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If you want to know why students leave college science courses, you need to
read Sheila Tobias's research on this question.  What she found is that the
issue is not math or science preparation, it is the culture of isolation and
competition, the disconnection of the subject from anything real or
relevant, etc. In short, it's the teaching and the curriculum.  There is
similar research on dropouts from high school that reports similar findings
- lack of relevance, isolation, competition - not failing academics as the
primary factors.

What this teacher in Virginia is doing is real science inquiry.  It's what
the National Science Education Standards said everyone should be doing 11
years ago!  But you won't have to ask more than two high school or college
teachers to find at least one who will tell you that this will not work.  I
had a course like that as a senior in high school.  It was called Advanced
Biology because it couldn't be called AP, since it didn't meet the AP
criteria.  Of 18 kids in the class, 16 took the AP anyway and no one got
less than a 4.  That was 29 years ago.  Plus que ca change...

Dave Smith

On 10/30/07, Beryl Rosenthal <[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.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Not to throw cold water on what appears to be a wonderful change, but
> from what my colleagues at many universities are telling me, the
> attrition rates for undergrad engineering students is as high as 50%,
> largely occurring when students run up against calculus and physics.  Is
> it unpreparedness at the high school level?  Is it that only the
> "gifted" can make it?  Who are we to believe?
> Beryl
>
> Eric Siegel wrote:
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> > institutions.
> >
> *****************************************************************************
> >
> >
> > In today's NY Times in an article about inquiry based hands on science
> > learning going on in some gifted and talented programs, the following
> > quotation:
> >
> >
> >
> > Many people wring their hands over the state of science education and
> > point to the appalling performance of America's students in
> > international science and math competitions. Yet some of the direst
> > noises about our nation's scientific prospects may be premature. Far
> > from rejecting challenging science courses, students seem to be
> > embracing them.
> >
> > This year, for example, the American Institute of Physics said that
> > the percentage of high school students taking physics courses was at
> > an all-time high, and that the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in
> > the subject had climbed by 31 percent since 2000. Moreover, there are
> > a growing number of "magnet" or "gifted and talented" programs in
> > secondary schools that emphasize science and math. While quality
> > varies widely, and some observers worry that the tiny, competitive
> > programs consume an outsized portion of a school's budget, a visit to
> > Ms. Cascio's class and her students, who are not only gifted, talented
> > and magnetic but hardworking, too, is almost enough to make you wish
> > you were back in high school.
> >
> > ========
> > I posted another article over the weekend which dealt extensively and
> > thought provokingly with the supposed gap in science learning between
> > the US and others   <http://www.urban.org/publications/1001094.html>
> >
> > So, has the tide been turning while we are making last decade's
> > argument?  I remember the proliferation of computers and connectivity
> > that vastly narrowed the "digital divide" as it was being called at
> > the time forced us to rethink our programs.  This is the NY Times
> > article (free registration required)
> >
> > <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/science/30angi.html?th&emc=th>
> >
> > Eric Siegel
> > Director and
> > Chief Content Officer
> > New York Hall of Science
> > www.nyscience.org
> > (718) 699-0005 x 317
> > esiegel at nyscience dot org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org

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