Assessing the Effectiveness of a New Course in Math and Science Education in Recruiting Math and Science Majors into Education
1. Context of the Work
Recent national reports, such as the 2002 Glenn Commission Report [1] and the 2007 report Rising Above the Gathering Storm [2], by the National Academies, warn that the weakening of science and technology in the United States will decrease the nation's ability to remain economically competitive in an increasingly technological and interdependent world. To remedy this situation, the later report makes a number of recommendations, first of which is to increase the number of highly qualified math and science teachers in the nation. At present, large numbers of math and science teachers are not fully certified in the subjects they teach.
In the context of a large university, the Uteach program, developed at the University of Texas, is providing a successful model of how to increase the number of students becoming certified in math and science.
In this report, we discuss an effort in the context of a Liberal Arts College to increase the number of students becoming certified in math and science. This initiative involved creating a new education course, one with a specific focus on math and science education (titled Changing Pedagogies in Math and Science Education). The course targeted math and science majors and aimed to encourage them to consider pursuing careers in education.
This small college (enrollment roughly 1300 undergraduates) runs an education program in collaboration with a neighboring college. The program offers a minor (no major) in education as well as secondary certification in a range of fields, although only a small number of students undertake certification each year. None of the members of the education program is a specialist in math or science education and the program did not offer a course focused specifically on these topics. A large proportion of the students at the college (roughly 40%) major in math or science but only one to two students a year certify in secondary math or science teaching. In 2001-2002, a mathematics faculty member at the college, in collaboration with a science education faculty member from a nearby college, developed the course Changing Pedagogies in Math and Science Education. With support from the MSP program, this course has been offered in alternating years since then.
The goals of the course were to:
The course introduces math and science majors to developments in modern math and science education; it is not a methods course. It examines math and science education from the perspective of learning theory as discussed in the book, How People Learn [3]. Students learn about a variety of research-based pedagogical approaches; topics have included cooperative learning, formative assessment, and new curricula such as the Everyday Math Program, FOSS science kits, Interactive Mathematics Program and Modeling Physics.
The course has a service-learning component: students spend 4 hours a week with a local teacher who is involved in some aspect of math/science educational change. They observe the class but also assist the teacher and her students. The field placement allows students to see how the topics they are learning about in the course play out in a real classroom. A range of local math and science educators give guest presentations to the class discussing their experiences.
Students were recruited into the course by a variety of means: the course was listed among the education course offerings; a flier about the course was handed out at Education Program information sessions; and math and science faculty were notified about the course, asked to announce it in their courses and particularly asked to encourage students with an interest in math and science education to take the course.
In the context of a large university, the Uteach program, developed at the University of Texas, is providing a successful model of how to increase the number of students becoming certified in math and science.
In this report, we discuss an effort in the context of a Liberal Arts College to increase the number of students becoming certified in math and science. This initiative involved creating a new education course, one with a specific focus on math and science education (titled Changing Pedagogies in Math and Science Education). The course targeted math and science majors and aimed to encourage them to consider pursuing careers in education.
This small college (enrollment roughly 1300 undergraduates) runs an education program in collaboration with a neighboring college. The program offers a minor (no major) in education as well as secondary certification in a range of fields, although only a small number of students undertake certification each year. None of the members of the education program is a specialist in math or science education and the program did not offer a course focused specifically on these topics. A large proportion of the students at the college (roughly 40%) major in math or science but only one to two students a year certify in secondary math or science teaching. In 2001-2002, a mathematics faculty member at the college, in collaboration with a science education faculty member from a nearby college, developed the course Changing Pedagogies in Math and Science Education. With support from the MSP program, this course has been offered in alternating years since then.
The goals of the course were to:
- encourage math and science majors to pursue careers in math and science education, either at the secondary level or at the post-secondary level;
- provide a focused experience in math and science education for those students already targeting careers in education; and
- prepare students to be future advocates for educational reform.
The course introduces math and science majors to developments in modern math and science education; it is not a methods course. It examines math and science education from the perspective of learning theory as discussed in the book, How People Learn [3]. Students learn about a variety of research-based pedagogical approaches; topics have included cooperative learning, formative assessment, and new curricula such as the Everyday Math Program, FOSS science kits, Interactive Mathematics Program and Modeling Physics.
The course has a service-learning component: students spend 4 hours a week with a local teacher who is involved in some aspect of math/science educational change. They observe the class but also assist the teacher and her students. The field placement allows students to see how the topics they are learning about in the course play out in a real classroom. A range of local math and science educators give guest presentations to the class discussing their experiences.
Students were recruited into the course by a variety of means: the course was listed among the education course offerings; a flier about the course was handed out at Education Program information sessions; and math and science faculty were notified about the course, asked to announce it in their courses and particularly asked to encourage students with an interest in math and science education to take the course.
