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6
Final Observations
D
uring the final session of the workshop, the participants engaged
in a free-wheeling discussion of the important points they heard
during the previous two days and steps to be taken next. Their
individual observations and suggestions, which have been organized ac-
cording to the four major sessions of the workshop, should not be taken
as a consensus of the workshop participants as a whole or of the planning
committee.
REVITALIZING K-12 SCIENCE AND MATH EDUCATION
• A coherent vision of the knowledge and skills that education should
provide to students can drive improvement.
• Future generations will learn in different ways than have people
in the past, which will require new and innovative approaches to
education.
• Metrics for educational achievement among students and teachers
can guide educational improvement.
• The informal STEM learning that occurs in such places as museums
can have a powerful effect on both knowledge and attitudes.
• An emphasis on results rather than just funding can increase the
interest of industry in contributing to K-12 education.
• Teachers need to be more adequately represented in discussions
of education, perhaps through electronic connections from the
schools where they are working.
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44 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
• Giving teachers continuing education credits for learning how to
apply for and manage grants could enable them to foster partner-
ships with the private sector.
• Teachers also need to spend time to learn through collaborative
lesson planning and professional development.
• The valley of death plagues education as well, because few organi-
zations exist that can develop promising innovations to the point
that they can make a sustainable difference in the classroom.
STRENGTHENING UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE
AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION
• Revisions of undergraduate curricula across departments could
produce a better alignment of undergraduate STEM education and
workforce needs.
• Different states and regions have different needs that could be re-
flected in undergraduate STEM education.
• Two-year colleges are a critically important component of the
higher education system in the United States.
• Recognition and support of students who are skilled at bringing
others together and fostering achievement could produce major
educational dividends.
• If more people could experience science as a means of exploring
the unknown, they would better understand the process of bringing
discoveries to the market to create jobs and wealth.
BUILDING EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS
• Precompetitive cooperation in building production capacity can
prepare the infrastructure needed for future production.
• Representatives from industry, K-12 education, and higher educa-
tion rarely meet together, yet, as demonstrated by the conference,
such meetings can be highly productive.
• Cooperation among academia, governments, and industry must
be based on trust and on an appreciation of the value that each
partner brings to the table.
• Partnerships succeed when all members of the partnership believe
it to be to their advantage to make the collaboration work.
• Sharing information can build the trust necessary for collabora-
tions to succeed.
• The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
(EPSCoR), an initiative by the National Science Foundation and
other federal agencies to help build the research bases of jurisdic-
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45
FINAL OBSERVATIONS
tions that have historically received relatively low levels of federal
research funding, provides a valuable model of collaboration to
achieve shared goals.
• Many barriers prevent faculty members from moving between
academia and the private sector, despite the importance of such
exchanges.
• Cooperation among a group of states that share common interests
can yield better outcomes than competition.
FOSTERING REGIONAL TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• Innovation applies not just to products but to new approaches to
technology development and entrepreneurship, such as new financ-
ing models.
• Financing for early-stage prototypes can demonstrate the fea-
sibility of a product so that private industry will invest in its
commercialization.
• A simple message is needed to convey the importance of science,
innovation, and entrepreneurship to regional economies.
• Legislators tend to respond more positively to suggested solutions
to problems than they do to requests for funding.
• Fellowship programs for scientists within state and local govern-
ments can create a connection between science and policy that is
often missing.
Finally, Julie Underwood, the dean of the School of Education at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, observed that the conversation begun at
the conference needs to be continuous, not a one-time event. “This conver-
sation needs to go on and on.”
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