1. This curriculum is available on the NWABR website, http://www.nwabr.org Permission granted for educational use ©2012 Northwest Association for Biomedical Research All Rights Reserved

2. Lesson 5 A Structured Academic Controversy Who Should Decide Basic Science Funding

3. Who Should Decide? Who do you think should have a say in what scientific research gets funded in the United States? About what percentage of the federal budget do you think the U.S. government spends on basic science research?

4. Structured Academic Controversy The Question: Should citizens determine funding for scientific research?

5. Structured Academic Controversy Make groups of four. Decide which two students will represent the FOR position and which two students will represent the AGAINST position. Read the background for your position and prepare your argument.

6. Structured Academic Controversy The FOR pair presents while the AGAINST pair listens. The AGAINST pair paraphrases the FOR pair’s arguments and asks clarifying questions only. The AGAINST pair presents while the FOR pair listens. The FOR pair paraphrases the AGAINST pair’s arguments and asks clarifying questions only.

7. Structured Academic Controversy Drop your assigned roles and discuss your personal positions. Clarify areas of agreement and disagreement.

8. Who Should Decide? About what percentage of the federal budget do you think the U.S. government spends on basic science research?

9. Who Should Decide? The Federal budget in 2011 was about $3.7 trillion. The budget of the National Science Foundation was about $7 billion. The math: First, 3.7 trillion = 3,700 billion. 7 billion 3,700 billion =.0019 x 100% =.19% ~.2%