My education in Washington, DC1993 to 2005

A sudden shift from science to science policy

U.S. National Academy of Sciences Charter (1863)

“The academy shall, whenever called uponby any department of the government,investigate, examine… and report upon anysubject of science or art ,… but the Academyshall receive no compensation whatsoeverfor any services to the government of the United States”.

How the Academies work to promote the use of science for wise decision making

I will give you two examples

Conclusion:

No evidence that these fields are dangerous

Conclusion:

Good evidence that very low levels of arsenic are dangerous

Why scientific judgments like these are crucial for policymakers

• Science has allowed humans to gain a deep understanding of the natural world.

• In many cases, we can therefore predict the effects of current actions on the future.

Independent policy advice from the National Academies

• More than 200 reports a year, 85 percent requested by the US

government

• Full text released to the press, and to the public on our Website, when report is delivered to government

Why does it work?

• Our government prides itself on “basing decisions on the best science”.

• Both sides of an argument usually claim to have science supporting it. The Academies present the overwhelming consensus on each issue.

• Through a rigorous report review processes, we have made a great effort to avoid non-scientific statements, as required to be seen as a neutral advisor.

• The US press pays attention to what the National Academies say, which puts pressure on government to respond.

www.NAP.eduFree full text of 4000 books on-line, accessible

through powerful search engine.

What I learned in 12 years in Washington

It is critically important that science, and scientists, achieve a much higher degree of influence, throughout both their nations and

the world.

In particular, we need much more of the creativity, rationality, openness, and tolerance

that are inherent to science --- what Indian Prime Minister Nehru called

a “scientific temper” -- for both the US and all other nations

The society of scientists is simple because it has a directing purpose: to explore the truth. Nevertheless, it has to solve the problem of every society, which is to find a compromise between the individual and the group. It must encourage the single scientist to be independent, and the body of scientists to be tolerant. From these basic conditions, which form the prime values, there follows step by step a range of values: dissent, freedom of thought and speech, justice, honor, human dignity and self respect.  

Science has humanized our values. Men have asked for freedom, justice and respect precisely as the scientific spirit has spread among them.

Jacob Bronowski, Science and Human Values, 1956

My favorite quote

To generate a scientific temper for a nation, we need good science education for all

18,000 reviewers

250 pages

Requested by the 50 state governors, this is what I spent half my time on at the US National Academies, from 1993-1995

An emphasis on active inquiry

What science should look like in school

What 5 year olds can do

1) Put on clean white socks and walk around school yard.

2) In class, collect all black specks stuck to socks and try to classify them: which are seeds and which are dirt?

3) Start by examining each speck with a 3 dollar, plastic “microscope”.

4) End by planting both those specks believed to be dirt and those believed to be seeds, thereby testing their own idea that the regularly shaped ones are seeds.

The VisionImagine an education that includes solving hundreds

of such challenges over the course of the 13 years of schooling that lead to high school graduation – challenges that increase in difficulty as the children age. Outstanding curricula of this type already exist, having been developed and refined in the United States for 50 years.

I believe that children who are prepared for life in this way would be great problem solvers in the workplace, with the abilities and the can-do attitude that are needed to be competitive in the global economy.

Even more important, they will also be more rational human beings – people who are able to make wise judgments for their family, their community, and their nation.

The disaster that followed the 1996 Standards

• With little expertise and much politics, the states went on to produce their own standards for science education, often paying little attention to the National Science Education Standards

• Tremendous time is now wasted by curriculum developers attempting to make their textbooks and other materials match the needs of multiple states.

• The diversity of standards prevents any national effort to make high-quality assessments (tests of student learning).

• The “nail in the coffin” has been No Child Left Behind rules and high stakes testing.

A scholarly 2007 update of

the National Science

Education Standards,

emphasizing what has been learned from

research in the subsequent

decade

How can the US recover?

This important report claims that students who are proficient in science should be expected to:

1. Know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world.

2. Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations.

3. Understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge.

4. Participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.

 Each of the above four strands of science education are judged to be of equal importance!

Note that strands 2 and 4 can ONLY be taught through active inquiry

1. Know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world.

2. Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations.

3. Understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge.

4. Participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.  

Some advantages of meeting this challenge

1. Retaining the curiosity and energy for learning that young children bring to kindergarten, throughout all their years of schooling.

2. Giving many more children a chance to excel at something in the classroom (critical for their motivation).

3. Creating a nation of “can-do” problem solvers, who also understand and appreciate how science works – respecting its judgments on critical issues such as climate change.

4. Insulating the next generation from scams, TV rant, and talk radio!

 

In 2009, finally, new widespread recognition that the current, chaotic system does not work!

The 50 state Governors call for Common Standards

The Common Standards Framework from the National Academies

July 2011

New emphases in the Framework

To remove a major barrier to progress at both the precollege and post-college

(graduate school) levels, science education at the college level must change

Facultiesof Arts &SciencesTeachers

Unions

Colleges ofEducation

Parents

State andNational Exams

State Boards,School Districts

SchoolAdministrators

TextbookPublishers

Politicians

Students

An Important Barrier to Progress

The traditional lecture format allows a single professor to “batch process” many hundreds of students through an introductory science class.

Can we create much better alternatives without a great increase in cost?

Learning to use “clickers” at a summer workshop for teams of Biology 1 teachers at University of Wisconsin

(Jo Handelsman and Bill Wood, co-organizers))

Interactive, “no lecture” science classroom University of Minnesota

(22 tables, each with 9 chairs, two computers, overhead screen)

My current obsession

Using science and Science to create more coherence in the field of education

To spread science, we will need scientifically trained people in all professions

• These individuals are invaluable for connecting our scientific community to the very different cultures of government, pre-college education, law, the media, business, etc.

• Note the enormous success of the AAAS fellowships that now bring over 150 scientifically trained young people to government positions in Washington for a year!

Scientific community Congress, or

Government agency

What I saw in Washington: strong interactions between individuals with a science background can

bridge cultures

California Legislature’s Science and Technology Policy Fellows

Changing the way we define the “scientific community”

Today

PublicScience

Journalistsetc.

ScienceTeachers

Government

Scientists

Enlargedscientificcommuni

ty

Tomorrow

Science Teachers

Science Journalists

etc.

Government

PublicScientists

For the world to benefit from science, we must keep science healthy!