Improving K12 Science
Education
Judy Franz
Symposium in Honor of
Helen Quinn
April 16, 2010
SLAC
• Chair of the National
Reseach Council
Board on Science
Education (BOSE)
“ My major goal for the coming year is
to take a long range look at the
Society. Where do we want to be five
and ten years from now, and what do
we need to do to get there?”
Why is Improving K-12
Education Important?
• Workforce and economic
development
• General Science Literacy
• Production of future scientists and
engineers
President Obama:
“If we as a nation do not prepare one of the
world’s most educated and scientifically
and mathematically literate workforces,
then we have no chance of continuing to
be one of the world’s most secure and
competitive economies.”
What is needed to improve K-12
science education?
Most important: an excellent teacher
in every classroom
Rising Above the Gathering Storm
Action A-1: Annually recruit 10,000 science
and math teachers by awarding 4-year
scholarships and thereby educating 10
million minds
Action A-2: Strengthen the skills of 250,000
teachers through training and education
programs at summer institutes, ----
What we need to do
• Increase the number of well-prepared
math and science teachers at all grade
levels
• Improve professional development for
science and math teachers
+
• Support and retain good teachers
• Ensure good teachers for all students,
regardless of socio-economic background
Good teachers are not the only thing
that is needed
• Good curriculum and curricular materials
• Equipment for hands-on experiments
• Better understanding of how students
learn
• ?
• ?
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Need for High School Physics Teachers
Fields with the highest demand
(listed in order of decreasing demand)
Severe/Profound Disabilities (Spec. Ed)
Multi-categorical (Spec. Ed)
Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (Spec.Ed)
Mild/Moderate Disabilities
Physics
Mental Retardation (Spec. Ed)
Learning Disability (Spec. Ed)
Mathematics
Visually Impaired
Chemistry
2004 AAEE (American Association of Employment in Education)
Educator Supply and Demand in the United States Report
Physics Teachers
~20,000 physics teachers
1/3 have a degree in either physics or
physics education
Most of the rest have at most a set of
introductory courses
AND there is a dearth of even bad teachers
(But many are very, very good!!!)
1999 Joint Society Statement
“The scientific societies listed below urge the physics
community, specifically physical science and engineering
departments and their faculty members, to take an active
role in improving the pre-service training of K-12
physics/science teachers. Improving teacher training
involves building cooperative working relationships between
physicists in universities and colleges and the individuals
and groups involved in teaching physics to K- 12 students.
Strengthening the science education of future teachers
addresses the pressing national need for improving K-12
physics education and recognizes that these teachers play
a critical education role as the first and often-times last
physics teacher for most students. –”
APS/AAPT/AIP Joint Efforts
• We asked universities and colleges to
endorse the statement, acknowledging their
responsibilities
• Now over 360 have now done so (including
Stanford)
• Started a major effort to work with
universities to develop models for good
teacher education programs (PhysTEC)
• Received major funding from NSF and
FIPSE
Key Elements
• Teaching intro physics courses with active
learning
• Real cooperation with the School of
Education
• Teacher-in-Residence (Master Teacher)
• Mentoring throughout the early teaching
years
• Assessment
Two additional elements have been
added:
• Active recruiting of students
• Early teaching experiences often as a TA
in intro courses
Program has become a great
success
• Recently received a second $6.5M NSF
grant
• Often cited as a model program
12 PhysTEC Universities
Ball State University
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Cornell University**
Florida International University**
Seattle Pacific University
Towson University
University of Arizona
University of Arkansas
University of Colorado, Boulder**
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities**
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill**
Western Michigan University
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support
programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Weekly wages of full-time teachers and
comparable workers: 1996–2006
Teachers
•
•
•
•
•
•
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
721
753
791
836
894
920
Comparables
728
793
872
950
1007
1073
USA Today Op-Ed by Bill Frist
“Something remarkable is happening in
American public education. In a matter of
months, the Obama administration’s Raceto-the-Top competition engineered the
kind of wholesale reform that ordinarily
would take a generation to pull off.”
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support
programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support
programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Gathering Storm Report
“The US education infrastructure
suffers from a recurring pattern of
abundant short-term thinking and
insufficient long-term investment.”
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support
programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Why don’t we have sufficient
excellent physics teachers?
• Low priority in physics departments
• Low salaries and no merit pay
• Lack of mentoring and professional
development
• Erratic funding for teacher support
programs
• Poor school management
• Lack of good standards and assessment
Taking Science to School: Learning
and Teaching Science in Grades K-8
• Knowing, using, and interpreting scientific
explanations of the natural world
• Generating and evaluating scientific evidence
and explanation
• Understanding the nature and development of
scientific knowledge
• Participating productively in scientific practices
and discourse
• Achieve: Diploma Network Project States
85% of high school students
Achieve and Common State Standards
Achieve and the National Governor
Association trying to set benchmarks for all
students to receive a ‘world-class’ education.
48 states launched an effort to formulate
‘Common Core Standards’ in math and
English
Released on March 10 to good reviews
Science Standards: Why so Difficult?
Currently two sets of standards exist
• AAAS Project 2061 (1989/1995)
• National Academy (1996)
Characterized as “a mile wide and an inch
deep”
Co-chairs Stanford Initiative on
Improving K-12 Education
Thank you, Helen!