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Does anyone know any political or social issues relating to science in the 20th Century that made a change in public education?
I have heard of two:
(1) The creation vs. evolution debate (Skopes(?) Monky Trial)
(2) The launching of Sputnik
Any others?
Established Member
are you asking science things that changed the way we teach or changed the material? or both?
I like the computer. If there is one thing that i think that has changed recent schools and teaching is the computer. I cannot think of a school that does not have getting computers on the top of its list. Also i know several teachers and they say that they use computers in their teaching all of the time (the web, and programs).
Moderator
I like the computer. If there is one thing that i think that has changed recent schools and teaching is the computer.
Okay, so I'm about to date myself, but...
The hand held calculator, TI50, et al, had a greater impact on education than the computer. The hand held could be carried to class (hard to do with a desk top, although lap tops are getting there). This changed the entire process for teaching advanced mathematical calculations and increased the required accuracy level.
No more "learn the equations," but "learn to program the calculator." No more "ten percent is close enough for engineering," but "ten significant figures."
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Order of Kilopi
Actually one that did not kind of disappointed me was the discovery of 51 Peg B. Tragic, after all these years dreaming about other worlds and the first one discovered gets swept under a rug.
Established Member
No, I'm asking for political or social issues that involve or relate to science that have changed, say, the focus of education or curriculum priorities or methods of teaching.On 2002-10-18 00:43, g99 wrote:
are you asking science things that changed the way we teach or changed the material? or both?
Established Member
Do you mean something like social relativism being constructed from ideas of Einstein's theory of relativity?On 2002-10-18 09:14, nebularain wrote:
No, I'm asking for political or social issues that involve or relate to science that have changed, say, the focus of education or curriculum priorities or methods of teaching.
P.S. Does this belong on the general astonomy board?
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Laser Jock on 2002-10-18 09:40 ]</font>
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That would probably include New Math and Whole Language reading, then. On the other hand, as a kid, a whole lot of our curriculum seemed to focus on the International Geophysical Year, which occurred in 1957.On 2002-10-18 09:14, nebularain wrote:
No, I'm asking for political or social issues that involve or relate to science that have changed, say, the focus of education or curriculum priorities or methods of teaching.
Order of Kilopi
I'm not too clear on your thought as well, but I think "Teaching As a Subversive Activity" is along that line. I will have to hunt down the author, sorry.
The point of the book is that the information revolution has made it necessary to teach how to gain new knowledge rather than just teaching the knowledge itself.
Unfortunately, the education system has been a bit slow to respond and meet this need.
Established Member
What I meant was that the history of American education has been heavily influence by social and political events. Certain things changed the way society and/or legislators viewed the purpose or focus or methodolgy of education. The Scopes Monkey trial was one of those. It caused a change in the science curriculum. The launching of Sputnik caused a change in curiculum focus - more emphasis should be put into math and science in the schools. I was wondering if there were any others.
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Ahhhh....Got it! Thanks! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]On 2002-10-20 18:09, nebularain wrote:
What I meant was that the history of American education has been heavily influence by social and political events. Certain things changed the way society and/or legislators viewed the purpose or focus or methodolgy of education. The Scopes Monkey trial was one of those. It caused a change in the science curriculum. The launching of Sputnik caused a change in curiculum focus - more emphasis should be put into math and science in the schools. I was wondering if there were any others.
I personally think that recently the coming out of the intelegent designers has had a reaction on the way we have taught schools. Due to their insistence Most textbooks do not include evolution and there is a serious push for creationism (or the intelgennt design form of it) to be taught alongside it (but not written about in textbooks). If this does go throught, (which it partly has, try to find evolution even explained in great detail in any modern school textbook.) than science teaching will be revolutionized.
Established Member
Hmmmm....would you count television as one? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I do know a lot of schools use educational TV programs for various lessons, so I guess that could be considered a change. Computer comes to my mind too, as already mentioned. Perhaps all these discoveries on Mars would have an influence too?
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Well, I'm not so sure that television is a social or political issue in that context. But good thought anyway.
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Well, I am a science teacher and I would say that the move toward standards based education would be a big one. The NSES Standards for Science Education came out in 1996 and the Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Education came out in 1993. This has led to the adoption of state science standards as well, many of which are based on the NSES or Project 2061 standards.
As with anything, the standards have good points and bad points. Some schools, it is difficult to get anything taught unless a teacher can use it to check off that they covered a standard.
IMHO, the standards should be seen as a MINIMUM level of science proficiency expected for all students. They should not be used to mark the end of science education when all the boxes have been checked off.
Anyway, I will get off my high horse about standards now [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Rob
Vulcan Administrator
Too many false alarms preceded it, unfortunately.On 2002-10-18 08:56, Doodler wrote:
Actually one that did not kind of disappointed me was the discovery of 51 Peg B. Tragic, after all these years dreaming about other worlds and the first one discovered gets swept under a rug.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Order of Kilopi
Did it influence the Curriculum in the USA? Or are you saying so in terms of the overall cultural impact influencing the educational policies?On 2002-10-18 00:01, nebularain wrote:
(2) The launching of Sputnik
Established Member
Argos - It definantly effected the school curriculum. A greater importance was put into advancing science, math and foreign language. The passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958 by the US Congress, in response to Sputnik, provided financial aid to states to improve instruction in these subjects. It also provided federal loans and fellowships to undergrad and graduate students respectively; if I understand right, this was the first legitimization of fedreal aid to education in the US. There was also a movement to improve the science and math curriculums in the schools to make them more innovative.
That's what I am referring to. Hope that ansers your question.
Order of Kilopi
It does. Thanks friend.On 2002-10-22 22:03, nebularain wrote:
Hope that ansers your question.
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