The Sputnik Era

1. The Sputnik Era The First Launch of Curriculum Reform TE 958 September 11, 2007

2. Implications of Sputnik • Historical Perspective as a Framework • Influences on Culture • Implications for Curriculum • Science • Math • Physical Education • Literacy • Metaphors at Work

3. Chronos: Major Events • Winston Churchill’s Speech (1946) • Rosenburgs Executed (1951) • Duck and Cover Film (1951) • Army-McCarthy Hearings (1953-1954) • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) • Why Johnny Can’t Read (1955) • National Education Defense Act (1958)

4. Timeline • For additional contexts • Categories for what is happening in the states, territories, presidents, society, Native Americans, world, science, and culture • Timeline includes 1780 to present http://www.animatedatlas.com/timeline.html

5. Beginning of the Cold War Winston Churchill’s Speech (1946) “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. www.historyplace.com/sounds/ushistory/iron-curtain.wav

6. Fear of Communism McCarthy’s telegram to President Truman (1950)

7. Fear of Communism Rosenbergs executed (1951) “ No one can say that we do not live in a constant state of tension. We have evidence of your treachery all around us every day--for the civilian defense activities throughout the nation are aimed at preparing us for an atom bomb attack. Nor can it be said in mitigation of the offense that the power which set the conspiracy in motion and profited from it was not openly hostile to the United States at the time of the conspiracy. If this was your excuse the error of your ways in setting yourselves above our properly constituted authorities and the decision of those authorities not to share the information with Russia must now be obvious . . . “ http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROS_SENT.HTM

8. Fear of Nuclear Attacks Duck and Cover Film (1951) http://ia300111.us.archive.org/0/items/DuckandC1951/DuckandC1951.mp4 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=211172294308374001

9. Fear of Nuclear Attacks • Facts about Fallout Pamphlet (1951) http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/fallout-docs/

10. Army-McCarthy Hearings (1953-1954) McCarthy-Welch Exchange (June 9, 1954) “I don't think you have any conception of the danger of the Communist Party. I don't think you, yourself, would ever knowingly aid the Communist cause.  I think you're unknowingly aiding it when you try to burlesque this hearing in which we're attempting to bring out the facts.” http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html Transcripts of Entire Hearing http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/McCarthy_Transcripts.htm

11. Wernher vonBraun At the same time, the Russians and the US grabbed up the German Scientists who had been working in the German Rocket program. Werner vonBraun came to America to work on the rocket program. He became the director of the NASA program http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/vp_ljohnson.pdf

12. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Dramatization of Thurgood Marshall’s Closing Arguments http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/osi04/soc/ush/civil/marshallsj/ Opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Warren http://brownvboard.org/research/opinions/347us483.htm

13. Kairos: Sputnik (1957)http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/ Science and national defense as dominant metaphors

14. Influences on Culture • Aspects of home life functioned as metaphors for the time • Television • Home life • Books • Music • Film

15. Television • 1950 first children’s television programs aired on ABC • Animal Clinic • Acrobat Ranch • Other shows throughout the 1950’s • The Small Fry Club • Robert E. "Buffalo Bob" Smith's Howdy Doody Time • "The Mighty Mouse Playhouse (first animated cartoons)

16. Television Revolution • 1954 went from black and white to color • Popular programs included • First soaps (Guiding Light) • Mickey Mouse Club • Honeymooners • Lassie • Ed Sullivan Show http://www.timvp.com/sullivan.html

17. Home Life • Advertisements reflect what was happening in the home during this time • See the metaphors of “new” and “power” and “revolutionary” and the scientific feel to the description • Description extended to appliances, products, and cars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Vz4ZrDLms

18. Home Life • Emphasis on progression • Making life easier and streamlining • Dymaxion House (used old airplane parts from WWII to manufacture a house) • http://www.thehenryford.com/dymaxion/index.html • Advertisements for Women vs. Men

19. Advertisements from the Era 1959 1957

20. Books • Dichotomy of Content • Reflection of “Duck and Cover” • Lord of the Flies • Fahrenheit 451 • Animal Farm • Escapism • James Bond books • Isaac Asimov

21. Children’s Books • Dick and Jane Books • Golden Books • http://www.randomhouse.com/golden/lgb/timeline.html • Space books emerged • Preflight books • http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/1949-1953.htm • Launch books • http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/1954-1956.htm

22. Singing Sputnik • Music was an escape • A metaphor for the easiness of life courtesy of technology • Move from Big Band Era to Doo Wop to Rock and Roll • 1953: Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes by Perry Como • 1954: Sh-Boom by the Crew Cuts • 1955: Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets • http://www.stinalisa.com/50sMusic.html

23. Films of the Fifties • Fred Astaire • The Band Wagon (1953) • Frank Sinatra • From Here to Eternity (1953) • Marlon Brando • On the Waterfront (1954) • Grace Kelly • Rear Window (1954)

24. Implications for Curriculum • "Curriculum reformers of the Sputnik era shared a common vision. Across disciplines and within the educational community, reformers generated enthusiasm for their initiatives. They would replace the current content of topics and information with a curriculum based on the conceptually fundamental ideas and the modes of scientific inquiry and mathematical problem solving. The reform would replace textbooks with instructional materials that included films, activities, and readings. No longer would schools’ science and mathematics programs emphasize information, terms, and applied aspects of content. Rather, students would learn the structures and procedures of science and mathematics disciplines." http://www.nas.edu/sputnik/bybee2.htm

25. Implications for Curriculum National Defense of Education Act of 1958 • Congress passed in response to Sputnik • Created to ensure that highly trained Americans could compete with Russia in scientific and technical fields • The NDEA supported $887 million over 4 years to support national security goals such as training scientists • Loans to college students • Improvement of science, math and foreign language instruction in k-12 • JFK Loalty Oath refers to NDEA http://www.justicelearning.org/timeline/acrobat/19600000_JFKLoyaltyOathNatlDefenseEdAct.pdf ( http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html)

26. How Children Learn – Piaget’s Developmental Approach to Learning • Children learn by doing (Piaget, 1950) • Developmental stages of learning (moving from concrete experiences to using abstract ideas) • Children not seen as empty vessels • Teachers as facilitators of knowledge who encourage children’s participation in learning experiences (active learning)

27. Science • Goal of science education became to prepare future scientists and engineers • Focused on development of conceptual understanding and improvement of thinking processes (e.g., logical thinking) • Alphabet soup elementary science programs: • Science – A Process Approach (SAPA) • Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) • Elementary Science Study (ESS)

28. Math • Considerable discourse about the state of mathematics education after the launching of Sputnik • School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) moved from Yale to Stanford in 1961 • The new math reform would attempt to alleviate confusion and ambiguity noted in pre-Sputnik textbooks.

29. Philosophy for the New Math • Students would be drawn to mathematics by seeing how it fit together and, in particular, how the great ideas of modern mathematics brought order into the chaotic curriculum of literal numbers that were not really numbers at all, a notation for angles that did not distinguish between an angle and its measure, and operations on numbers that included turning them over, bringing them down, canceling them, and moving their decimal points around. http://www.nas.edu/sputnik/kilpatin.htm • Math was a metaphor for the chaos of the time.

30. Physical Education • Move to “lifetime sports” (tennis, golf, bowling) • Emphasis on cooperation rather than competition • However, influence on the competition with others and the need for Americans to be fit • Physical Education curricula focused on this shift • Creation of the Presidential Fitness Council in 1961 to encourage daily period of exercise within the school day • http://hti.math.uh.edu/curriculum/units/1999/06/08/99.06.08.php

31. Where is Literacy Instruction? • Focus was on literacy development in science and math, less on “traditional literacy” • http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&safe=active&q=literacy+instruction+in+U.S.+in+the&as_ldate=1950&as_hdate=1959&um=1&scoring=t&sa=X&oi=archive&ct=title • http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/#50s • http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/fedaid.html

32. Why Johnny Can’t Read Rudolph Flesch wrote this national best-selling book that argued for the return of phonics….stating that the “whole language” method” was hurting students. http://www.justicelearning.org/justice_timeline/Issues.aspx?IssueID=16&TimelineID=57&TimelineEventID=267

33. Teacher Preparation • Foundation of NSF in 1950 paved way for reform in science, math, and technology • Funded projects at the University level to improve knowledge base of teachers • Funded development of curriculum materials in science, math and social sciences for use in classrooms • Underlying goal was to add excitement in the classroom

34. Implications of Sputnik on Teacher Practices • “The materials of projects such as School Mathematics Study Group excited mathematically talented young people about mathematics as a discipline. In the current group of mathematicians in their forties, many of them found their way to mathematics through these demanding new materials. At the same time, many young people and teachers found the new materials a bridge too far. The abstraction of the mathematics made the ideas extremely difficult for some to understand. The almost total lack of emphasis on application meant that some young learners, who need to build on their informal knowledge to make sense of mathematics, were not able to succeed with the new materials. Yet, the emphasis in the country on mathematics and science education put pressure on schools to require that young people study more mathematics in high school. The rumbling of a backlash was beginning.” Glenda T. Lappan (http://www.nas.edu/sputnik/lappan2.htm)

35. What did the Sputnik Era teach us about curriculum? • According to Glenda T. Lappan: • Teachers are an integral part of any curriculum. • Curriculum have to be embraced by teachers. • Professional development must be available. • “To be effective, curricula must give teachers help in understanding the mathematics content, suggest supportive instructional practices, and provide assessments that helps teachers make instructional decisions.”

36. More of what was learned from the Sputnik Era • The infrastructure has to support the reform. • Public support is critical. • Curriculum goals must be explicit and demonstrate how students achieve basic proficiency. • All parts of the system must work in cooperation. • Change takes time. http://www.nas.edu/sputnik/lappan4.htm

37. Metaphors at Work • Science and national defense • Progress and technology • Competition vs. cooperation • Constructivism

38. References and Resources Informative websites: • United States historical timeline: • http://www.animatedatlas.com/timeline.html • Audio excerpt of Churchill’s “An Iron Curtain has Descended” speech: www.historyplace.com/sounds/ushistory/iron-curtain.wav • McCarthyism: • Links to written communication between Truman and McCarthy in regards to McCarthy’s list of American communists: • http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/mccarthy-telegram/ • Summary of hearings from NPR (2003) • http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1252460 • Video of hearings: • http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html • More information: • http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/McCarthy_Transcripts.htm • McCarthy Senate Hearings (1953-1954) • http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/McCarthy_Transcripts.htm

39. More Resources • Point of Order! (1964 documentary about Senate Army-McCarthy Hearings) • “The film ends with a scene that stands as a metaphor for McCarthy's rapidly crumbling influence on the nation. It shows a heated exchange between Democratic Senator Stuart Symington and McCarthy that occurred near the end of the hearings and late in the afternoon, when the hearings were about to adjourn for the day. Symington sharply questions the handling of McCarthy's secret files by his staff. McCarthy calls this a "smear" against the men on his staff, and as Symington starts to leave, McCarthy accuses him of using "the same tactics that the Communist Party has used for too long." Symington returns to the microphone and says: "Apparently every time anybody says anything against anybody working for Senator McCarthy, he is declaring them and accusing them of being Communists!" Symington leaves and the hearings adjourn. McCarthy continues his passionate but repetitious defense of his staff and his attack on Symington, speaking to an increasingly empty chamber.” (Wikipedia) • Judge’s statement from the Rosenberg trials: • http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROS_SENT.HTM • Themes of the Era: • Duck and Cover: • http://ia300111.us.archive.org/0/items/DuckandC1951/DuckandC1951.mp4 • http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=211172294308374001 • Nuclear Attack: • http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=48&category=life • Fallout pamphlet: • http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/fallout-docs/ • U.S. recruits scientists from other countries: vonBraun: • http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/vp_ljohnson.pdf

40. Resources Cont’d. • Brown v. the Board of Education: • http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board/ • http://brownvboard.org/research/opinions/347us483.htm • Dramatization of Thurgood Marshall’s closing arguments (not an artifact) • http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/osi04/soc/ush/civil/marshallsj/ • Dramatization of Supreme Court’s decision – Justice Warren reads the decision (not an artifact) • http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/osi04/soc/ush/civil/warren/ • School Integration Photographs (from Little Rock, Arkansas) (1957) – Little Rock Integration Crisis • http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/schoolintegration/ig/School-Integration/index.htm • Press Release of Eisenhower’s Speech about decision to send troops to Little Rock • (September 24, 1957) • http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/dl/LittleRock/littlerockdocuments.html • Sputnik: • http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/ • Audio: • http://www.mentallandscape.com/Sputnik1_WashingtonDC.mp3 • Memorandum with President Eisenhower after Sputnik (October 8, 1957) • http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/sputnik-memo/ • Memorandums of Conferences and Meetings with Eisenhower about Sputnik • http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/dl/Sputnik/Sputnikdocuments.html • Eisenhower’s Military-Industrial Complex Speech – Farewell Address to the Nation (1961) • http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwightdeisenhowerfarewell.html • Television: • The Ed Sullivan Show: • http://www.timvp.com/sullivan.html

41. Resources Cont’d. • Home Life: • Dymaxion House: • http://www.thehenryford.com/dymaxion/index.html • Children’s Books: • Golden Books: • http://www.randomhouse.com/golden/lgb/timeline.html • Space Books: • http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/1949-1953.htm • http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/1954-1956.htm • Era Music:http://www.stinalisa.com/50sMusic.html • Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (“Ask not what your country can do for you….”) • http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm • Informative Background Information: • Bruner, J. (1977). The process of education: A landmark in educational theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. • Bybee, R. W. (1997). The Sputnik Era: Why is this educational reform different from all other reforms? Paper presented at the Reflecting on Sputnik: Linking the Past, Present, and Future of Educational Reform. From http://www.nas.edu/sputnik/bybee1.htm. • Foxe, M. A. (1997). Building leadership to sustain educational reform. Paper presented at the Reflecting on Sputnik: Linking the Past, Present, and Future of Educational Reform. From http://www.nas.edu/sputnik/fox1.htm.