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Beryl -
"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. . . "
This change has actually been a long time in coming. There was a huge
effort afoot to integrate math, science and engineering in the early '90s.
There was a lot of inertia from those innovative programs and I think what
Eric is referring to is the fruit of those labors. Back in 1990, when we
were using image-bases and network diagrams to teach science, even to
kindergartners, we thought the fight to teach meaningful math and science
was over and we had won. Now, these kids are graduating high school.
Hooray for us! But, in the period since those early days I have seen cold
water thrown on a lot of these programs and support undermined by the
teach-to-the-test types (like Bush, Spellings, and Mills [in New York
State]), particularly in the formal ed arena. The buzzwords are still out
there, but I am afraid that for many, drill and kill is the prescription
for success. We need to do everything we can to fight back and really help
these kids to think critically on all fronts. I agree that there are lots
of programs still out there, but I believe its more complex and dynamic
than j ust the stats. This is just my take from the trenches (I spent
about a decade in k12 science classrooms and the past few years teaching
science teachers in grad school). Perhaps if we look at a bunch of
longitudinal studies on what happened to cohorts in inqury-based programs
versus traditional programs it might help to understand the trajectory of
this, hopefully how good or bad it really is and where we go from here.
Re: Another STEM article
Beryl Rosenthal
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10/30/07 10:30 AM
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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
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