NSF PR 96-42 - August 9, 1996
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Basic College Science Courses 'Filter Out' Most Students
Introductory college science and math courses serve
largely as a filter, screening out all but the most
promising students, and leaving the majority of college
graduates -- including most prospective teachers --
with little understanding of how science works, according
to a new study conducted for the National Science
Foundation.
As a result, "despite the observation that America's
basic research in science, mathematics, and engineering
is world-class, its education is still not," according
to the independent team of reviewers.
"America has produced a significant share of the world's
great scientists while most of its population is virtually
illiterate in science," the study concludes.
Because few teachers, particularly those at the elementary
level, experience any collegiate science teaching
that stresses the skills of inquiry and investigation,
they simply never learn to use those methods in their
teaching, the report states.
The findings in the report, called Shaping
the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education
in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology,
were made public at a recent conference in Washington
D.C.
The nation's goal for undergraduate education, it
states, should be that: All students have access to
supportive, excellent undergraduate education in science,
mathematics, engineering and technology, and all students
learn these subjects by direct experience with the
method and processes of inquiry.
Some institutions, including those that sent representatives
to the conference, already are making the changes
needed to help them meet that goal, officials noted,
but most are not. This latest review of undergraduate
programs continues NSF's efforts to improve the quality
of collegiate science, math, engineering, and technology
programs that began a decade ago with a study of that
became known as the Neal Report.
The new report's findings were compiled over the course
of a year by a nine-member committee of officials
of two-year and four-year institutions, led by Melvin
D. George, the president emeritus of St. Olaf College.
The committee's main recommendation is that college
science and math programs should be refocused in order
to better educate the 80 percent of students who do
not major in the scientific disciplines.
Luther S. Williams, the head of NSF's education and
human resources directorate, noted that although there
recently have been some promising indications that
student performance in math and science at the K-12
level is improving, any sustained national effort
to improve science and math teaching eventually must
address the quality of teacher education at the undergraduate
level.
"If you consider the implications for school systems
as they attempt to implement standards-based education,
then you immediately confront the problem of paucity
of qualified personnel," he said.
Editors Note: For a free copy of the report,
members of the news media should contact Peter West
at 703-306-1070 X1256. The report also is available
on the Internet; the URL is http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/EHRAC/start.htm.
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