Do “Alien Species” Exist in the Universe? What’s the Drake Equation Have to Say? #2

Some blog followers might be interested in a discussion-list post “Do ‘Alien Species’ Exist in the Universe? What's the Drake Equation Have to Say? #2” [Hake (2014)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: Guy Brandenberg and I, in an exchange on EDDRA2, each erroneously assumed the intent of the other’s posts. The misunderstandings could have been avoided had Brandenberg, in response to my post “Do ‘Alien Species’ Exist in the Universe” at http://bit.ly/1kHEm0i , written something like:

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“Alien species” may or may not exist in the Universe, but at least we now know the answer to the question “Is there life on Mars?” It’s YES. We know this because NASA and the Soviet space agency sent it there on rovers etc.
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Brandenberg (2014b) went on to write at http://yhoo.it/1fciR0J: “We are, however, beginning to fill in some of the ranges of some of the variables in the Drake equation, and alien life is definitely a possibility in my mind. . . . . . . .”

But in “ ‘Where is Everybody?’ Failure to Detect Intelligence in the Universe is Due to Failure of Universities Throughout the Universe” [Hake (2013)] at http://bit.ly/H3roIC (6.8 MB) I wrote:

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According to Goldsmith and Owen’s The Search for Life in the Universe http://amzn.to/ij9jKj: “When we multiply all the factors . . . .[[in the Drake Equation http://bit.ly/16MYTZ2]]. . . .together, we find that the result for the number N of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy now with communication ability and desire equals L/40, where L is the lifetime, measured in years of a civilization once it has developed the ability and desire to communicate with others.” Suppose L = 200 years, as appears likely for Planet Earth, . . . . .[[According to Wikipedia, Guglielmo Marconi http://bit.ly/1c4nqeL started transmitting long distance radio waves in the early 1900s.]]. . . .. then N = only 5 civilizations in our galaxy are trying to communicate with us. . . . . . . .[[or effectively zero (0) within the considerable margin of error]]. . . .
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To access the complete 57 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/1hltBvl.


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University; Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands; President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII); LINKS TO: Academia http://bit.ly/a8ixxm; Articles http://bit.ly/a6M5y0; Blog http://bit.ly/9yGsXh; Facebook http://bit.ly/9yGsXh; GooglePlus http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE; Google Scholar http://bit.ly/Wz2FP3; Linked In http://linkd.in/14uycpW; Research Gate http://bit.ly/1fJiSwB; Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs http://bit.ly/9nGd3M; Twitter http://bit.ly/juvd52.

REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 22 Jan 2014.]
Hake, R.R. "Do 'Alien Species' Exist in the Universe? What's the Drake Equation Have to Say? #2" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/1hltBvl.The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.

Should the Culture of University Science Education Be Changed?

Some blog followers might be interested in a talk 

“Should the Culture of University Science Education Be Changed? ” [Hake (2011)].

The abstract reads:

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In a recent Science article “Changing the Culture of Science Education at Research Universities” [Anderson et al. (2011) at  http://bit.ly/eSLoCl], thirteen biology research scientists, all Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellows, deplore the prevalent university reward systems that “heavily weight efforts of many professors toward research at the expense of teaching.” They advocate seven initiatives that might help to address “widespread concern about educating enough scientists and scientifically literate citizens.”

Of primary concern in this talk is Initiative #1: “Educate faculty about research on learning. . . .” This is especially important if faculty are to play a prominent role in adequately educating prospective K-12 teachers, who might then, in turn, enhance the science/math literacy of the general population.

In that regard, I review an essay “The General Population’s Ignorance of Science Related Societal Issues: A Challenge for the University” [Hake (2000)] based on an earlier libretto The Science Illiteracy Crisis: A Challenge for the University [Hake (1989)], with the leitmotiv: “The road to U.S. science literacy begins with effective university science courses for precollege teachers.”

The opera dramatizes the fact that the failure of universities throughout the universe to properly educate pre-college teachers is responsible for our failure to observe any signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. 
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To access the complete 3.2 MB talk please click on http://bit.ly/iegznz.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University

Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands

President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake

http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi

http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com

http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

REFERENCES [URL's shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 29 May 2011.]

Hake, R.R. 2011. Invited talk, “Should the Culture of University Science Education Be Changed?” Southern California Section of the AAPT, 14 May 2011, Pierce College, Woodland Hills, CA; online as a 3.2 MB pdf at  http://bit.ly/iegznz and as reference #63 at http://bit.ly/b2UsK6.