More Reasons for LABRats

Forrest M. Mims III

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has issued yet another discouraging news release on the status of science education in the United States. The report provides more justification for the LABRats program. LABRats was founded by Dr. Shawn Carlson, Executive Director of the Society for Amateur Scientists and a MacArthur Fellow (Fig. 1).

The NSTA report discusses shortfalls in properly trained science educators. According to the report, Nancy Grasmick, the state superintendent of schools for Maryland, has written “We need to interest students in math, science, and technology at a younger age, spark their curiosity, and help them understand how they can become part of a future that desperately needs their skills.”

If this sounds familiar, then you have probably read or heard similar statements by Shawn Carlson, whose passion is nothing less than the renewal of an appreciation for science by youth across the United States and beyond.

The text of the NSTA news release is at Giving Our Students
the Math and Science Education They Deserve.

Here is the full text of the release:

"In the March 15 edition of Education Week , Nancy Grasmick, the state superintendent of schools for Maryland, states "America has dropped the ball on science, mathematics, and technology education. Our nation has ignored science and math education for far too long, and a serious investment in technology training at all levels is overdue. We need more physicists, mathematicians, chemists, and other technically skilled people in the pipeline, and we need to recruit more prospective teachers in those disciplines. That process begins with a new emphasis on mathematics and science in elementary and secondary schools.”

"Grasmick brings attention to the disturbing statistics in her own state where “only one student in physical-science education graduated from a higher education institution last year. Just 13 students in chemistry education graduated from a Maryland college or university, and 11 graduated in physics education.” At the same time, she notes that Maryland schools needed 12 physical-science teachers, 59 chemistry teachers, and 29 physics teachers. “We need to interest students in math, science, and technology at a younger age, spark their curiosity, and help them understand how they can become part of a future that desperately needs their skills.” Grasmick served on the committee to develop the recent National Academies' report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm. To read the commentary, visit:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/03/15/27grasmick
.h25 .html (free registration required)."