times (MCT) - Science doesn't have to be the boring stuff of textbooks, University of California, Berkeley, professors are telling children and their teachers.

A new Web site, "Understanding Science," dispels myths about science and scientists, explaining that everything from the automobile to the family cat can be better understood through science. Built by two UC Berkeley biology professors and a team of advisers, the site debuted last week.

"The Web site presents not the rigid scientific method," said biology professor Roy Caldwell in a written statement, "but how science really works, including its creative and often unpredictable nature, which is more engaging to students and far less intimidating to those teachers who are less secure in their science."

Much of the site is devoted to correcting misconceptions, such as that science is not creative and that all scientists are atheists. One section rejects the notion that science is done only by "old, white men."

"The diversity of the scientific community is expanding rapidly," the site says.

"Science is open to anyone who is curious about the natural world and who wants to take a scientific approach to his or her investigations."

Check out "Understanding Science" at undsci.berkeley.edu.

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© 2009, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.).