{"id":58,"date":"2006-10-05T17:23:14","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T21:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=58"},"modified":"2008-08-05T10:49:23","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T14:49:23","slug":"nobels-are-great-but-what-about-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=58","title":{"rendered":"Nobels are great, but what about education?"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, America has dominated this year’s Nobel prizes. Outstanding. But there is also warranted concern over the future, and I’m glad this article focused on that<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The American sweep of Nobel Prizes in science this year has filled the nation’s science educators with pride over what’s done well in labs and classrooms – and angst over what’s not.<\/p>\n

“We are the best in the world at what we do at the top end, and we are mediocre – or worse – at the bottom end,” said Jon Miller, of Michigan State University, who studies the role of science in American society.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Science advocates said the American public shows a poor grasp of science when they engage important issues like stem cell funding or global warming. They said there aren’t enough qualified American technicians to help turn basic science into marketable products.<\/p>\n

A 2002 survey by the National Science Foundation found that half the public didn’t know that electrons are smaller than atoms or that dinosaurs and humans never walked the earth together.<\/p>\n

That’s because science education for most children is second-rate, especially between kindergarten and 12th grade, said science advocates. Below-average students study “pond biology and old science,” Miller said.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“I think that in science we’re still king of the hill, but we’re going to have a lot of challenges in the decade ahead,” said Vest, who has served on committees studying the quality of American education.<\/p>\n

To compete well with other economies, the United States should improve training of science teachers, fund the curriculum more reliably, and perhaps require four years of science in all high schools, experts said.<\/p>\n

“Our 53 million kids in this country are not suddenly going to jump up and pay attention because some scientist got a Nobel Prize in gene transcription,” said Gerry Wheeler, a nuclear physicist who heads the National Science Teachers Association.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, America has dominated this year’s Nobel prizes. Outstanding. But there is also warranted concern over the future, and I’m glad this article focused on that. The American sweep of Nobel Prizes in science this year has filled the nation’s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":871,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=871","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":0},"title":"Lawmaker wants to dump 11th grade science FCAT","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, House Bill 543, \"Educational Assessment\", was filed by Representative Debbie Mayfield (R). The bill text indicates that Mayfield would like to see a major change to the science FCAT. Notwithstanding s. 1008.22, Florida Statutes, or any other provision of the law to the contrary, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCAT"","block_context":{"text":"FCAT","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":146,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=146","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":1},"title":"Science FCAT … all for nothing?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This story about the science FCAT is a mixed bag. It's sad kids have to be essentially bribed in order to give schools any hope of not nosediving in scores. Ipods, prom tickets, limo rides -- the prizes offered at American one morning last week are meant to motivate 11th-graders\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCAT"","block_context":{"text":"FCAT","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":161,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=161","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":2},"title":"Florida math-science education research","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We here at Florida Citizens for Science have been following this fairly closely. We were actually rooting for another university to get the one year grant, but you certainly can't always win when politics are involved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A Nobel laureate will head a new state center that Gov.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1707","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":3},"title":"10.8.12 This & That","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"-- Yup, I know. U.S. Representative from Georgia Paul Broun is on a science committee and yet denies basic science: \"All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell,\" he said. But did you\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":535,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=535","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":4},"title":"Media Alert","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The following two media alerts are being sent out to news outlets statewide: First one is notice of a press conference and the second is a notice of a Public Roundtable Discussion. Reporters are encouraged to visit the Florida Citizens for Science Media Page. ** NEWS CONFERENCE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c MONDAY 4\/14\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":967,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=967","url_meta":{"origin":58,"position":5},"title":"A Better Way of Understanding Science","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"March 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"At the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, Berkeley's Judy Scotchmoor introduced a new web resource called Understanding Science that's intended to change the way that the nature and process of science are presented to students. \u00c2\u00a0Scotchmoor of UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology described the site in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=967#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}