Scientific Savvy? In U.S., “Not Much” Reports New York Times
“While scientific
literacy has doubled over the past two decades, only 20 to 25 percent of
Americans are ‘scientifically savvy and alert.’ Most of the rest don’t have
a clue,” says Jon D. Miller, the subject of an August 30 New York Times
article for his work over the last 30 years surveying how much Americans
know about science. “At a time when science permeates debates on everything
from global warming to stem cell research,” says Miller, “people’s
inability to understand basic scientific concepts undermines their ability
to take part in the democratic process.” American adults in general do not
understand what molecules are, fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key
to heredity, only about 10% know what radiation is, and one adult in five
thinks the Sun revolves around the earth, says the Times. To read
the entire article, visit
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/science/30profile.html.
Bring Back Elementary
Science Education
By Dr. Joanne
Vasquez
Member, National Science Board
The
recently released Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
2003—an international student assessment conducted in 15 countries and
released on December 14—tells us that American fourth-graders are doing no
better in science than they did in 1995. Ten years later, and still no
progress has been made with our youngest learners. But why should we care
if six-year olds take science or not? The answer is simple: because future
innovations in science, technology, engineering, defense, national
security, and a whole lot more could be at stake.
From
1975 to 1999, the United States dropped from third to 14th in the number of
global science and engineering baccalaureates produced. We need to increase
the interest of college-bound students in STEM careers not by looking at
the end of the K-12 pipeline when students head off to college, but by
carefully evaluating the value of science education and how we teach it at
the start of a student's K-12 years.
Science
instruction has come to a dismal halt or been severely curtailed in far too
many elementary classrooms here in Arizona and across the United States.
While we do not argue that these subjects are also important, science, like
all subjects, requires a developmental building of conceptual understanding
that must start in kindergarten. Yet many students reach the intermediate
and middle grades with little or no science instruction, and if they
receive any, it happened when the teacher could "squeeze" it in.
To
effectively improve elementary science, it has to be taught at the
elementary level. Schools and administrators need to value the science
education they offer, and they must provide quality professional
development, mentoring, and resources to our elementary teachers. This will
be vital if as a nation we want to truly see students achieve in science.
Teachers Concerned
about Science Education
In a
recent Associated Press news story, Ben Feller reports that many teachers,
scientists, and business leaders are concerned about the state of science
education. Groups say that lackluster science education can be attributed to
a lagging U.S. workforce and fallbacks in American research and innovation.
Feller interviewed teachers at the recent National Education Association
annual meeting who pointed to the lack of professional development and time
to be creative in the classroom as major challenges to the teaching
profession. The story, which was published in several newspapers around the
country, included comments from NSTA Executive Director Gerry Wheeler, who
highlighted the lack of attention given to science education. To read the
entire story, which appeared in the July 6 edition of The Washington
Post, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30277-2004Jul6.html (free
registration required).
Science Still a
"Second-Tier" Subject
Science is still
considered less important than reading, writing, and math in many
elementary classrooms--and in many teacher preparation programs--says a new
poll of 1,250 elementary educators and education deans commissioned by the
Bayer Corporation as part of its ten-year science literacy outreach
program, Making Science Make Sense.
The Bayer survey
found that much less emphasis is given to science in general teaching
methods courses, and most new teachers and education deans rated their
science preparation programs far lower than those for the other
disciplines. Science is cited as the subject most new teachers wish had
received more emphasis during their pre-service training, and one in three
new teachers say they rely more on what they learned in high school science
courses than what they learned in college to teach science. Deans and
teachers surveyed said "elementary teacher education programs should
require their undergraduates to take more coursework both in science itself
and in science teaching methods."
A large majority of
college deans surveyed say the National Science Education Standards have
had a major impact on their programs, and 94 percent have reviewed and
changed their K-5 science teaching preparation program in the last four
years. In the classroom, however, only 35 percent of the teachers polled
say they teach science every day, and 29 percent report they teach science
twice a week or less. Only 61 percent of the elementary teachers reported
they felt "very qualified" to teach science.
To view the complete
report, titled Bayer Facts of Science Education X: Are the Nation's
Colleges and Universities Adequately Preparing Elementary Schoolteachers of
Tomorrow To Teach Science?, access
http://www.BayerUS.com/MSMS.
U.S. Losing
Dominance in the Sciences Says NY Times
"The United States
has started to lose its worldwide dominance in critical areas of science
and innovation" as "foreign advances in basic science now often rival or
even exceed America's, apparently with little public awareness of the trend
or its implications for jobs, industry, national security, or the vigor of
the nation's intellectual and cultural life," writes reporter William J.
Broad in a front page, May 3 article in the New York Times. In
addition to fewer Nobel Prizes going to Americans and a downturn in the
number of scientific papers published, the number of American patents is
also down, with a quarter of all U.S. patents awarded each year to foreign
researchers working outside the U.S.
While scientific
accomplishments in Europe and Asia are on the rise, but largely go
unnoticed in the United States, "China represents the next wave, experts
agree, its scientific rise still too fresh to show up in most statistics
but already apparent." In addition, the drop in the number of foreign
students in the U.S., the "apparently declining interest of young Americans
in science careers," and the graying of the technical workforce is a
perilous combination of developments, says Shirley Jackson, president of
AAAS, who asks "who will do the science of this millennium?"
On May 5, the New
York Times headline "National Science Panel Warns of Far Too Few New
Scientists" reports on the Science and Engineering Indicators 2004
study released May 4 by the National Science Board. Although 38 percent of
the nation's current crop of scientists and engineers with doctorates are
foreign born, the NSB predicts the U.S. will soon face a shortage of
scientists because too few Americans are entering technical fields, visa
restrictions are preventing more foreigners from working in the United
States, and more skilled foreigners in countries committed to gains in
science and technology are opting not to relocate to the United States.
Says NSB Chair Warren M. Washington, "The United States is in a
long-distance race to retain its essential global advantage in S&E human
resources and sustain our world leadership in science and technology. For
many years we have benefited from minimal competition in the global S&E
labor market, but attractive and competitive alternatives are now expanding
around the world. We must develop more fully our native talent."
A USA Today
May 6 article also picked up the NSB study ("Report: U.S. Losing Ground in
Science Education") and a May 5 Boston Globe editorial "Slipping in
Science" says "Jackson calls the attrition in scientists a ‘quiet crisis.'
The federal government, state governments, and local school districts have
to start making noise about it."
The article "U.S. Is
Losing Its Dominance in the Sciences" can be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/03/science/03RESE.html The USA Today
article is at http://www.enc.org/redirect/ehn/?ehn_id=32108,
and the NSB study can be found online at
http://www.nsf.gov
