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Re: College nowadays - What "should" students know?

I agree- and that's my goal. Since I teach elem. ed majors, I believe my
main purpose is to 1) get my students past their original dislike/fear of
science and math, and 2) instill an interest and enthusiasm so they will
actually teach science and teach it well in elementary schools.

[Of course I also teach the content, and get them to a point where they can
find what they don't know, and think their way out of a paper bag. I have
two semesters to give them everything they will need in chemistry, physics,
geology and astronomy, so the content is sparse. Mainly I teach the
basics, and how to research and find the rest.]

We do a service learning project in one semester of the course. I call it
the STEAS peoject, Student and Teachers Excited About Science. My students
plan lessons and go into local elem. classrooms 3-4 times in the semester
and teach science lessons. Their goal is not only to teach solid content,
but to get the little kids, *and their teacher* excited about doing
science. That means they must be well prepared, clean everything up before
they leave, in addition to keeping the energy level up, etc.

I emphasize that every kid is a scientist, in that every kid observes the
world around him/her and tries to figure it out, and that's science in my
mind. too often elem teachers wring the life out of it by having the kids
read from their text book once a week if that, and then test on vocabulary
and call it science.

I'm doing what I can to change the world, one future teacher at a time.
The good news (or bad news, depending on your point of view) is they have
to pass 2 semesters with me before they can get an el ed degree from
clemson, and we supply about 70% of the teachers in SC. Give me a lever
and a place to stand!



This is what should be happening from K-8. If this were done, then by
grades 11-12 we might expect some more 'serious' physics to be done with a
view towards preparing those students going to College (which are 70%--from
another thread) to be able to handle College level physics*. To say this
another way: If we had really good science courses in the elementary and
middle schools, then we could have HS physics courses at the level we are
now seeing our Intro College courses retreating towards. The College
courses could then return to the levels of 'yesteryear'. We wouldn't be in
the dillemma of whether to cut way back on the content of these intro
courses because the majority of the students need to be intensely confronted
with basic conceptual ideas such as the meaning of acceleration, Newton's
Laws of Motion, the basic gravitational force law, etc., etc.

Whatever the cause--poorer preparation or just a broader range of students
(due to more students), we seem to be moving towards a situation where it
will require a Master's degree to have gained the knowledge and skills that
a Bachelor's degree once indicated. IMO, to reverse this trend, we have to
start back at the beginning and upgrade the educational process from
Kindergarten upwards--and, heaven forbid, may actually need to 'track'
students according to their abilities.

*Of course the vast majority of HS students do not take College Physics, and
for them, your comments hold. Unfortunately, not all HS programs can
separate the future science/engineering students from the future
accounting/history majors. Better to aim high for all--IMO.

Rick


Dr. Lois Breur Krause
Department of Geological Sciences
442 Brackett Hall
Clemson University
Clemson SC 29634

teaching chemistry, physics, astronomy and geology to elementary education
majors.

How We Learn and Why We Don't: Student Survival Guide,
available from International Thompson Publishing, ISBN 0324-011970

http://home.earthlink.net/~breurkrause

krause@clemson.edu