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D'oh!!!

Sorry bout that (but at least I'm learning about site registrations as
the new spam!) The article about debating or avoiding pseudoscience folks
is on the Bad Astronomy site - http://www.badastronomy.com (it's in the
July 5th additions). Below is the text of the other article.


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Many educators and employers liken the state of U.S.
science education to a chemistry project gone awry: A bad mix of factors
has come together and it spells trouble.

By law, making students better at reading and math is the nation's
priority. When it comes to science, however, a quiet crisis is engulfing
schools, say scientists, educators, business leaders and entrepreneurs.

It begins when young students skip challenging science courses and later
produces an understaffed or ill-trained corps of science instructors. The
result is lagging U.S. performance in jobs, research and innovation.

"The public is not hearing this," said Gerald Wheeler, a nuclear
physicist and executive director of the National Science Teachers
Association. "It's troubling that at one level, we understand that we
live in a technological society, but it's not playing out that way.
Science is on the back burner."

Not everyone is pessimistic.

The country remains a dominant force in the advancement of science. Also,
some observers say the picture of an "emerging and critical" problem in
the labor force, as it was put by the government advisory National
Science Board, is overblown.

But teachers in the field say they need help, mainly in professional
training and enough class time to be creative.

"Is the goal now a set of scores or is the goal a set of scientists?"
said Janis Elliott, who teaches physics at a high school in Bellevue,
Nebraska. "That's the difference and you don't achieve those goals in the
same way."

Teachers attending the National Education Association's annual meeting
spoke about the state of science education in a group interview Saturday
with The Associated Press.

Elliott, who trains other teachers in science trends, says she often must
seek her own training from outside sources. They include military weapons
experts, a private engineering company and a cancer research institute.

"In physics, with infrared imagery, I have to tell kids how to use it,
how they're going to need to know it, what computer applications come
with it, how they're going to use it in medicine and in looking for bomb
shelter in war ... We don't get that training in college," Elliott said.

Carol Bauer, an elementary school teacher in Yorktown, Virginia, says she
sees inquisitive students who do not know what they are missing, either
in school or in their own free time.

"The kids today don't have a chance to discover," she said. "They don't
even get to go check out their own neighborhood. We have to know what
they're doing all the time. They just don't know what exploration is."

Education Department leaders say science is not a second-class subject.
They have led efforts aimed at improving teachers' skills and they are
watching for results. By 2007, under the No Child Left Behind law, all
schools must test students in science at least once in elementary, middle
and high school.

The science news of late has not been uplifting, from national test
scores to teachers' confidence in their science skills and parents'
satisfaction in course offerings. Business leaders say they have seen
declining interest in science among students.

"It's going to cause a steady weakening of U.S. leadership in technology
and related fields," said Gary Bloom, chief executive of the Veritas
software company and one of several technology executives to ask Congress
to put greater focus on science in schools. "More and more creativity,
new ideas, patents, engineering and businesses will begin to creep
overseas."

Daniel Greenberg, a guest scholar at The Brookings Institution who
specializes in the politics of science, disputes any notion of an
impending crisis. American scientific exploration will thrive "regardless
of the worry-mongers who periodically sound false alarms," he wrote
recently.




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