Re: Supporting vs stifling curiosity

["Michael N. Monce" <mnmon@CONNCOLL.EDU>]

On Mon, 11 Feb 2002, Ed and Laura Eckel wrote:

> Finally, are you mentoring any children in the local schools on science projects?
> How are the kids to get the opportunities to do inquiry if individuals such as
> university and college faculty don't share the true method of doing science?
>
> Ed Eckel
> Georgetown Day School
    Ed has made some excellent points regarding demands on teachers in the
K-12 regime.  I would just answer his question in the same vein for
university and college faculty: We don't do this sort of mentoring because
our "system" says we get rewarded for publication of research.  In most
cases,"research" is defined by "real science", not by education research
by many administrations, tenure and promotion committees, etc.  There is
little reward incentive for mentoring kids in the local schools, so most
faculty find such activity counter-productive to their careers.


                        Mike Monce
                        Connecticut College