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Marburger Discusses Science Teaching
"Teaching is the most important human activity, because so
many things essential for survival need to be learned from others." -
John Marburger, Presidential Science Advisor
John Marburger, the President's Science Advisor and Director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy, spoke about the teaching of
science at the National Science Teachers Association Convention in
March. He discussed his own science teaching experiences, compared
teaching to his previous role as Director of Brookhaven National
Laboratory, and answered a Q&A from science teachers, in which he
addressed the Administration's budget request for programs to improve
math and science teaching. Selected portions of his remarks are quoted
below:
"In safety management, you decide what you want to do, plan
the work, identify the hazards, authorize the work after everyone
agrees on the safest way to do it, and then you check to see if the
way the work actually got done was what you expected. If it was not,
then you change how you do it the next time so you get better each
time you do it. The management experts call this a 'continuous cycle
of improvement.' There's a slogan that goes with it: Plan, Do, Check,
Act.
"Sound familiar? It sounded to me like the way we do
science: Hypothesize, conceive and plan an experiment, perform the
experiment, check to see if the result matches expectations, if not
change the hypothesis and start over. It works! It works for science,
and it works for management, and it ought to work for teaching too.
But sometimes the steps are difficult to perform. In teaching, they
are often very difficult. But we have to do them.
"President Bush cares passionately about teaching and
learning, and he is also a businessman and a successful executive.
That's why he established the President's Management Agenda to
encourage his agencies to adopt good management principles as they
conduct the government's - that is, the people's - business. I agree
with the concept that every productive activity can be managed in the
same general way, and the core elements of that way are summarized in
'Plan, Do, Check, Act.'"
"Any of us could give a lecture, or write a book, about
each one of these challenges, but I would like to conclude with a word
about the fourth step in the cycle of Plan, Do, Check, Act. Action has
always been the most difficult, but it is also the most important. It
is the step that closes the loop; The step that justifies the enormous
investments required for the other three. All four steps are linked
together. What good is assessment if we do not use the data it
produces to make things better? What good is teaching if we do not
take pains to discover if people are learning? What good does it do to
invest in the accumulation of knowledge if we do not pass it
on?
"In our huge system of education, action requires a culture
change vastly greater than anything I was asked to do at Brookhaven.
But the ingredients are the same. One of those ingredients is
leadership. I joined President Bush's team because I was impressed
with his willingness to provide leadership in the big issues
confronting our society. And his leadership in the improvement of
education is matched only by his leadership and determination to win
the war against terrorism. He has established a very high level of
expectation for us, and it is up to us to take advantage of the
conditions he is creating to effect change in this most difficult and
complicated system of education."
Marburger also responded to a series of questions submitted by NSTA
members. Below are portions of his responses addressing federal programs
for math and science education:
"The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to have a
highly- qualified teacher in every public school classroom by the end
of the 2005-2006 school year.... While reaching this goal will require
reform of pre-service training, which is usually conducted in colleges
of Education across the country, it will also require more effective
in-service training and professional development for teachers in the
classroom already. To help states meet this goal, states, districts
and schools will be eligible to receive in 2002 about $3 billion for
teacher training, recruiting and hiring. This represents an increase
of more than 30 percent over the 2001 levels of funding. President
Bush has proposed to sustain this level of funding in his 2003 budget.
Although the categorical Eisenhower program has been eliminated, these
funds continue to exist in the state teacher training grants, and may
result in the expansion of teacher training and professional
development opportunities available to math and science
teachers."
"In his Education Blueprint, No Child Left Behind, the
President proposed a new type of Math and Science Partnership (MSP)
that brings together scientists and mathematicians from institutions
of higher education with teachers and administrators from our primary
and secondary schools to address what needs to be done to revise and
strengthen how these subjects are currently taught in our schools....
It builds on the nation's dedication to educational reform through
support of partnerships that unite the efforts of local schools
districts with science, mathematics, engineering and education
faculties of colleges and universities.... In 2002 the National
Science Foundation (NSF) received $160 million and the Department of
Education (ED) $12.5 million to begin the MSP program. In 2003 the
President requests an additional $40 million for this program for NSF
($200 million total) while keeping the ED request at $12.5 million."
Marburger also highlighted other "exciting new or expanded" NSF
education programs, including a new Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics Talent Expansion Program, a new Robert Noyce Scholarship
Program, and requested increases for the Graduate Teaching Fellowships
in K-12 Education, Graduate Research fellows, and Integrated Graduate
Education and Research Traineeship programs.
The full text of Marburger's remarks at the March 27 NSTA Convention
can be found at http://www.ostp.gov/html/02_04_24.html
and the Q&A at http://www.ostp.gov/html/02_04_24_2.html.
A number of Members of Congress are working to increase the FY 2003
funding for the Education Department Math and Science Partnerships
substantially above the FY 2002 level of $12.5 million. A future FYI
will address these efforts.
Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations
Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301)
209-3094
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