ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Michele, et al,

Regarding the cutting of science education in schools, here are two recent
resources:

Dorph, et al., The Status of Science Education in the Bay Area,
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/rea/bayareastudy/index.html

McMurrer, Instructional Time in Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes
for Specific Subjects,
http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document.showDocumentByID&%20nodeID=1&DocumentID=234


I also agree with Leilah's suggestion of Robert Tai's paper on interest.  It
is a primary source of the CSAS fact sheet,
http://www.scienceafterschool.org/pdfs/CSAS_AfterschoolSTEM_FactSheet.pdf,
which summarizes many of these issues.  In addition to this, I have created
a "Science After School" wiki at http://scienceafterschool.wikispaces.com/.
This includes references that were distributed at our conference in
September, and you are also welcome to add your own.

Good luck!

-Jason
-- 
Jason Freeman
Director
Coalition for Science After School
Office: (510)642-8106
Cell: (617) 270-8729
WEB: http://www.ScienceAfterSchool.org
BLOG: http://scienceafterschool.blogspot.com/


>
> Date:    Mon, 1 Dec 2008 21:54:29 -0600
> From:    Leilah Lyons <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Science Education Data
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Hello Michele,
>
> I cannot speak to the former question (although I would be interested in
> hearing what you dig up on the importance of science centers in filling
> gap=
> s
> in formal ed) but when I attended the Bay Area Institute in 2007 one of the
> keynote speakers addressed the latter issue:
>
> *Early interest as key predictor of later participation in STEM careers*
> Robert H. Tai <
> http://qt.exploratorium.edu/cils/profile.php?profileID=3D121=
> 7>,
> Assistant Professor Science Education, University of Virginia
>
> His webpage is here:
>
> http://www.teach.virginia.edu/index.php?option=3Dcom_currypeople&Itemid=3D2=
> 53&task=3Ddetail&userid=3Drht6h<http://www.teach.virginia.edu/index.php?option=3Dcom_currypeople&Itemid=3D2=53&task=3Ddetail&userid=3Drht6h>
>
> I'm not sure which papers of his contain the research he reviewed in his
> talk, but I remember the gist of it being that early interest in science
> (which he felt was strongly reliant on museum experiences, but I don't
> recall if he had evidence beyond the anecdotal - it's been a while) was a
> better predictor of later science careers than a whole host of things:
> socioeconomic status, grades in science, performance on AP tests, etc. He
> was working with a huge longitudinal corpus of data, tracking around 600 or
> so kids from middle school through their first 4 years of college (I may be
> wrong on some of the particulars; again it's been a while). If I had to
> guess I'd say it would be this article:
>
> Tai, R. H., Liu, C. Q., Maltese, A. V., & Fan, X. (2006). Planning early
> fo=
> r
> careers
> in science.  Science. 312(5777), 1143 =96 1144.
>
> He also mentioned interviewing Nobel laureates and finding that they
> commonly remarked on museum experiences playing a big role in their
> interes=
> t
> in science; again, I don't know whether/where this was published (or
> whethe=
> r
> he did the work or was mentioning work done by others) but I'm sure you
> could contact him & ask.
>
> Hope that helped,
>  - Leilah
>
> On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 6:10 PM, Michele Laverty <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote=
> :
>
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> > institutions.
> >
> >
> *************************************************************************=
> ****
> >
> > I am looking for some data to support information science education -
> tie=
> d
> > to decreasing emphasis and funding in schools for science education.
>  Som=
> e
> > of our local school districts have cut science positions...is there a
> > concrete way to tie the need for science centers to fill in these gaps?
> >
> > Also, is there any data that ties informal science education to increased
> > science career choices?
> >
> > Thanks, Michele
> >
> > Michele Laverty
> > Director Ag Science Center
> > [log in to unmask]
> > P.O. Box 4937
> > Modesto, CA 95352-4893
> > 209-521-2902 office
> > 209-604-4916 cell
> > Check us out on the Web at WWW.AGISAMAZING.com
> >
> > ***********************************************************************
> > For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and
> t=
> he
> > Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
> >
> > Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
> > www.exhibitfiles.org.
> >
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>
>
> --=20
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Leilah Lyons, Assistant Professor
>   [log in to unmask]
>   851 S. Morgan (M/C 152) * Room 918 SEO
>   Chicago, IL 60607-7053
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  Computer Science * Learning Sciences
>  University of Illinois at Chicago
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>

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