ATTENTION
(STEM) Education
CAUCUS
STAFFERS:
March
2007 News Briefs on STEM Education
In
this Issue:
4. Op-Ed: Connectivity: Linking institutions and students
to teach science and engineering
7.
Newly
introduced STEM Education
Legislation
1.
Intel Science Talent Search Finalists Announced (1/31)
When it comes to
teaching science, animation seems like a natural fit. What better way to convey
how a bicycle pump works or the functions of the human respiratory system? Yet
research has turned up relatively little evidence that students learn more from
a moving image on a computer screen than they would from a still picture or a
physical model.
The National Governors Association's meeting ended with
a call for a national commitment to STEM Education and the release of a report
titled, "Building a STEM Agenda": http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0702INNOVATIONSTEM.PDF
Hard work and academic merit alone are
rarely enough to pave the way for talented, low-income minorities into science
and engineering careers. Beating the odds also hinges on intervention almost
every step of the way.
CNN Headline News
recently highlighted a short video linking STEM education to high-paying jobs in
Manufacturing. To view "Manufacturing - Backbone of the Economy" please visit:
www.nam.org/manufacturinginstitutevideo
6. 2005 NAEP
12th Grade Assessments Released (2/22)
Results of the National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) 2005 twelfth-grade reading and mathematics assessments and the
2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study (HSTS) were just released, and are
available at: http://nationsreportcard.gov.
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
H.CON.RES.76
Title: Honoring the 50th Anniversary of the
International Geophysical Year (IGY) and its past contributions to space
research, and looking forward to future accomplishments.
Sponsor: Rep
Udall, Mark [D-CO-2] (introduced 3/1/2007) Cosponsors: 3
Committees: House Science and Technology
Latest Major Action: 3/1/2007 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Science and
Technology.
H.R.828
Title: Math and Science Incentive Act of 2007
Sponsor: Rep
Wolf, Frank R. [R-VA-10] (introduced 2/5/2007) Cosponsors: 1
Committees: House Education and Labor
Latest Major Action: 2/5/2007 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and
Labor.
H.R.1051
Title: National STEM Scholarship Database Act
Sponsor: Rep
Holt, Rush D. [D-NJ-12] (introduced 2/14/2007) Cosponsors: 30
Committees: House Education and Labor
Latest Major Action: 2/14/2007 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and
Labor.
S.639
Title: ED 1.0 Act
Sponsor:
Sen
Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR] (introduced 2/15/2007) Cosponsors: (none)
Committees:
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Latest
Major Action: 2/15/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice
and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation.
H.R.872
Title: National Endowment for Workforce Education in
Renewables and Agriculture Act of 2007
Sponsor: Rep
Braley, Bruce L. [D-IA-1] (introduced 2/7/2007) Cosponsors: 1
Committees: House Education and Labor
Latest Major Action: 2/7/2007 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and
Labor.
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.
When it comes to teaching science, animation seems like
a natural fit. What better way to convey how a bicycle pump works or the
functions of the human respiratory system?
Yet research has turned up relatively little evidence
that students learn more from a moving image on a computer screen than they
would from a still picture or a physical model.
"We now have the hardware and software to build really
beautiful instructional programs," said Richard E. Mayer, a psychology professor
at the
Still, an increasing number of researchers have been
giving it their best shot. Their work is yielding important clues on new ways to
use animation and simulation to deepen students' understanding of scientific
phenomena.
"We have a few stunning successes and lots of failures,"
said Marcia C. Linn, a professor of education in mathematics, science, and
technology at the
To educators and researchers, the potential that
animation holds for science teaching is enormous. Constructed properly, they
say, moving illustrations can engage and motivate students, make unseen worlds
visible, and impart an intuitive feel for abstract concepts.
"I think it can really change the way science and
engineering is taught," said Robert F. Tinker, the president of the Concord
Consortium Inc., a Concord, Mass.-based nonprofit organization that develops
innovative, interactive applications of technology for science education.
One reason that efforts to harness animation's learning
potential have largely failed so far is that the images often move too fast for
people to take in all the information they convey, said Barbara Tversky, a
professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University,
and a Stanford University professor emerita. A sequence of pictures or diagrams,
in comparison, can be studied and revisited.
Making Animation Work
Through years of laboratory-based testing with college
students and children at the
* Prune extraneous words and
pictures.
* Include on-screen organizational
cues or signals to help direct learners'
attention.
* Synchronize narration so that
students hear and see words simultaneously.
* Use spoken narration in a
conversational, rather than formal, style.
* Place text levels close to the
image they are intended to describe.
Animations can also mislead learners or distract them
with color, sound, or extraneous movement, Ms. Tversky said.
"They come out really cool, and they look great, and the
chemist will say, "See?' " she said. "I'll say 'No, I don't see. I don't know
where my eyes should be going.' They don't understand that, for a novice, it's
meaningless."
For example, if a simulation includes text, people have
to split their attention between the picture and the words, according to Mr.
Mayer. Yet, without text or graphic signals, learners have a hard time figuring
out what is most important to glean from the images before them.
Mindful of potential pitfalls, experts in recent years
have begun to embed simulations in carefully designed computer-based
instructional models that allow students to interact with animations, stop them
in time, control them, and even create them. The Technology-Enhanced Learning in
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Ms.
Linn and her research partners have produced dozens of computer-based
instructional models that employ animations and simulations to teach students
about cell division, chemical reactions, thermal conductivity, electrostatic
processes, and other scientific concepts.
A psychologist by training, Ms. Linn also designs the
programs to reflect research from cognitive science on how people learn.
For example, in a TELS unit on chemical reactions that
is geared for high school classes, students can get a microscopic view of moving
molecules in greenhouse gases and test factors that influence the formation and
dispersion of those gases. The program provides cues to help students articulate
and test their ideas and then critique one another's views.
A report summing up studies of 10 TELS curriculum units,
which was published in August in the journal Science, suggests that Ms. Linn's
laboratory is having some success.
For the study, Ms. Linn and her research partners
recruited teachers from 16 schools in five states and tested their 6th through
12th grade students at the start and close of a school year. The tests measured
the students' knowledge of the basic science concepts taught in those courses.
After training, the same teachers taught the same
classes again the next year to a new group of students. This time, the teachers
embedded at least six of the computer-based units into their lessons. Tests were
given to that group, and the researchers compared the results for both cohorts.
As measured by multiple-choice tests, the TELS students
and their counterparts appeared to learn just as much science over the course of
the academic year, the results showed. The TELS group excelled, however, on
written tests that asked them to explain scientific ideas and link them to other
concepts.
On a hypothetical 100-point test, Ms. Linn figured, the
average difference would translate roughly to a 30-point edge for the
experimental group.
The ability to make those connections, Ms. Linn
contended, is a "much better predictor of future performance than whether they
can remember a bunch of isolated ideas." But she acknowledged that it is also
hard to disentangle which factors led to the improvement. For instance, all of
the units embed scientific lessons in real-life problems.
Students might have to figure out the best way to
address high rates of asthma in an imaginary neighborhood, for example. Or they
might be asked to interpret global-warming claims or select an energy-efficient
car or an effective cancer treatment.
"I think the personally relevant problems are probably
even more compelling than the animations," said Ms. Linn.
Others documenting some success with embedded animations
include World Watchers, a middle school program that combines animations with
Geographical Information Systems data developed by researchers at
The consortium, with money from the NSF, has developed
more than 200 interactive units that employ moving images in the teaching of
science, some of which are also incorporated in TELS and other cutting-edge
research projects. Educators can download the models for free at the
consortium's Web site, www.concord.org.
At the
Initial studies suggested that the program, called
Chemation, was no more effective than physical models, using balls and sticks or
gumdrops and toothpicks, at conveying key chemistry concepts.
But a deeper probe suggested that the lukewarm showing
may have been due to a small program glitch.
"We saw kids with the animation tools model a reaction,
and one end product would be a gas. There would be a single atom left over, and
they would just scratch it out," said Chris Quintana, an assistant professor of
learning technologies at the university. "With the physical model, it was just
more apparent that you should end up with same number of balls that you started
with."
Those studies also showed, though, that the Chemation
students were more adept than a comparison group of students at recalling
chemical terminology-possibly because they had to label their creations.
"Animations have the potential to really help kids
understand some challenging concepts," said Joseph S. Krajcik, a professor of
science education at the
"Do we have a lot of strong evidence for that? Probably
not," he continued. "But it's hard for me to think there wouldn't be a learner
who wouldn't benefit."