Workshops: Introduction

Introduction

In order for scientists, engineers and science outreach professionals to play an effective role in science education reform, they must first be educated about science education. Such efforts are presently underway. The National Science Resources Center began a series of week-long Working Conferences for Scientists and Engineers, the first of which was held in March, 1992 at the California Institute of Technology. The American Physical Society, under the direction of Ramon Lopez, has developed a series of Leadership Institutes which bring together teams of scientists and educators to improve science education on a local level. Organizations such as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the American Astronomical Society have offered one-day science education workshops at annual meetings of these organizations.

"I now view effective science education partnerships between scientists and precollege education science teachers in a completely different light -- as the only hope for lasting systemic change in precollege science education and, therefore, as an important national priority for the United States."

-- Bruce Alberts, President, National Academy of Sciences, 1993

Studies such as the National Science Board's Educating Americans for the Twenty-First Century [1983], the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Benchmarks for Science Literacy [1993], and the National Science Teachers Association's Scope, Sequence and Coordination Project [1992], make a number of recommendations for reforming science education. The successful implementation of fundamental changes in science education will depend on collaboration and the development of effective coalitions of specialists from a variety of different fields. Working teams of scientists and educators must be established in which each group brings its own expertise and experience as an equal partner to transform ideas developed in recent studies into working models of curriculum, teacher education, and teaching materials and technologies.