ATTENTION
(STEM) Education
CAUCUS STAFFERS:
January 2008 News
Briefs on STEM Education
In this Issue:
5.
Texas Offers a Model for Training Math and Science Teachers
6.
Newly introduced STEM Education Legislation
American 15-year-olds slipped two places in mathematics and two places in science,
according to the results of the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessments
(PISA) which were released this morning by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD).
Interestingly, while most students polled said they were motivated to learn science,
only a minority aspired to a career involving science: 72% said it was important
for them to do well in science; 67% enjoyed acquiring new knowledge in science;
56% said science was useful for further studies; but only 37% said they would like
to work in a career involving science and 21% said they would like to spend their
life doing advanced science.
A briefing note for the
2.
4.
Elementary Algebra a Challenge for Teachers and Students
5.
Congress and the
National Academy of Sciences have singled out UTeach in recent years as a promising
model to help fill a national shortage of qualified schoolteachers in science and
mathematics. Now UTeach has a chance to go national.
6. Recently Introduced
STEM Legislation
This is a record of recently introduced legislation
related to STEM Ed. but does not represent Caucus endorsement of any legislation
S.2428 Title: National STEM Scholarship Database
Act
Sponsor:
Sen Obama, Barack [D-IL] (introduced 12/6/2007)
Cosponsors:
6
Committees: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Latest Major Action: 12/6/2007 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions.
S.RES.397 Title: A resolution recognizing the 2007-2008
Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology and celebrating the first time
in the history of the competition that young women have won top honors.
Sponsor:
Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [D-PA] (introduced 12/7/2007)
Cosponsors:
7
Latest Major Action: 12/7/2007 Passed/agreed to in Senate.
Status: Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and
with a preamble by Unanimous Consent.
The Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education Caucus’ primary mission
is to promote all areas of STEM Education including K-12, higher education and workforce
issues in Congress. At its core, the caucus functions to increase the visibility
and importance of STEM Education and educate Members of Congress and their staffs
on the technical issues and public-policy options surrounding STEM education.
The Caucus serves as an information source and a catalyst for improving STEM education.
If you would like
to join the Caucus, please contact Julia Jester (x53831) in Mr. Ehlers’ office or
Wendy Adams (x52161) in Mr. Mark Udall’s office.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
From the issue dated
December 21, 2007
The program is about to go national, thanks to a big grant, but skeptics wonder
if it is truly better
By JEFFREY BRAINARD
Austin,
Many high-school
chemistry students would probably love a teacher like Robert A. Gonzales.
During a class at
The students got
busy, giggling. They were stumped on one molecule, ammonia. Mr. Gonzales, who majored
in chemistry at the
Mr. Gonzales credits
their attention, and his creative approach that attracts it, to the preparation
he received from an acclaimed, unusual program at
Now UTeach has a
chance to go national. Last month a foundation backed by ExxonMobil announced that
the UTeach model had so much promise that the group would make grants of $2.4-million
each to 12 other universities to copy it.
The program has
won praise because it attracts science and mathematics students by closely integrating
the teaching curriculum with their majors. And unlike other approaches,
Despite the enthusiasm
and endorsements, however, some universities have shown reluctance to adopt the
UTeach model. For them, the approach demands changes in the curriculum that are
too sharp a turn in educational philosophy. And education experts also note that,
despite inspiring anecdotes, researchers have not developed data about whether graduates
of UTeach teach better than those from other programs.
Attracting Science Majors
The UTeach program,
which began a decade ago, is the brainchild of Mary Ann Rankin, dean of
Ms. Rankin wanted
to design a teacher-education program that would draw in more of the bright science
and math students who come to research universities like
But such universities
have largely left the job of teaching would-be teachers to other kinds of academic
institutions, mainly regional public colleges. Moreover, many science and math professors
at research universities consider teaching school a waste of their students' talents,
and actively discourage them from teaching careers.
Ms. Rankin wanted
to lure science and math students by retooling
Ms. Rankin wanted
science and math professors to run the program, to show majors that the university
seriously wanted them to consider school teaching. The
After some tough
negotiations, faculty members from the two colleges agreed to work as partners.
The new pedagogy courses they developed were based on research about how teachers
can best help secondary-school students learn science and math. For example, the
methods discourage rote memorization and favor hands-on exercises by the students.
Teachers encourage students to work in teams and develop critical-thinking skills
and an understanding of the scientific method.
UTeach also encourages
students to try practice-teaching in small doses in local schools early in their
undergraduate careers, even as freshmen. The program offers two one-credit introductory
courses in which students practice-teach three or four times a semester. To sweeten
the lure, tuition for those courses is waived. Three-quarters of students who try
the first introductory course go on to complete the program.
In contrast, students
taking education courses at some universities do not try classroom teaching until
they are juniors or seniors — perhaps too late to change majors if they don't like
it.
The UTeach approach
produces graduates "who are really excited about the process of teaching," says
Jill S. Harding, chairwoman of the science department at
In another innovation,
UTeach hired experienced science and math schoolteachers to help design and run
the program. Called "master teachers," and holding the title of clinical associate
professor, these instructors teach many of the pedagogy classes, act as mentors
to the students, and place them in local schools for their practice-teaching stints.
The master-teacher
role is vital to UTeach's success, say participants at Austin and observers elsewhere.
Though science and math professors bring expertise in their fields, many have never
taught in secondary schools, or not in a long time.
"There's a huge
difference between the theory and the actual practice" of teaching, says William
R. Humphries, one of the master teachers, who taught mathematics in
Master teachers
also are crucial parts of the program after UTeach students graduate. Two master
teachers serve as mentors to graduates who have begun teaching. They're available
to consult by phone and e-mail, and they make site visits with about 250 of the
program's more than 400 graduates who work within a few hours' drive of
Surmounting the Obstacles
Developing a successful
curriculum was only one hurdle faced by UTeach founders. Financing some parts of
the program was another challenge.
To cover these,
UTeach raised an endowment that now stands at $9-million. Over half the money, $5-million,
came from Jeffrey L. Kodosky, a software entrepreneur in
The program's own
statistics suggest that the money is producing results. Since 1998 UTeach doubled
its annual production of math and science teachers, to 75. And 70 percent of all
graduates who entered teaching were still on the job five years later, above the
national average of about 50 percent.
Although that is
an impressive increase in graduates, it is only a small increment of the total national
demand. Experts estimate a need for at least 10,000 new math and science teachers
annually to fill vacancies created by retirements and a large attrition rate.
That's why ExxonMobil
financed grants to spread the UTeach model to a dozen other institutions, including
the
However, UTeach
is not necessarily coming to a college near you.
Some universities
are focusing instead on alternative teacher-certification programs. These provide
course work in pedagogy, and in some cases, master's degrees, to people who already
have bachelor's degrees in science or math and want to enter teaching, sometimes
after trying other careers first.
State legislatures
have pressed for such approaches as a way to deal quickly with the shortage of teachers.
The programs without master's degrees, in particular, are affordable for students.
But critics of the alternative programs say the teaching courses are often too brief.
In addition, some
universities are reluctant to embrace the UTeach model because it would require
too large a change in educational practice and remains unproved.
The
"This is a design
that works for us," she says.
Ms. Bissell says
it is too soon to judge the efficacy of the shortened track, but it seems promising.
However, system officials believe that it would shortchange the students' professional
development to compress the model further to only four years, she says.
'All or Nothing'
Before ExxonMobil
entered the picture, about two dozen colleges had been interested in trying the
UTeach model, and some of them harbored similar reservations about shortening the
educational course work, says Lawrence D. Abraham, co-director of UTeach and chairman
of curriculum and instruction for
The ExxonMobil grants
attempt to force timid colleges' hands by requiring applicants to closely adhere
to the model's core elements."We've taken a very hard line on this," says Mr. Abraham,
who, with other
Money has a way
of softening resistance — especially if it's someone else's money. After the grants
for copying UTeach were announced this spring, 52 colleges applied, including approximately
30 research institutions.
"This is something
that a lot of people had wanted to do for a long time, but somehow couldn't assemble
the internal institutional role quite to pull off," said Michael P. Marder, UTeach's
other co-director and a professor of physics. "And all of a sudden, here we were
saying, we're going to force you to do all these things" in exchange for the money.
Some educational
experts suggest that more research should be done on the UTeach model and other
approaches before it can be recommended for wide adoption. No systematic research
has been carried about whether the
He and his colleagues
initially applied for one of the grants to copy UTeach, but decided to drop out
of the running because of the stringent requirements.
Mr. Zeichner conceded
that evidence supporting the efficacy of other approaches for training schoolteachers,
such as intensive help from mentors, is also "partial and tentative." Nevertheless,
"It seems very odd to me that a foundation would invest this much money into a model
where so little evidence exists," he wrote.
Mr. Marder responds
that UTeach has not had the money or time so far to conduct such research because
staff members were focused on establishing and expanding the program. However, the
grants for copying the model do include plans and money for data collection and
analysis.
For now, the program's
admirers can rely on anecdotal reports of success from enthusiastic graduates of
UTeach — and their students, such as Dani S. Konetski, a junior at
"Because of this
class, I want to be a chemist now," said Ms. Konetski, one of Mr. Gonzales's chemistry
students. Among all her courses, she added, this is the only one that made her think
she could turn what she learned into a career.
A TEACHER-EDUCATION MODEL BEGINS TO SPREAD
The National Math
and Science Initiative, a nonprofit group financed by ExxonMobil, announced grants
in November and December to 12 universities to copy the
Northern
http://chronicle.com
Section: The Faculty
Volume 54, Issue 17, Page A8
Published Online:
December 18, 2007
Published in Print:
December 19, 2007
Despite
its vital interest in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills
of American students, the
Released
last week, the report by the National
Research Council says the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
lacks a coherent overall plan—or adequate budget—for evaluating its elementary and
secondary projects, which are woven into a wide range of scientific and exploration
programs.
A
committee of scientists and educators commissioned by the NRC, a research branch
of the federal National Academy of Sciences, spent a year examining NASA’s efforts
in elementary and secondary education, a task panel members said was hampered by
“instability in the program and lack of rigorous evaluation” at the agency.
“When
used right, evaluation is a process of continuous improvement; it makes the programs
continually get better,” the chairwoman of the committee, Helen R. Quinn, a physicist
at
That
shortcoming also made it hard for the committee to gauge the effectiveness of NASA’s
various education undertakings. “Because there wasn’t sufficient formal evaluation,
we had to make judgments on the programs based on our own expert knowledge of what
best practices in these areas are,” Ms. Quinn said.
The
committee concluded that “various parts of the [education] program don’t seem to
reflect what is known about what works in these sorts of things,” she said. “Questions
were also raised about cost-effectiveness.”
Overall,
the education projects are “somewhat effective at raising awareness of the science
and engineering of NASA’s missions and generating students’ and teachers’ interest
in STEM subjects,” the 208-page report says. “[H]owever, the projects cannot be
shown to be effective at enhancing learning of STEM content or providing in-depth
experience with the science and engineering of the mission.”
The
committee credits NASA with demonstrating strong commitment to financing STEM education
activities, but says those funds were dispersed across many divisions.
The
report also finds that NASA does not systematically coordinate with other federal
agencies involved in STEM education or draw on their expertise in designing educational
projects.
Congress
ordered the study in the 2005 law reauthorizing the space agency. The 15-member
study committee reviewed documents, heard testimony by NASA officials, and commissioned
several research papers.
Of
the seven projects managed by the agency’s office of education, the committee gave
recommendations for three: the Aerospace Education Service Program; the Science,
Engineering, Mathematics, and
The
other four projects have begun too recently or lacked sufficient documentation of
project performance, the report says. Those are the agency’s Digital Learning Network;
its Education Flight Projects; the Educator Astronaut Program; and the Interdisciplinary
National Science Program Incorporating Research and Education.
The
report notes that, although the space agency does not have the lead federal role
in STEM education, “as a discoverer of new science and a creator of new technology,
NASA like other federal science agencies has an important complementary role in
STEM education.” That role is “closely linked to and guided by the core scientific,
engineering, and exploration missions of the agency,” the report says.
The
report is “very timely,” said Joyce L. Winterton, NASA’s assistant administrator
for education, noting that it would be used as part of a rolling evaluation of NASA
programs and “how we can better connect with our mission.”
“We’ve
started a process throughout the agency to look at the recommendations; many are
ones that we are already working on,” she said in an interview.
Howard
E. McCurdy, an authority on NASA who is a professor at
Vol. 27, Issue 16, Page 13