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Moving from the Earth to the Sky: Improving STEM Education in America

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By Anne O'Brien on September 15, 2010

Last November, President Obama launched the Educate to Innovate campaign with the goal of moving our students to the top of the world in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) education. And in the coming days, the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology will release a report with recommendations on just how the federal government can accomplish that goal.

According to a preview by Erik Robelen on EdWeek yesterday, the report concludes that the federal government has lacked a coherent approach to STEM education for the last quarter century. The Council recommends the government take action to improve the standards, teachers and technology around STEM education. It recommends more STEM-based schools. And it calls for stronger leadership at the federal level, as well as increased opportunities to inspire a passion for STEM subjects in students.

I am anxious to see the report. After all, STEM has been a priority of LFA for years. Back in 1998, we produced the action plan Every Child Mathematically Proficient that, among other things, called for changes to curriculum and professional development that may be similar to those described in the upcoming report.

But I am especially interested in seeing the Council’s recommendations on how to create a passion in students for STEM subjects. As a former biology teacher, I have firsthand experience in trying to make something that can seem so far removed from the daily life of a struggling student relevant and engaging to him.

I hope that the Council zeroes in on the need to ensure all students have access to hands-on, project-based learning. That was how I had the best luck reaching my students. Other educators also credit this approach with increased engagement in STEM subjects. For example, Luajean Bryan, an All-Star teacher from Tennessee, takes her students from the earth to the sky, conducting math lessons on overnight cavern explorations and physics lessons in hot-air balloons. Even on-campus students work on projects, applying what they learn. And since she started this project-based focus, enrollment in higher-level math and science classes has increased significantly at her school.

Mike Town, an environmental science teacher from Washington, takes a similar tact in getting his students engaged. They conduct energy audits in their school and community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They do green building and urban design projects. And like Bryan, Town has seen increased interest in upper-level classes as a result of his approach to the subject.

But despite the success that individual teachers have in getting students excited about STEM, as (rumor has it) the report makes clear, there is no systematic approach to ensuring all students have access to such engaging coursework--or to supporting the educators who provide it. I am looking forward to seeing what the report recommends we do about that.

Link to this story: http://www.learningfirst.org/moving-earth-sky-improving-stem-education-america

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All the teaching in the world

Submitted by Mrs. C on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 15:04

All the teaching in the world won't do much good if the teachers aren't able to ability-group in subjects like mathematics. I think the "math advice for teachers" on your website that suggests making competent children tutors is especially bad. Way to kill the enthusiasm for the subject! Let those children MOVE AHEAD. Don't use them as free paras!

Here's a pro-public school website you'd be interested in that discusses mathy stuff from the perspective of a parent:

http://oilf.blogspot.com/

I hope you like it.

PS We just learnt about the Wright brothers! Neither finished high school, but studied at home and tinkered with machines. :)

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Mrs. C - I do like that

Submitted by Anne O'Brien on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 19:25

Mrs. C - I do like that website, thanks for sharing it!

And I do agree that you shouldn't use children as free paras (though I think something like a volunteer after-school peer tutoring program for example is different). But I am not sure that tutoring would kill enthusiasm for the subject. If a child were a terrible reader but got to tutor peers in math, it might give her extra motivation and enthusiasm about the subject. And having kids explain the subject will, I think, give them a deeper understanding of the subject, forcing them to think of it in new ways, which might also increase some higher-order thinking skills that they might miss in a kill and drill environment.

But I think that your suggestion to move those kids ahead, though, is right on. No one wants to stifle a child's enthusiasm, or their potential. Of course, the question is always how to meet the needs of all kids. And while often we focus on catching up those who are lower, we really should also focus on pushing ahead those who can do it. Le sigh.

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As someone who's had the

Submitted by Nancy Flanagan on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 20:47

As someone who's had the pleasure of meeting Luajean Bryant, and hearing her philosophy of how to give every child a solid math education (which involved missing a lot of her "duty free" lunches), I am pleased to see her excellent work highlighted here.

But I hate to see tracking promoted as the answer to improving STEM education. Tracking has a long and ugly history as a way to reproduce social inequities under the rhetorical cover of "acceleration" for the kids who "deserve" it. De facto tracking is how we've taught math and science for years--it's how we got to this point, with a significant percentage of the population thinking that they're math deficient, when the truth is, they've not been exposed to high-quality STEM instruction.

I'm also interested in how the Council hopes to create a passion for STEM subjects--and in full agreement that creativity, enriched curriculum and real-life applications are the best ways to pursue that goal.

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If my son is almost in

Submitted by Mrs. C on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 08:14

If my son is almost in prealgebra at home, WHY would I send him to the local public school so he can learn his times tables in the third grade?? I don't care how "enriched" the curriculum is - you bet my child "deserves" better than that.

And yes, Anne, pushing kids ahead who are ready is going to expand the achievement gap. BUT is that wrong, if that isn't the "goal" of pushing kids ahead? Would there not be a good number of poorer or minority children who NEVER would have had the opportunity for a TRULY rigorous education, who will excel in such a system? Are we harming future George Washington Carvers under our current system because we want everything to be equal a little too badly?

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President Obama to Announce

Submitted by Elaine on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 08:23

President Obama to Announce Major Expansion of “Educate to Innovate” Campaign to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/16/president-obama-an...
Open for Questions: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education with Dr. Sally Ride
Posted by Katelyn Sabochik on September 15, 2010 at 01:36 PM EDT
Tomorrow at 4 PM EDT, the White House is hosting a special live chat with former NASA astronaut and first American woman in space Dr. Sally Ride. Dr. Ride will be taking questions from students across the country on the importance of getting a strong education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and discussing how her education helped her in her career.

If you’re a student, be sure to submit your questions for Dr. Ride via our webform and tune in tomorrow at 4 PM EDT to watch the discussion on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

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There is no way, none, that

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 16:06

There is no way, none, that you could put me in a calculus class and hope that I'll learn calculus, because I did very poorly in pre-calculus. If I repeated pre-calculus, and did OK, then I would be prepared to pass calculus. Extend this paradigm over all of math, and you will see why "readiness grouping" is necessary for some subjects. It's not "tracking" if you're not giving the kids a different curriclum but rather making sure they learn the prerequisites before they attempt the upper-level classes.

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