From Analysis to Action Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (1996) / Chapter Skim
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From Analysis to Action
From Analysis to Action
Pages 1-10
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The undergraduate years are the last opportunity for rigorous academic study of these subjects by many of the future leaders of our society—the executives, government officers, lawyers, clergy, journalists, and others who will have to make momentous decisions that involve science and technology. Colleges and universities prepare the elementary and secondary teachers who impart lifelong knowledge and attitudes about science and technology to their students.
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Undergraduate education continues to produce highly motivated and capable students who will go on to graduate school and become the scientists, engineers, and mathematicians upon whom our society so heavily depends. But in addition to these strengths are some emerging weaknesses.
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Then the workshop representatives and convocation leaders sorted themselves by professional rolescollege presidents and deans, tenured faculty, foundation representatives, and so on- to do a cross-cutting analysis of the recommendations. The result was a set of findings that commanded ~videspread agreement among the almost 300 convocation participants.
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If Americans are not "literate" in this sense, they will be unable to participate meaningfully in resolving the large proportion of national issues that have heavy scientific and technical content. Science literacy means the capacity to understand, at least at an elementary and inquisitive level, the phenomena of nature and the products of human technological endeavor.
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It looks to a future in which English majors, for example, emerge from college not fearful and distrustful of science and technology but familiar with their basic principles and outlooks and in which science majors can express themselves fluently, both orally and in writing, as a result of the experiences they have in college. Three other broad conclusions emerged from the convocation one from each section of the challenge paper—that provide means for achieving this overarching goal.
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In addition, "scholarship" can and should encompass a much broader range of activities than those now defined as essential for academic success. Examples might include software designed for teaching but unusual in the way it deals with what is known; critical or synthetic analyses of a field; textbooks that take a novel or especially effective approach; case materials or studies that present a policy issue in new light; or even videos aimed at increasing popular understanding of an issue.
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Yet undergraduate education in these subjects where one would expect to find large and enthusiastic communities of students and faculty often is hampered by outmoded instructional techniques, discipline fragmentation, and curricular inertia. ADDITIONAL ISSUES Beyond the broad conclusions stated above, the steering committee noted the frequent appearance of a number of other issues at the convocation.
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Not only does a sound precollege program depend on a flow of well-trainecl science teachers; sound curricula in the college years cannot be developed unless students are given a solid elementary and secondary science background on which to build.
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FecleraZ funding agencies, incZucting the mission agencies, should require explicit statements of undergraduate research objectives in aZZ research proposals associated with undergraduate institutions. PostdoctoraZfeZZows should be given opportunities to integrate teaching and research interests.
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Imaginative initiatives in teaching improvement are widespread and are by no means limited to the most visible institutions. Outreach from universities to K-12 is growing, minority access programs are succeeding, and more graduate students are receiving serious training in how to teach science.
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