Good english, God's nature: Science education (editorial)

What makes an educated scientist? Expert knowledge, including an understanding of experimental design and data analysis, is essential to being an innovative scientist and a leader in one's field, but it is only part of a scientist's education and may not even be the most important part. Paul Ehrlich and I have been fond of saying that research is not complete until it is published; communication skills are also essential to being a good scientist (Recher and Ehrlich 1999). However, communication is more than just being able to exchange ideas and information with colleagues sharing a common technical language; leaders among scientists communicate with a much wider audience, including the lay public (Recher and Ehrlich 1999, 2005). Being able to communicate with a wider audience requires different skills from those needed to speak with one's peers. Few scientists have these skills and the fault lies with the way scientists are educated and in the ways the scientific community has chosen to measure the quality of scientific endeavour (Recher 1992a,b, 1998, 2006)