Engineering Tasks for the New Century Japanese and U.S. Perspectives (1999) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 K-12 Training of Future Engineers
2 K-12 Training of Future Engineers
Pages 6-23
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 6... ...
OVERVIEW Most studies of engineering education naturally focus on undergraduate and graduate training because engineering as a specific, identifiable specialty commences at the undergraduate level. Ensuring that a sufficient number of adequately prepared students enter engineering schools is central to the long-term health of engineering education and to the larger scientific and technological enterprises of both the United States and Japan.
|
From page 7... ...
public elementary and secondary schools rely heavily on decentralized funding support, the relative contribution by the national government is much higher in Japan (Figure 2-1 and Table 2-~. Inevitable differences exist between localities in the level at which they are willing or able to support public education.
|
From page 8... ...
SOURCES: U.S. National Center for Education Statistics and Japan Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture.
|
From page 9... ...
For example, the description of the general objectives of sixth grade mathematics describes goals such as, " To help pupils understand the meaning of multiplication and division of fractions and develop their abilities to use them. Furthermore, to help them deepen their understanding of numbers as a totality including integers, decimals, and fractions." 5 The whole mathematics curriculum for the elementary school years requires only 18 pages in its English translation.
|
From page 10... ...
A number of reform initiatives and activities have been undertaken at the national, state and local levels, including efforts to raise standards and improve teacher training.5 One aspect of education reform efforts in the United States is the participation of the private sector, including business involvement in adopt-a-school and other cooperative programs. The private sector is also playing a major role in developing national education standards in major subjects, including science and mathematics, although the federal government plays an important role in supporting these efforts.9 Learning Japanese educators place great importance on the belief that all children should be able to follow the regular school curriculum unless they have serious disabilities, such as blindness, deafness, or severe mental retardation or emotional disturbance.
|
From page 11... ...
A Monbusho publication suggests that " individual characteristics of each pupil ought to be developed, his/her creativity explored, and school education must be sufficiently diversified and fiexible."'2 Japanese students are pictured as being weaker in understanding a subject than in remembering facts; in being less able to think mathematically or scientifically than in recalling the content of lessons or chapters in their textbooks. These descriptions of Japanese students-and of East Asian students in general are based on opinions rather than upon objective research.
|
From page 12... ...
The widespread use of ability grouping in the United States reflects a common belief that student abilities are relatively fixed, and that students learn best when grouped with students of similar abilities.~9 The belief that exceptional learners should be allowed to proceed at an accelerated pace and that contact with brighter peers might be a detriment to less capable students contrasts sharply with the Japanese beliefs and practices outlined above. Research into the actual impacts of ability grouping on enhancing or hindering student performance are inconclusive.20 Despite the common utilization of ability grouping in the United States, the high percentage of students from lower ability groups who go on to community and four-year colleges illustrates a significant degree of overall flexibility in the U.S.
|
From page 13... ...
Rather, teaching is believed to be a matter of continuous learning, characterized by teachers sharing information and techniques with their colleagues and by participating in workshops and seminars in subject areas and in teaching techniques conducted by experts. New teachers are assigned a light teaching load during the first year of teaching so they can benefit from attendance at teacher training programs held outside the school and from the mentoring by a skilled teacher assigned to them within the school.
|
From page 14... ...
Although one thrust of the education reform movement beginning in the 198Os has been to promote the professionalization of teaching through the expansion of graduate teacher training programs, the undergraduate education degree remains the most common route to entering the profession. A high proportion of secondary school math and science teachers did not major in their teaching specialties.3i It appears, however, that efforts to raise the standards for entering undergraduate education programs, through establishing minimum grade point averages and other requirements, have made some headway.
|
From page 15... ...
, which has many items that go beyond multiple choice and short answer exams, and international comparative studies do provide measurements of student achievement that serve as rough gauges to assess overall performance and allow for the tracking of trends over time. Over the years, international comparative studies have documented the poor performance of the U.S.
|
From page 16... ...
300-ability to compute decimals, simple fractions, and percents; knowledge of geometric figures; and development of skills to operate with signed numbers, exponents, and square roots. 350-ability to apply a range of reasoning skills to solve multistep problems and solve routine problems involving fractions and percents; recognition of properties of basic geometric figures; and ability to work with exponents and square roots.
|
From page 17... ...
~= ~ ~ c ~ .= at ~ To ~ ~ ~ A, At · o At c)
|
From page 18... ...
High School Graduates Earning Minimum Credits in Selected Combinations of Academic Courses 1982 1987 1990 1994 4 English/3 social science/3 science/3 maW 2.0 12.1 18.3 25.3 0.5 computer science/2 foreign language 4 English/3 social science/3 science/3 math/ 2.9 16.6 23.3 32.0 0.5 computer science 4 English/3 social science/3 science/3 maW 9.2 20.6 30.3 39.1 2 foreign language 4 English/3 socialscience/3 science/3 math 14.0 27.9 38.8 49.8 4 English/3 social science/2 science/2 math 31.5 54.0 66.5 74.6 SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
|
From page 19... ...
Japan's attention to this question has been more focused in recent years.4i Japanese observers have pointed to several trends, including a drop-off in the number of student applicants to enroll in engineering faculties in recent years, survey data which shows that young adults in their twenties may be less interested in scientific and technological issues and a decrease in the number of Japanese engineering graduates finding employment in manufacturing industries. Combined with larger social and demographic trends that are frequently the subject of discussion in Japan, such as the aging of the population and the low birthrate, indications that younger people might be losing interest in science and technology appear to have fed concerns about whether lapan's scientific and engineering human resources will be adequate to sustain the nation's status as a leader in research and high technology.
|
From page 20... ...
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
|
From page 21... ...
working group observed computers being used in science class demonstrations during a visit to a Japanese high school in June 1994, it appears that the main goal of large Japanese investments in this area is to raise computer and keyboard literacy among young people by making computers available for use outside of class, rather than aggressive integration of advanced technologies into actual classroom instruction. In the United States, there is growing interest in how new technologies can be utilized to full advantage in K-12 education.44 Although this issue is not a particular focus of the joint task force study, how new technologies are applied in the classroom will undoubtedly have an important impact on K-12 education for future engineers.45 Information technology could also be utilized to improve U.S.-lapan interaction and learning among students and educators.
|
From page 22... ...
33 Ibid. 34 A 1989 report estimated that over half of the 200,000 secondary school teachers of mathematics in the United States did not meet current professional standards for teaching mathematics, and that only 10 percent of elementary school teachers met contemporary standards for teaching mathematics.
|
From page 23... ...
National Science Foundation Tokyo Office, "Computers at Japanese Public Primary and Secondary Schools," Report Memorandum 95-12, May 15, 1995. 43 Neil Gross, "A Game of Catch-Up," Business Week, Annual special issue, 1994, p.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.