It's a well-known fact that America, long a technological leader, is in danger of falling behind much of the industrialized world because we have not kept up with educating our young people in the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
According to Charles Vest, President of the National Academy of Engineering, 21% of undergraduate degrees in Asia are in Engineering, compared with 11% in Europe and just 4% in the United States.
As an engineer and educator, I find that extremely troubling. But two developments give me hope that we could be turning a corner on this issue.
The most recent encouraging news is a comprehensive report just issued by the National Research Council that unveiled a framework for developing new standards in teaching science to K-12 students.
I was one of 18 educators and scientists on the NRC committee that prepared the report, which was released July 19. We heard testimony, reviewed the literature and talked to a wide range of experts as part of this process.
The K-12 science framework would not be part of a nationalized curriculum imposed on school districts across the nation. Each state would use the NRC framework it to develop its own standards.
But the real breakthrough here is that the report calls for teachers to use engineering as the principal medium to teach science. As an electrical engineer and university professor, I am convinced that engineering is the best way to teach science to kids. That's because engineering is tangible. It is not abstract.
Engineers design and build things. They use math, science and carefully observed trial and error to create products that are useful, that help solve problems.
Children learn in much the same way. Making things comes naturally to them. Their brains learn by doing. Just look at how youngsters play with Legos. They use hands-on trial and error to design a finished product.
We've tended to teach science by telling. But when you talk to young people about algorithms, extrapolation and optimization -- all tools of the scientist -- their eyes understandably glaze over.
When you can get them using their hands and brains to design something, suddenly the science inherent in the exercise starts to make sense.
The NRC report dovetails with efforts to promote STEM education in California that have the potential to make our state a national leader in this important area. It is an opportunity we must fully embrace.
The California STEM Learning Network was launched in 2008 with funding from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Known as CSLNet, the Network has been pushing hard ever since for students -- including girls and minorities who are typically under-represented in the STEM fields -- to graduate from high school with the necessary STEM knowledge and skills needed to succeed in post-secondary education, work and life.
This is good for California and good for our students. STEM jobs are going to grow faster than jobs in other fields. They tend to pay more. With an economy increasingly built on innovation, it's essential that we train the next generation of innovators who will keep our economy growing.
After all, we are citizens of a society that depends extensively on technology. In addition to the crucial issue of our economic competitiveness, we need to understand science to make decisions that are in the best interest of our country and ourselves.
If California can do a better job promoting science literacy in the biggest, most innovative state in the nation, other states will follow our lead, as they have in so many other areas. And that would be an innovation that would be a boost for us all.
Will.i.am: Science Is Rock'n Roll and Technology Is Recession Proof
Patrick Hickman Robertson: The 15 Most Creative States
Nevertheless, I hope that this new progress and learning objectives can ultimately help students to gain interest in learning science.
All Day September by Roger Kuykendall
http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2295/all-day-september
Omnilingual by Henry Beam Piper
http://www.feedbooks.com/book/308/omnilingual
Curiously enough of my interest in science stimulated as a result of reading science fiction was greater than any encouraged by science teachers I had when I finally got science classes in high school. Straight A's were easy but it was still formulaic. SF was more imaginative. I went to college for Electrical Engineering.
The finance people are wrecking the country. The schools should make double-entry accounting mandatory for everybody. Then the finance people might not do so well and the country would be better off.
It was only when I discovered science fiction that I gained an interest in science.
But now some of that stuff is free on the net and $100 wireless tablets exist. It sounds like a recipe for a science education revolution to me. Maybe we just need for kids to ignore some of the educators. LOL
Eight Keys to Eden by Mark Clifton
http://www.onread.com/book/Eight-Keys-to-Eden-6514/
I agree that experimental play is much more effective at teaching certain concepts. And I agree that there must be better ways to teach science and math than are currently being used. But in our test and test and test again culture of failure, experimental play will result in better learning of concepts explored, but fewer concepts learned or dealt with than desired. Our No Child Left Behind culture will test these children as performing even lower than traditional students, and a great learning tool will be maligned.
We need a rethink of educational priorities. Do we continue with lots of stuff learned poorly, or do we want fewer things learned well?
Does hands-on work better than the "lecture concept" of teaching?
And, finally, didn't we answer these questions 60 years ago?
Why are we re-inventing the wheel?
Well, unless it deals with the rewritten history and science that conservatives push instead of the real thing. Then we are sent to answering "sorta facty-based tests."
The culture wars are everywhere.