Pre‐College Physics Education Programs from the Research Community
DOI: 10.1063/1.881274
With the 1980s came the recognition that a crisis is developing in American education and in science and mathematics education in particular. Thus one goal coming out of President Bush’s 1989 Education Summit is that “US students will be first in the world in science and mathematics” by the year 2000. Here we consider the response of three sectors of the physics research community—the professional scientific societies, the national laboratories (see figure 1) and industry—and survey the programs they offer for pre‐college students and teachers. There are too many such programs for our treatment to be comprehensive and so we have chosen a representative selection. These same organizations also have many projects that deal with curriculum reform and teaching materials, as Gerhard Salinger discusses in his article on page 39. The box on page 50 summarizes the activities open to the individual researcher.
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References
1. “A Nation at Risk: The Importance of Education Reform,” Natl. Commission on Excellence in Education, US Department of Education, Washington, D.C. (1983).
2. “Science Achievement in Seventeen Countries: A Preliminary Report,” Int. Assoc. for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Pergamon, New York (1988).
3. H. L. Hodgkinson, All One System: Demographics of Education, Kindergarten through Graduate School, Inst. for Educational Leadership, Washington, D.C. (1985).
4. America 2000: An Education Strategy Sourcebook, US Department of Education, Washington, D.C. (1991).
5. For a report on the Physics Teacher Resource Agent Program, as well as names of the PTRAs in your area, write to: AAPT, 5112 Berwyn Rd., College Park, MD 20740.
6. To receive the CHIC newsletter, write to: Peter Lindenfeld, Editor, CHIC Newsletter, APS, 335 East 45th St., New York, NY 10017.
7. Bull. Am. Phy. Soc. 36, 1715 (June 1991); https://doi.org/BAPSA6
36, 1888 (July/August 1991).8. “Math/Science Education Action Conference Report,” US Department of Energy, Natl. Technical Information Services, Springfield, Va. (1990).
9. Laboratory‐Based Science Education Programs, US Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. (1991). For a listing of DOE laboratory programs, write to: University and Science Education Programs, Office of Energy Research, US Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S. W., Washington, DC 20585.
10. For more information, contact Marie L. Earl, Executive Director, Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education, c/o Deskin Research Group, 2270 Agnew Road, Santa Clara, CA 95054, (408) 496‐5340.
More about the Authors
Brian B. Schwartz. Brooklyn College of the City, University of New York.
James J. Wynne. IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York.
