Is the United States in Trouble?
Filed Under (Tips) by Jeff on 20-08-2008
If the state of our science education is any indication, the United States is in serious trouble. The performance of U.S. students is behind most other rich nations in the world and quite a few that aren’t rich. A 2003 study by the Programme for International Student Assessment compared the problem-solving abilities of 15-year-old students from 40 nations around the world. The U.S. placed a dismal 29th. Worse still, more than half of our children scored in the range that suggests they will have serious difficulties as they enter the workforce or even try to face the normal challenges of adulthood. (And you wondered why customer service is non-existent in most businesses.) American students were less than half as likely as students in the top-performing nations to achieve the highest level of problem-solving performance. Now, 5 years later, the standards haven’t improved much at all.
So why is this important? There are a few good reasons. First, number-crunchers have estimated that as much as half of the post-World War II growth in GDP in the U.S. is directly due to technological progress that resulted from research and development. The world economy is changing, and with it, the skills that will be demanded in the promising jobs and the productive workforce of tomorrow. (Think computer and medical fields.) The international competition for a greater share of world wealth is rapidly increasing. It’s important for our citizens to understand more math and science than they ever have in the past, if we plan to continue the American tradition of leadership.
Second, labor economists are now warning that more than half of our children may leave school without the skills they need to enter the middle class. Numerous business reports are suggesting that companies are having increasing difficulty finding employees with the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and communications skills they need to do their jobs. And we’re not talking white collar jobs, either. Kids are leaving high school without the ability to maintain decent blue collar jobs.
Third, this is not a new trend. In the early 1980’s a number of reports on the status of science and mathematics education were published, making evident declining science and mathematics achievement, dropping enrollment, and a shortage of qualified teachers. In April 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education presented its report to President Reagan The report, entitled A Nation at Risk: the Imperative for Educational Reform, compared the quality of teaching and learning in America’s schools and colleges with those of other advanced nations. The U.S. came up short in nearly all areas. That means that today, the parents of our school-aged children don’t know enough science to help their children learn more. And many of our younger teachers didn’t get a solid grounding in science themselves. All this adds to the problem.
So what can be done to improve matters? There has to be a multifaceted approach in order to solve the problems of science education in America. Fortunately, the federal government is allocating resources to help school systems hire better teachers and buy more equipment. And states are writing new, more inclusive curriculum standards. But it will take more than that to do what’s needed.
Many people believe part of the problem is in the way schools teach science. It’s too dry, with too much book work and masses of memorization required. In short, boring. This approach is far removed from true science, which is a way of knowing–a method of making sense of our world and our universe. True science builds models of what is and tests what will be. To understand and appreciate science, you have to get out of a flat text book and into the world. Ideally, all science education would take place through a series of observations and experiments in the field. This, though, wouldn’t be practical in our current school system.
A good compromise solution might be to use interactive science educational software. Computers have become common enough that this is a viable teaching strategy even for rural schools and home schools. It can be used by parents to help their children gain an understanding and enjoyment of science even if their school system isn’t up to par. Multimedia presentations on the computer can provide 3D models which can be manipulated by the student. They can show videos of experts demonstrating scientific principles. They can let the students talk to a researcher in Antarctica or walk on Mars. The possibilities are nearly limitless, and the best part is that interactive educational software fully involves the student. An added benefit is that it’s impossible to blow up the lab in a computer environment, so the students are always safe.
There are already great science educational software programs available on the internet, many free or low-cost. But there aren’t nearly enough, and the ones that are available are being under utilized. You can help by locating some good science programs or web resources and using them with your own kids, or passing them along to any teachers you know. And if you know any programmers, encourage them to write an interactive science program or put up a multimedia science website. You’ll be helping save America.
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