Sunday, August 04, 2002

Here's an article that identifies a real problem and then misses the point...Give PhDs Teaching Fellowships? The basic idea is to encourage PhD level scientists to teach in the public school system because the level of science teaching there is so bad. They leapt right over half the solution, didn't they? The bad science teaching is certainly obvious, but I hardly think a PhD is a requirement for improvement . Most  science teachers (particularly in middle schools, where student interest in science often goes to die) don't even have a Bachelor's degree in a science. Some don't have more than a couple required courses. ANY SCIENCE DEGREE AT ALL WOULD HELP, including Associates degrees and academic minors. Here's what you do: Require at least an associates degree in a science: physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, anthropology, etc. Get rid of teachers who have degrees only in education. You don't have to fire anybody, just insist that they start taking courses toward such a degree. Not watered down "for non-majors only" courses, either. The real thing. Stop reassigning Phys Ed and underutilized humanities teachers to science departments (you'd be surprised how often this happens). Develop working relationships with local companies and other organizations who can provide real-world advice, guest lecturers, and science equipment. This is the place to get the PhD level people. They're more likely to be geared toward research in their day-to-day jobs, but are often very willing to help out occasionally in a school. Many companies have formal programs to help schools. Use them, and more than once a semester. Cutting class sizes in half wouldn't hurt, either, but I digress. 8:44:14 AM     searchengineblog.com - a weblog about search engines. Not entertaining, just useful. 8:01:03 AM     Without further comment: Momentary Lapses of Dilution 7:58:13 AM     Missing Matter: commentary and news on all sorts of ideas, heavy on the scientific ones. 7:50:26 AM     Tech news weblog: Corante 7:44:49 AM

© Copyright 2002 Gail Marsella. Last update: 10/2/02; 7:10:40 AM.

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