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A National Perspective on K-12 STEM Education: Challenges and Opportunities for Leadership. THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine National Research Council. Jay Labov
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A National Perspective on K-12 STEM Education: Challenges and Opportunities for Leadership THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine National Research Council Jay Labov National Academy of Sciences Washington, DC jlabov@nas.edu http://nationalacademies.org University Council for Educational AdministrationAnaheim, CANovember 21, 2009
Premise 1: Improving STEM Education is Not Rocket Science It’s a LOT harder!
Premise 2 (a.k.a. Gretsky Philosophy): “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. “A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”
We Need to Anticipate and Skate to Where the Puck is Likely to Be: EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IS CRITICAL!! UNDERSTANDING POLICY MATTERS!!! CAVEAT: Education policy and implementation often do not obey the usual tenets of logic or rationality
Where is the puck likely to be? CA Convocation on K-8 Education K-12 National & State Standards Advanced Placement 21st Century Skills Science vs. STEM Education Closing Thoughts
A Convocation to Address Special Issues of K-8 Science Education in CAApril 29-30, 2009, Irvine • Organizers: • National Academies of Science & Engineering • California Council on Science and Technology • Sponsorship: • Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation • S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
A Convocation to Address Special Issues of K-8 Science Education in CAApril 29-30, 2009, Irvine Chapters: 1. The Challenges Facing California 2. The National Context 3. Science Education in Action 4. Exemplary Programs 5. Fostering Sustainable Programs 6.Rising to the Challenge Appendices
A Convocation to Address Special Issues of K-8 Science Education in CAApril 29-30, 2009, IrvineSummary of Discussions: • Many indicators point to severe weaknesses in California’s science education systems at the kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8) levels: • K-8 students in California spend too little time studying science • Many of their teachers are not well prepared in the subject • The support system for science instruction has deteriorated. • A proliferation of overly detailed standards and poorly conceived assessments has trivialized science education.
A Convocation to Address Special Issues of K-8 Science Education in CAApril 29-30, 2009, Irvine • Yet there exists a solid base on which to strengthen K-8 science education in California and across the nation, including: • A movement toward common national standards and assessments • New research findings on effective educational practices • Involvement of scientific, business, and philanthropic organizations in many schools • Growing realization that science education must improve to support future prosperity. • Linking education in technology, engineering, and mathematics to science education, thereby creating a truly integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, could have major implications for K-12 education.
A Convocation to Address Special Issues of K-8 Science Education in CAApril 29-30, 2009, Irvine The time to act is now, while science and STEM education occupy positions of prominence on state and national agendas. Informed, inspired, and inspiring leadership at all levels of the K-12 system is desperately needed.
National Research Council 1996 AAAS 1993
Overview of theNational Science Education Standards • Science Teaching Standards • Professional Development of Teachers • Assessment • Content Standards • Infrastructure Standards • Program Standards • System Standards
Standards for Science Teaching Teachers of Science • A: Plan an inquiry-based science program for their students … • B: Guide and facilitate learning… • C: Engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching and of student learning… • D: Design and manage learning environments that provide students with the time, space, and resources needed for learning science… • E: Develop communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and the attitudes and social values conducive to science learning… • F. Actively participate in the ongoing planning and development of the school science program.
CHANGING EMPHASES IN SCIENCE CONTENT LESS EMPHASIS ON: MORE EMPHASIS ON:
4 Strands of Scientific Proficiency • Know, use and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world. • Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations. • Understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge. • Participate productively in scientific practices and discourse. National Research Council (2007)
4 Strands of Scientific Proficiency Know, use and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world. Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations. Understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge. Participate productively in scientific practices and discourse. National Research Council (2007)
Other Organizations Have Also Published Standards Recently for Science and Mathematics Published in 2009 Additional information available at: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/k-12/standards Published in 2007
Advanced Placement National Research Council 2002
Science Panels Big Ideas / Unifying Themes Enduring Understandings Competencies Evidence Models (Formative Assessments) Evidence of Learning The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems. The student can use mathematics appropriately The student can engage in scientific questioning The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence The student can work with scientific explanations and theories The student is able to transfer knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across domains AP RedesignBiology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics (2013-16)
21st Century Skills “If I take the revenue in January and look again in December of that year, 90% of my December revenue comes from products which were not there in January.” Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” (NAS, NAE, and IOM, 2007) "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."Alvin Toffler, American Writer and Futurist
Why 21st Century Skills? Shifting Job Market 20th Century 21st Century 1 – 2 Jobs 10 – 15 Jobs Number of Jobs: Mastery of One Field Critical Thinking Across Disciplines Job Requirement: Subject Matter Mastery Integration of 21st Century Skills into Subject Matter Mastery Teaching Model: Subject Matter Mastery Integration of 21st Century Skills into Subject Matter Mastery Assessment Model: Courtesy of Linda Froschauer
Science vs. STEM Education • To be inclusive, the NSF adopted the term “Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology” (SMET) to describe their education programs
Science vs. STEM Education • To be inclusive, the NSF adopted the term “Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology” (SMET) to describe their education programs • Someone decided that SMET sounded too much like “SMUT”
Science vs. STEM Education • To be inclusive, the NSF adopted the term “Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology” (SMET) to describe their education programs • Someone decided that SMET sounds too much like “SMUT” • SMET STEM
Some Closing Thoughts Instead of beginning (and, all too often, ending) with test scores, we should begin by considering the kinds of minds that we want to cultivate in our education system. My own reflections suggest that in the future, we need to cultivate five kinds of minds if we want to be successful as a nation and, more important, as a world. Those minds include: Howard Gardner, “Beyond the Herd Mentality: The Minds That We Truly Need in the Future.” Ed Week, 9/14/05, http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/09/14/03gardner.h25.html
• A disciplined mind that can think well and appropriately in the major disciplines; • A synthesizing mind that can sift through a large amount of information, decide what is important, and put it together in ways that make sense for oneself and for others; • A creative mind that can raise new questions, come up with novel solutions, think outside the box; • A respectful mind that honors the differences among individuals and groups, and tries to understand them and work productively with them; and • An ethical mind that thinks, beyond selfish interests, about the kind of worker one aspires to be, and the kind of citizen that one should be. Howard Gardner, “Beyond the Herd Mentality: The Minds That We Truly Need in the Future.” Ed Week, 9/14/05, http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/09/14/03gardner.h25.html