Wednesday, August 29, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
5
Science education in Sisters
By Robert Collins, M.D.
President, Sisters Science Club
Science is simply a way
of exploring our world. With
careful and rigorous instruc-
tion, Sisters students can
develop skills of discovery
and ways of analyzing evi-
dence that will last a lifetime.
But for teachers to identify
what students need to know
and the best ways to help
them learn is complicated and
rapidly changing.
The challenge of science
education became national
news in 2012 when the
Department of Homeland
Security announced that for-
eign students graduating with
a degree in any of 400 col-
lege programs could have
their visas extended. These
programs were in the fields
of science, technology, engi-
neering, and math. With this
new policy, the catchy acro-
nym for these 400 programs,
‘STEM,’ took on real force.
But the problem it addressed
was real. An international test
of scientific competency of
15-year-olds revealed that the
U.S. ranked near the bottom,
23rd of 30 countries. Simply
put: there were insufficient
well-trained American stu-
dents to fill the workforce.
Foreign students with STEM
education could stay.
The importance of STEM
education is easy to state:
Our knowledge-based
economy is driven by constant
innovation. The foundation of
innovation lies in a dynamic,
motivated and well-educated
workforce equipped with
STEM skills. The fruition of
innovation requires vision and
leadership. Currently, there
are only four statesmen at the
state and national level with
education in STEM.
So far, rolling out compre-
hensive STEM education has
been difficult; indeed, there
has been no agreement among
educators on what constitutes
acceptable curriculum for
K-12 students to prepare them
for a STEM field of study in
college. Individual lesson
plans are offered at national
conferences, in books, and
online. Some teachers and
schools adopt them. Many
hold back, seeing STEM as
the latest trendy new thing
in education. And problems
have emerged. As yet, there is
no equitable opportunity for
all students. Biases have been
exposed against minorities
and women. Engineering has
received little to no attention.
The art community wants
to add an “A” for STEAM.
Language education advo-
cates suggest STREAM by
adding an “R” for reading.
Chaos, not clarity.
In 2015, the State of
Oregon (House Bill 3072)
took up the challenge and
created six regional STEM
hubs charged to define educa-
tional goals, identify critical
elements, and create linkages
between educators and com-
munities. The hubs have no
resources or programs them-
selves, but are chartered to
build partnerships between
educators and business
leaders and leverage their
resources to increase STEM
So far, rolling out
comprehensive STEM
education has been
difficult...
activities. It is too early
to know if this “collective
impact model” will work. The
Central Oregon STEM Hub
in Redmond (www.central
oregonstem.org) acts primar-
ily as an information clearing
house for STEM activities in
schools. Additionally, high-
tech businesses like Intel,
Vernier and Garmin now offer
prizes for students at sci-
ence fairs in the communities
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In July 2011, The National
Research Council released
the first draft of a new K-12
curriculum called Next
Generation Science Standards
(NGSS). Over the next
two years, individual states
including Oregon worked
with national leadership to
bring these to adoption, now
achieved in 19 of the 40
states that have shown inter-
est. Resistance still exists in
some state legislatures who
oppose teaching the facts
of evolution and climate
change.
The new NGSS standards
are a major departure from
the prior 20 years of teach-
ing science, where the focus
was on students memorizing
“nerdy facts.” NGSS takes its
origin from observations of
innate human curiosity and
wonder that emerge early in
life — infants see something
of interest and explore it with
their senses. They later learn
to ask questions — what is it?
How does it work? Why does
this happen? And still later –
how do I know the answer is
correct?
NGSS places its greatest
emphasis on teaching scien-
tific practices: asking ques-
tions, defining problems,
carrying out investigations
with others, interpreting data,
designing solutions, arguing
from evidence, evaluating
and communicating informa-
tion. Students learn science
by doing science — not by
memorizing facts that are now
readily available on the Web.
These processes are taught by
examining core ideas in life
sciences, physical sciences,
earth and space science, engi-
neering and technology.
The NGSS curriculum is
cumulative K-12, each grade
building on what has come
before. The overarching goal
is for every high school grad-
uate to be literate in science.
A subset of students who have
interest in lifelong learning
and possess aptitude to pursue
STEM beyond high school
will find a ready job market
with twice the pay level of
other careers.
Science education in the
Sisters School District is
See SCIENCE on page 8
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