My thanks to James Stevenson (2007) for prompting me to clarify my
post "The U.S. Education Crisis: Manufactured or Real?" [Hake
(2007a)]. In his Chemed-L post of 24 Mar 2007 14:49:49-0500 he wrote
[bracketed by lines "SSSSSS. . . ."]:
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I commend you for sifting through the 40000+ but what is your point?
Presentation of diverse viewpoints is not sufficient for me to want
to sift through that which came through your sifter.
Basic questions:
1. Where do you stand on the question: Manufactured or Real?
2. (To help me to know how to stand on the issue) Should there be a
concern if the majority of the people in my chemistry class (who
allegedly have had math and chemistry in high school) have to pull
out a calculator to divide 428 by 10?
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
IN ANSWER TO QUESTION #1: "WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THE QUESTION:
MANUFACTURED OR REAL?":
In Hake (2007a), I wrote [see that post for references other than Hake (2000)]:
"Having sifted through [41,600 hits Google hits] ;-) and added a few
more, I should like to recommend [in addition to Berliner & Biddle
(1996) and Steadman (1996)] the following collection of diverse
viewpoints: Ansary (2007), Bracy (2003), Bransford et al. (2000),
Brown & Brown (2007), COSEPUP (2005), Donovan & Bransford (2005),
EdWeek (2007), **Hake (2000)**, Holton (1986), NCOE (1983), Peterson
(2003), Schmidt et al. (2001), Valverde et al. (2002), and Wittmann
(2007)."
If you'll scan Hake (2000) referenced in the passage above, you'll
find that I think the education crises is REAL.
IN ANSWER TO QUESTION #2: "SHOULD THERE BE A CONCERN IF THE MAJORITY
OF THE PEOPLE IN MY CHEMISTRY CLASS (WHO ALLEGEDLY HAVE HAD MATH AND
CHEMISTRY IN HIGH SCHOOL) HAVE TO PULL OUT A CALCULATOR TO DIVIDE
428 BY 10?"
Most definitely YES! But who's responsible for ineffective
math/science education in K-12? As indicated in "Should We Measure
Change? Yes!" [Hake (2007b):
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
. . . could it be that the U.S. education system is so singularly
resistant to change because, in part, higher education has failed to
properly educate prospective K-12 teachers and administrators? The
NSF's (1996) report "Shaping the Future" hit the nail on the head [my
insert at ". . . [insert]. . ."]:
"Many faculty in SME&T. . . .[Science, Mathematics, Engineering, &
Technology]. . . at the postsecondary level continue to blame the
schools for sending underprepared students to them. But,
increasingly. . .[but not conspicuously]. . . the higher education
community has come to recognize the fact that **teachers and
principals in the K-12 system are all people who have been educated
at the undergraduate level, mostly in situations in which SME&T
programs have not taken seriously enough their vital part of the
responsibility for the quality of America's teachers.**
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>
REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 2000. "Is it Finally Time to Implement Curriculum S?" AAPT
Announcer 30(4), 103; online
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/CurrS-031501.pdf> (1.2 MB) -
400 references & footnotes, 390 hot-linked URL's. This paper
concerns improving the education of undergraduate physics majors by
instituting a "Curriculum S" for "Synthesis." But because that's a
small part of a much larger educational problem in the U.S. there's a
lot of material on the reform of P-16 education generally (P =
preschool).
Hake, R.R. 2007a. "The U.S. Education Crisis: Manufactured or Real?" online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0703&L=pod&F=&S=&P=16796>.
Post of 22March to AERA-A,B,C,J,K,L; AP-Physics, ARN-L; ASSESS;
Chemed-L; EdResMeth; EvalTalk, Phys-L; Physhare; PhysLrnR;
PsychTeacher (rejected :-(); TeachingEdPsych; & TIPS.
Hake, R.R. 2007b. "Should We Measure Change? Yes!" online as ref. 43
at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>. To appear as a chapter in
"Evaluation of Teaching and Student Learning in Higher Education," a
Monograph of the American Evaluation Association
<http://www.eval.org/>.
NSF. 1996. National Science Foundation. "Shaping the Future, Volume
II: Perspectives on Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics,
Engineering, and Technology," Advisory Committee to the National
Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources,
chaired by Melvin George, online at
<http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf98128/nsf98128.pdf> (1.8 MB). This
report is one of the few that emphasizes the crucial role of higher
education in determining the quality of K-12 education.
Stevenson, J. 2007. "Re: The U.S. Education Crisis: Manufactured or
Real?" Chemed-L post of 24 Mar 2007 14:49:49-0500; online at
<http://tinyurl.com/2dkudm>.
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