August
2006
backscatter
Helping the Kids, and Ourselves
by Donald Christiansen
Nearly all recent surveys of science and mathematics
curricula in our secondary schools paint a picture of gloom and
doom. A cross section of high school curricula and faculty taken
across the United States reveals a lack of consistency in both the
number and quality of courses.
I wrote that as the theme of an editorial some
20 years ago, but many educators say it still holds. I noted
then that engineering school educators assumed a hands-off policy,
rather than a leadership role, in secondary school curricula and
instructional techniques. I floated the concept of a consortium of
major research universities that could guide the administrators of
secondary schools toward courses and teaching techniques more
attuned to our high-tech society. The benefits would be:
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A more technically literate citizenry
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Higher productivity for the nation
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More secondary school graduates qualified for
science and engineering studies
The idea seemed to gain some traction. I was hardly
alone in my concerns. My plea ultimately found its way into the
Congressional Record, and, more recently, onto the Internet.
Two Decades Later, Bad News and Good News
The Maryland Business Roundtable for Education
recently concluded that "with the dearth of graduates — at both the
high-school and college level — with sufficient coursework and
proficiency in math and science, our country faces an acute shortage
of qualified workers in the burgeoning fields of healthcare,
biotechnology, engineering, aerospace, and information technology."
It gloomily concluded that "millions of teens are drifting aimlessly
through what should be the most important, foundation-building,
learning experiences of their lives."
The National Science Board in 1999 noted that 68
percent of U.S. 8th-grade students were instructed in math by a
teacher who did not hold a degree or certification in mathematics.
The National Center for Education this year reported that one-third
of 4th graders and one-fifth of 5th graders lacked the competence to
perform even basic mathematical computations.
On the plus side, educators, school boards and the
business community are promoting many experimental programs designed
to remedy the bleak picture. Together they address these questions:
Who should be the teachers of math and science; when, what and how
should they teach; and how can students be attracted to and retained
in math/science studies.
In response to a request from members of the Senate
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on
Science, the recent National Academies report, Rising Above the
Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing Americans for a Brighter
Economic Future, recommended increasing the U.S. talent pool by
vastly improving K-12 science and mathematics education. It
suggested several ways to enlarge and upgrade the K-12 science and
math teaching profession. Among the programs it cited as models are
the following:
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UTeach, developed by the University of Texas at
Austin. The program recruits math and science majors who have an
interest in teaching, puts them into K-12 teaching situations in
their first or second year, and keeps them together in cohorts
throughout college. The University of Texas at San Antonio has
adopted a similar program.
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CaliforniaTeach is a program similar to UTeach,
with plans to turn out 1,000 science and math teachers by 2010.
(The National Science Foundation reported recently that
California 8th graders scored last in science in nationwide
comparisons, and seventh from last in math.) In order to
participate in the CalTeach program at UCLA or UC Santa Cruz,
for example, a student must be planning to complete an
undergraduate major in science, math or engineering, and
undertake periods of practice as a classroom assistant in
science/math instruction in an elementary school.
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The Newton Fellowships are sponsored by Math for
America. They provide a master's program for recent college
graduates and mid-career professionals having a bachelor's
degree with substantial coursework in mathematics and a strong
interest in teaching, and who will commit to a five-year program
— one year of full-time graduate study and four years teaching
math in New York City high schools.
Upgrading "In-service" Teachers
To augment newly-minted K-12 science/math teachers,
several programs are directed to enhancing subject matter knowledge
and teaching skills of existing teachers. As an example, the Science
Teacher Institute (of the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts
and Sciences and its Graduate School of Education) trains middle and
high school teachers, yielding master's degrees in integrated
science education or chemistry education.
The IEEE Educational Activities Teacher In-Service
Program (TISP) focuses on local schools and school districts. IEEE
members develop lesson plans to support science/math teaching at the
K-12 level. Among the topics covered are Ohm's Law, insulators and
conductors, switches, series and parallel circuits, rotational
equilibrium and batteries. One of the project's objectives is to
encourage long-term collaborations between individual engineers and
educators.
Innovative Courses
Some fortunate teachers and their students can take
advantage of new courses that you and I might never have imagined
would be available at particular K-12 grade levels. Teaching kits
and modules are being used in four New Jersey schools in cooperation
with the Merck Institute for Science Education. A few of the topics:
Kindergarten, Balls and Ramps; Grade 1, Balance and Motion; Grade 2,
Solids and Liquids; Grade 3, Magnetism and Electricity/Electric
Circuits; Grade 4, Physics of Sound; Grade 5, Solar Energy; Grade 6,
Refraction; Grade 7, Energy, Machines, and Motion; Grade 8,
Properties of Matter. (At this point the top achievers are awarded a
baccalaureate in physics. Don't e-mail me, I'm just kidding!) Many
of these modules were developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science or
by the National Science Resources Center.
In programs developed by Project Lead the Way,
middle-schoolers are being offered Design and Modeling, The Magic of
Electrons, The Science of Technology, Automation and Robotics, and
Flight and Space. And at the high-school level these courses are
offered: Grade 9, Principles of Engineering; Grade 10, Introduction
to Engineering Design; Grade 11, Digital Electronics; and Grade 12,
Engineering Design and Development. Not surprisingly, teachers of
these middle- and high-school courses are required to undertake
specialized training.
Encouraging Students
Finally, there are promising attempts to promote
engineering as a challenging profession for youngsters to pursue.
The International Council of Academies of
Engineering and Technological Societies has taken on a project to
inform high-school students about future engineering opportunities,
particularly those with a positive social value. And the Maryland
Business Roundtable for Education mentioned earlier is developing a
program to excite middle- and high-school students about studying
math and science. As one example, it has set up an information
technology/aerospace Web site (part of a larger Web site called
"Achievement Counts: Teen Career Web site") with the support of NASA
and the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Many of these commendable initiatives to reform our K-12 educational system
give U.S. engineering schools a new opportunity to provide valuable
input, something that has traditionally been lacking. To what extent
they will seize the opportunity remains to be seen.
Resources
For more on precollege math and science education:
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D.Christiansen, "A Helping Hand," IEEE Spectrum,
June 1986
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D. Christiansen, "Time to ‘Interfere' in Science
Ed," The Scientist, 12 Jan.
1987.
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Before It's Too Late: A Report to the Nation
from the National Commission on
Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, The Glenn
Commission, U.S. Department of Education, 2000.
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Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced
Study of Mathematics and
Science in U.S. Schools, National Research Council, National
Academies
Press, 2002.
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On Evaluating Curricular Effectiveness: Judging
the Quality of K-12
Mathematics Evaluations, National Research Council, National
Academies Press, 2004.
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Rising Above the Gathering Storm, The National
Academies Committee on
Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, 2005.
[www.nationalacademies.org.cosepup]
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The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics 2005,
National Center for Education
Statistics, 2006. [http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard]
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K. Powell, "Science education: Hothouse High,"
Nature, June 16 2005.
For more on math/science teacher training:
For more on math/science instructional material:
For more on encouraging K-12 students:
Donald Christiansen is the former editor and
publisher of IEEE Spectrum and an independent publishing
consultant. He may be reached at
donchristiansen@ieee.org.
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