The fall season of the Scientific Literacy Seminar at Columbia University has continued with a variety of topics. On 22 October, Herbert Gottlieb described "Scientific Literacy in Different Geographical Contexts," and on 17 December David Weinflash described his experience with the Science-By-Mail program at the Museum of Science in Boston. Gottlieb and Weinflash speak at Scientific Literacy Seminar
Gottlieb, a physics teacher retired from the New York City schools in 1981, has been traveling extensively throughout the world and teaching as an adjunct Associate Professor of Science Education at the City College of New York. He recounted his impressions of students and their science teachers in Canada, Egypt, Great Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Scandinavia, Singapore, and South America as they compare with those in the United States.
In India he reported visiting a school with 300 children in grades 2-8. He noted that teachers were honored in the school and that English is used as a common language, due to the multiplicity of languages in the subcontinent. He did not observe much equipment at the college level and concluded from this that the students obtained most of their knowledge from books. Although students were very prepared at the university level, Gottlieb noted that it is very competitive to get a place in the entering university class. The Indian textbooks, geared to the entrance exams, were found to contain misinformation and used a question and answer format that seemed to encourage learning by rote. Gottlieb also observed that more women than men obtain post-graduate positions.
Science-By-Mail was started ten years ago by the Museum of Science in Boston as a pen-pal program connecting practicing scientists with students in fourth through ninth grade. Weinflash is in his second year as a scientist volunteer. In his first year he was matched with a class of fourth graders on Staten Island. This year he is matched with a group of home study students throughout the country.
Students enrolled in the program receive two boxes of equipment and directions for completing experiments -- one is on "Destination Mars," sponsored by NASA's Life Sciences Outreach Program and Lockheed Martin. Others are "Science Magic," "Imaging," "Communications," "Simple Machines," and "Flight."
The cost of the program ($54 for a group of up to four students) funds Kendall/Hunt's equipment boxes and coordinating museum personnel. The equipment boxes include teacher guides, but Weinflash did not find the equipment boxes very substantive, so he felt an obligation to be a conscientious volunteer so that the students got their money's worth.
In their communication with scientists, students write get-acquainted letters and science journals about activities they do -- and Weinflash responded with comments -- seven times in all: once to the get-acquainted letters, and once for each of the three science journals in each of the two equipment boxes. Each unit concludes with a "Big Challenge" -- for "Destination Mars" this is to design a closed cycle habitat on Mars.
Writing these responses gave Weinflash a sense of the amount of work a teacher has to do to give students individual attention. But he added that he found the students' letters a welcome relief from the form letters and junk mail he usually receives. In fact, he said that he enjoyed reading the student letters and responding to them. He felt that Science-By-Mail is a program in which volunteers get more than they give.
Home Winter 99 Full Screen
The TEACHERS CLEARINGHOUSE FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY EDUCATION