This year’s election campaign in New Zealand has attracted a number of “fringe” parties, at least some of whose supporters seem to have a fairly tenuous hold on reality and a highly flexible approach to the truth. I mean, how else could one describe some of those affiliated with the NZPP/Advance coalition, whose members & […]
Continue reading
Many readers will probably have read this RNZ article (or heard the related interview), or seen calls for consultation on the Ministry of Education’s suggested changes to the number of subjects – and achievement standards – on offer to year 11 students. I’ve been following (& participating, where I can) all this with colleagues and […]
Continue reading
You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to advice from several high-level advisory […]
Continue readingA few days ago, New Zealand’s Minister of Education announced the wider release of a resource on climate change, which was initially trialled at a Christchurch school during 2018. According to the Minister, children will learn about “the role science plays in understanding climate change, aids understanding of both the response to it and its impacts […]
Continue reading
I’d intended to write a post about science literacy (& its lack). And I still will. But first, I’m going to address the claims made by a commenter on a post that shared advice and commentary by the Samoan ombudsman. (Yes, a post related to that country’s measles epidemic.) Why? Because it demonstrates what we […]
Continue readingHaving spent a bit of time in the comments threads for that story, I have to say that there are a fair number of plague enthusiasts commenting who appear to have little regard for truth, accuracy, public health or evidence-based decision-making. In Samoa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in other measles hot-spots round […]
Continue reading
As the rate of measles infection, and of deaths, continues to climb in Samoa, antivaccination activists infectious disease proponents seem intent on doubling down on their claims about vaccination. (Check pretty much any news-media FB post about measles & you’ll see exactly what I mean.) Unfortunately, some of them have a greater reach than others. […]
Continue reading
So, today I was blocked on Facebook. It happens. Especially if you’re engaging with antivax activists plague enthusiasts who don’t particularly like your message. But, I thought the context of this particular blocking too delicious to keep to myself. It started like this: Black took exception to this; apparently she wasn’t actually advocating that people […]
Continue reading
A couple days ago the NZ Herald published a story with the headline, “Science says Bella Hadid is world’s most beautiful woman“, and followed up with the ridiculous statement that Supermodel Bella Hadid has been declared as the world’s most beautiful woman following a scientific study into what constitutes as a “perfect face”. Really, NZ […]
Continue readingA couple of days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment asking for evidence that […]
Continue reading