Browsing the journals
Thomas D.
Rossing
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The
National Science Board has formed a blue-ribbon panel on improving student
achievement at the elementary, secondary, and undergraduate levels, according
to a report in the 7 April issue of Science. The 15-member commission, to be appointed
in mid-May, will, hopefully, produce an "action plan" covering needed improvements
in curricula, teacher training, and evaluation. It will also describe the appropriate role for NSF and its Education and
Human Resources directorate, which currently has a budget of some $800
million. Whatever they decide, observers
say, panel members will also need to sell their advice since federal
intervention is often viewed as controversial by local and state governments.
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"Pseudoscience"
is the title of a thoughtful editorial in the April issue of The Physics Teacher. Nearly half of our students can't distinguish
between science and pseudoscience. Data
show, for instance, that around 40% of high school graduates admit to believing
in astrology. At least as many believe
in paranormal phenomena such as telepathy and extraterrestrial visitations. What has gotten our
attention are the recent efforts to require the teaching of pseudoscience, such
as creative design, in science classes. Over the years we have learned a great deal about ways of teaching that dispel
all sorts of student misconceptions. We
should now begin to direct more of our effort and expertise toward
pseudoscience.
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Contrary
to popular belief, many well-prepared underrepresented minority students,
including both men and women, are interested in pursuing scientific or
engineering careers, according to a forum article in the 31 March issue of Science. In 2005, the same percentage (44%) of African-American and Caucasian
college-bound high school students indicated their intent to major in science
and engineering fields. Many students
with high SAT scores, impressive grades, and success in high school leave the college
science pipeline, but the loss is disproportionately high among women and
minorities. Thus other factors, such as
cultural isolation, motivation and performance vulnerability must be causing underrepresented
minority students from continuing in science and engineering.
The Meyerhoff Scholars Program focuses on
producing bachelor's degree recipients, particularly African-Americans, who go
on to doctoral programs in science and engineering.
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"Putting
children off physics" is the title of an article in the November issue of Physics World that discusses some of the
shortcomings of textbooks. The author
believes that inadequate textbooks are partly to blame for the steady decline
in the number of pupils taking physics at school. The blame for the deficiencies, she notes,
should perhaps be directed less to the authors of the textbooks than to the
peculiarities of the curriculum. The
sensible desire to give pupils a greater general understanding of astronomy,
geology and environmental problems is in danger of elbowing out explanations of
basic physics.
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"Is the (NSF) Education Directorate Headed for
a Failing Grade?" asks an article in the 24 February issue of Science. Although President Bush told science students in Dallas that the United
States "needs a workforce strong in engineering and science and physics" to remain
the world's top economic power, three days later he unveiled a 2007 budget
request that would cut-for the third straight year-a program at NSF aimed at
doing exactly that. The decline of the
Math and Science Partnerships program is one of many problems facing NSF's
Education and Human Resources (EHR) directorate. EHR has been run for more than a year by a
temporary head after its top official, Judith Ramaley, was denied an
opportunity to stay on. (See following item).
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In
the 7 April issue of Science is a
letter to the editor from Bruce Alberts, former president of the National
Academy of Sciences, entitled "Evaluating Education Effectiveness." The letter is an attempt to clear up a
misconception readers might derive from the News Focus story "Is the education
directorate headed for a failing grade?" (see previous
item) which appeared in the February issue. In the story Alberts is quoted as saying "Maybe NSF education programs
need to be rethought." In fact, Alberts
points out that he believes that NSF education programs have been instrumental
in creating a series of outstanding curricula for school science. What he wanted to suggest was that NSF
rethink its requirement for formal project evaluations with greater attention
to what does and does not work, and why. He also questioned an NSF tradition of discontinuing even the best
programs after 5 years with the expectation that school districts (or others)
will be able to cover the expense of continuing the programs thereafter.
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An article
in the 26 March issue of The New York
Times reports that a survey to be released later this week on narrowing the
curriculum finds that since No Child Left Behind was passed in 2001, 71% of the
nation's 15,000 school districts have reduced the hours of instructional time
in history, science, music, and other subjects to open up more time for reading
and math. "The intense focus on the two basic skills is a sea change in American
instructional practice, with many schools that once offered rich curriculums
now systematically trimming courses like social studies, science and art,"
writes reporter Sam Dillon. The article reports the many ways district
administrators are attempting to shore up their math and reading instruction,
often barring students from taking anything but these subjects.
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Twenty-five
foreign graduate students in science and engineering will receive generous scholarships
under a new
U.S. program designed to dispel fears that
tighter security following 9/11 has discouraged the world's
best and brightest from studying in the United States, according to a story in the 27 January
issue of Science. The Fulbright Awards program takes the name
of the prestigious intellectual exchange program between the United States and some 150 countries begun after World
War II. The awards are part of a
proposed spending boost for academic exchanges in the president's 2007 budget
request to Congress. Students will be
chosen in a global competition rather than through the traditional bilateral
agreements and they will be funded for longer than the typical 3 years.
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The
April issue of American Journal of
Physics is a theme issue on Teaching Electricity and Magnetism. It includes papers on experiments in
electricity and magnetism, electromagnetic radiation, theoretical aspects of
electricity and magnetism, curriculum development in electricity and magnetism,
and problems in electricity and magnetism as well as an editorial by the
editors of the issue.
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The
author of a book written to help high school students improve their math SAT
scores was one of 11 recipients honored with an IEEE Educational Activities
Board Award in November, according to the 4 January issue of The Institute Online. Philip Keller, a physics and math teacher at Holmdel High School in New Jersey, received one of three Pre-university
Educator Awards for "inspiring a generation of students to excel in science, mathematics,
and engineering. Keller also developed
many simulations for the award-winning educational software program,
Interactive Physics.
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A
promised 10-year doubling for NSF, NIST, and energy research would be offset by
no growth for NIH and NASA in President Bush's spending request for 2007,
according to an article in the 10 February issue of Science. In a lean budget
year, says presidential science adviser John Marburger, scientists should be
grateful for any increases. The 14% rise
at the DOE Office of Science and the 7.9% boost for NSF, he says, represent "high-priority
areas..that will create technologies to improve
U.S. competitiveness."
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John
Rigden, former chair of the APS Forum on the History of Physics, was asked "What
are three best popular-science books?" His selections, according to the Shelf life column in the October issue
of Physics World, were Arthur
Koestler's The Sleepwalkers, Steven Weinberg's
The First Three Minutes, and Thomas
Kuhn's The Copernican Revolution. In response to the question "What science
books are you currently reading?" Rigden cited Philip Kitcher's Science, Truth, and Democracy. "I just finished J. Robert Oppenheimer: The American Prometheus
by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, and am now reading The Evolution-Creation Struggle by Michael Ruse," he said.
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Foreign
students flooded
U.S. graduate schools with applications this
winter, reversing a 2-year decline, according to a story in the 31 March issue
of Science. The annual survey by the Council of Graduate
Schools found that international graduate applications for the 2006-07 academic
year rose by 11% over the previous year, with particularly significant
increases in Chinese and Indian applicants. All fields enjoyed a boost, although life sciences and engineering led
the way with 16% and 17% increases, respectively. University administrators have blamed the
2003-05 downturn in large part on tighter immigration
policies following the 2001 terrorist attacks and perceptions that the United States was less welcoming of foreigners. However, applications from Middle Eastern
students have risen steadily for the past 3 years, by 4%, 7%, and 4%. Many institutions have strengthened their
recruiting efforts.
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EuroPhysicsFun,
an alliance of 18 European member groups, has received funding from the
European Union (EU) according to the March 17 edition of their newsletter. EuroPhysicsFun (http://www.europhysicsfun.org/home.php?pageid=3)
arranges physics demonstrations in
Europe
and elsewhere, and their newsletter has many good ideas for demonstration
experiments.
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