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教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2005-09-23》 |
本期內容 | |
◎數理不好=競爭力低? 美國緊張 | |
◎企業聯盟集中數理生涯規劃 | |
◎Calif. to Recruit and Train Math, Science Teachers | |
◎台灣立報徵文啟事 |
數理不好=競爭力低? 美國緊張 | |
策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
要維持經濟優勢,還是得從教育規劃著手。連續幾年在全球學生數理成績表現不佳的美國,已出現危機意識,產官學紛紛祭出對策,想要從最根本的師資培育和教學品質切入問題核心,增進學生對數理科目的興趣,以維持美國科技大國的地位。 原文 微軟公司的比爾‧蓋茲、共和黨籍密西根眾議員衛儂‧艾勒斯,以及美通社,最近都針對美國學生數理成績低落提出警言,他們擔心由於美國在這方面的積弱不振,包括中國和印度所代表的亞洲勢力會逐漸崛起,在工程和科技方面超越美國,成為世界霸權。 他們擔心1980年代日本勢力在世界經濟崛起的歷史會再度重演。1983年的一份報告就警告,「美國社會的教育基礎,已逐漸被教育的平庸化所侵蝕」,以致其他國家有與美國並駕齊驅、甚而超越美國經濟地位的趨勢。當然,另有一些觀察家則認為,將大學理工科系畢業人數減少和美國領導地位受到威脅連結在一起,未免過於危言聳聽;他們說,經濟發展是賦稅政策、投資環境等複雜因素共同構成,不能與數理教育不彰劃上等號。 但是那些認為危機確實存在的人還是警告,沒有優秀的數理科系學生,美國根本無法在全球化的世界中擁有優勢競爭力。 最普遍的國際數理研究趨勢報告已多年顯示,美國高中生在數理方面的成績,比其他已開發國家的同齡同儕表現得差。當然以單一的測驗成績做為比較基準恐怕會有失準確,這樣的測驗往往反映出的是出題者對於學生應該知道什麼的預設立場,因此公平性也有待商榷。 不過觀察家卻強調,透過錄影帶觀察美國和日本、德國高中上數理課程的實景時發現,在日本,老師會留給學生思考及對數理概念反芻的時間;反之,在美國,老師會很快介入學生的學習,並指導學生解題的程序。在這一點上,同時也是觀察家所認為最重要的一點上,美國數理教育不如其他國家辦得好。近幾年已有一大堆計劃試圖改變美國這方面的劣勢。包括美國國會的科學、科技、工程與數學決策會議已形成對這些學習領域的支持;另外,有些州規定高中生需要選修更多年的數學課程;而在聯邦法「不讓任何一個孩子落後」的法案推行下,各級學校也對學生在數理科目的學習投以更多關注。 許多人把美國學生對數理科目欠缺興趣的矛頭指向不合格教師。白宮科技政策辦公室的評估報告中就指出,美國高中有一半學生的物理課程是由非本科系出身教師教授的;因此,為提昇教師素質,美國白宮高等教育法案已重新對國會授權,要求增加各師範大學數理科系學生的獎助金數目。 另一個明顯徵兆則在於美國大學工程科系的學生人數銳減。位在華盛頓的美通社的一項行動計劃,為提升並加速美國學生在這些領域的學習成果,已規劃未來10年內要這些領域的畢業生人數成長一倍。統計數字顯示,去年一年,美國生產了6萬名工程師,而中國卻有百萬名工程師誕生;更嚴重的是,從美國大學畢業的工程科系博士,有一半是外國學生。 教育當局也注意到,要提升教學品質,應當讓數理背景的人投入教學行列。美國教育部門就授權數理夥伴獎學金(Math-Science Partnership grants),提昇各州學校的教學內容和教師教學技巧。2004年,該部門補助了1億4千6百萬美元的經費。密蘇里哥倫比亞大學工程系教授內爾去年一年就收到120萬美元的補助,以協助推動中學學生數理教育計劃。 在這個計劃中,工程科系的學生和中學教師成為夥伴關係,在鄰近的三個學區,一起教導6年級和9年級生「如何以工程師的立場思考問題」,而成效卓越。 (資料來源/教育週刊) 摘要?搟?搟?搟 Bill Gates, the chairman of the behemoth Microsoft Corp., says he's a little "scared" by it. Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., declares it a steadily worsening crisis. And the Business Roundtable says the United States cannot wait for another challenge such as the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite before the country starts working on it. What they and other national business and political leaders are worried about is U.S. schools' ability to stimulate students' interest in math and science-an area of weakness that they say has led to the growing influence of Asian countries, most notably India and China, in the fields of engi-neering and technology. Others, meanwhile, wonder if the fears are akin to those that arose in the early 1980s, when many prominent Americans were sounding the alarm over Japan's ascendance in the world economy. The watershed 1983 report A Nation at Risk was in some ways a direct outgrowth of such worries. It warned of the "educational foundations of our society ... being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a na-tion and a people," and raised the specter of other countries' matching and surpassing the United States.Some observers said today's fears that a de-cline in the number of engineering graduates poses a threat to American leadership could be exaggerated. "It's not engineers that make an economy hum," David C. Berliner, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Arizona State U-niversity in Tempe, wrote in an e-mail. "It's tax policy, entrepreneurial environments, lack of graft, reasonable tax rates, infrastructure invest-ments like roads, for example." No correlation exists between school achievement and economic might in industrialized countries, he added. "That correlation is strong in underdeveloped countries. We shouldn't confuse the two," said Mr. Berliner whose 1995 book, The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools, co-written with Bruce J. Biddle, argued that politicians distort reality when they draw conclusions about U.S. education on the basis of international comparisons of student per-formance. But those who say the crisis is indeed real warn that without stronger student preparation in math and science, the United States cannot be competitive in a globalized world. “The jobs of the future are going to require the basic understanding of principles of math and science. If we aren't able to educate our children, they won't get decent jobs, and I am not just talking about scientists and engineers," Mr. Ehlers said. International Tests Among the most commonly cited examples of U.S. deficiency in edu-cation attainment are the results of the Trends in International Mathemat-ics and Science Study that has for years found American high schoolers performing at levels lower than those of their peers in other developed countries. Some observers of international education say that comparing the U-nited States with foreign countries based on such test results may not al-ways lead to accurate assumptions. "Students are asked a set of questions in a variety of countries that are not linked to what they are being taught in school," said Elizabeth Leu, a senior education adviser at the Academy for Educational Development, a Washington-based group that operates education programs abroad. "It is somebody's idea of what students at a certain level should know. There always is a problem of that sort with international assessments, and they end up being unfair in one way or another." But Ms. Leu did point out a TIMSS classroom videotape study that she believes does shed light. It looked at classrooms in Japan, Germany, and the United States, and found that in Japan, teachers gave students time to reflect on the problem and develop a clear understanding of underlying mathematical concepts. In the United States, teachers intervened quickly and dictated procedures to help students solve them. “That is one of the most important things that I think about when I think about secondary education here, particularly in science and math, and how we compare rather poorly with many of the other great nations," Ms. Leu said. Waking Up A number of initiatives have been launched in recent years to turn the U.S. standing in such subjects around. Those include the congressional Sci-ence, Technology, Engineering, and Math caucus, formed to build sup-port for those fields of study. Also, some states have acted to require that students take more years of mathematics in high school. And with the fo-cus on testing in math and now science under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools have been forced to pay more attention to those sub-jects.The finger has also been pointed at unqualified teachers for Ameri-can students' lack of knowledge of and interest in math and science. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy estimates that half the high school students taking physical science in the United States are taught by "out of field" teachers. To bolster teachers' knowledge in those fields, the U.S. Department of Education awards Mathematics and Science Partnership grants. A House version of the Higher Education Act, now awaiting reauthorization in Congress, seeks to increase grants for students at teachers' colleges who take up math and science. Mr. Ehlers, who last year, along with Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., set up the Science Technology Engineering and Math, or STEM, caucus, says the problem of low achievement in math and science has been simmering for a long time, but has only recently grabbed headlines.“When I started talking about this in 1996, there was scarcely a person who would listen to me," he said. "Today, almost everywhere I read about it. ... It has taken a while for us to wake up."The most striking statistic that demonstrates how far behind the United States may be, besides the mediocre showing of American students on international tests, is the number taking on engi-neering in college. The Business Roundtable, a Washington-based coalition of leading U.S. corporations, released an action plan to accelerate student achievement in the fields of math, science, technology, and engineering in July, with the goal of doubling the number of graduates in engineering over the next 10 years. According to the group, the number of students in the United States planning to pursue engineering degrees declined by one-third be-tween 1992 and 2002. ("Business Coalition Focuses on Math, Science Careers," Aug. 10, 2005.) Last year, the United States produced 60,000 engineers, while some re-ports say China produced a million. What's more, the Business Roundtable report estimates that half the doctoral students graduating from engineering colleges in the United States are foreign nationals.Mr. Ehlers said that China's success has been the result of years of hard work. “People think Chinese and Indians are hired because it is cheaper to do so, but both countries have made an effort to train people over the last two decades, and that's bearing fruit," he said. But Mr. Berliner says that while there may be some minor and short-term deficits in the number of engineering graduates, "we may, in fact, now be producing too many college graduates for the economy." The U.S. Department of Labor says that the highest demand will be for such jobs as janitors, home health-care workers, salespeople, and waiters. “So China and India may need [engineers] to develop, and we may need to steal the best of them for our own industries some of the time, but the fact of the matter is we are not grossly short of these types, given the e-conomy's needs for them," Mr. Berliner argued. Starting Early To be truly effective, initiatives to foster an interest in math and science need to start as early as kindergarten, according to Mr. Ehlers, a physicist by profession. "Children coming into 1st grade have a lot of curiosity. ... They enjoy math and science at that level," he said, noting that test results underscore that point. "We are above average at grade 4, average at grade 8, and below average at grade 12. By the time the student is out of high school, they are not interested in math and science unless they are really dedicated."On several national tests, U.S. students have lately shown some progress. For instance, high schoolers in the class of 2005 posted a record-high SAT score in math. On the latest National Assessment of Ed-ucational Progress, 9- and 13-year-olds made their largest math gains ev-er,although the performance of 17-year-olds math remained largely stag-nant. Cathy L. Seeley, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, based in Reston, Va., said that when students don't like math and don't pursue it, fewer teachers are attracted to the field. "But the flip side is also true," she said. "As we do a better job of getting more peo-ple with a math background into the teaching pool, they can stimulate stu-dent success better than we might otherwise do." The Department of Education awards Math-Science Partnership grants to states to enhance the content knowledge and teaching skills of class-room teachers. In 2004, the department handed out $146 million in such aid.The National Science Foundation also underwrites projects that im-prove student achievement in math and science. Suresh Nair, a professor of engineering at the University of Mis-souri-Columbia, received a $1.2 million award from the NSF last year for a project being implemented in the middle grades. Under the Engineering for K-12 program, graduate engineering stu-dents partner with middle school teachers to work with 6th through 9th graders in three neighboring districts, teaching them how to "think like engineers."Mr. Nair said the program helps teach children to look at every problem they encounter in the classroom from an engineer's perspective, using props such as Lego robots. Students build the robots and then pro-gram them to complete tasks. Because there are so many interests, like video games, competing for children's attention, Mr. Nair said, "we need to excite students at an age when nothing [academic]seems to excite them." The Business Roundtable report notes that funding for basic research in the physical sciences as a percentage of the U.S. gross domestic product has declined by half since 1970. That situation needs to be remedied if the country wants to make any real progress in warding off international competition, the NCTM's Ms. Seeley maintains.“We need to invest in basic science and research across the board, and in an education system that's grounded in high expectations for students in math and science," she said. "If we choose to follow the path, we have an opportunity to be competitive internationally." |
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企業聯盟集中數理生涯規劃 | |
策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
Business Coalition Focuses on Math, Science Careers 美國企業聯盟日前發布一項計畫,意圖引誘美國人選擇進入數學、科學、科技和工程的專業生涯,期待在未來10年讓這方面領域的畢業生人數加倍。這項來自13個商業團體的聯盟發布的報告顯示,美國大學生選擇這些領域為專業的人數愈來愈少,並表示:「這是全國性的問題,需要國家級的領導。」 舉例來說,報告中顯示,學生計劃尋求工程學位的人數,從1992年到2002年間減少了1/3;而投注在物理這項基礎科學的美國國內生產總值,則從1970年的數目減少了一半。位在華盛頓、領導企業整合這項努力的美通社負責人約翰‧凱斯特拉尼就警告說,這個「關鍵情勢」,將會威脅並阻礙美國在科學與科技方面的領導地位。 這項報告是在7月27日發布,內容包括要建立公共支持,將數學、科學、科技與工程改善成國內學生的優先選擇;刺激學生追求這些領域的專業生涯規劃;提昇中小學數學與科學教學品質;對於簽證和移民政策做改革,好讓美國可以吸引海外頂尖的數學、科學、科技或工程學生到美國發展。 這15個參與報告的企業團體,包括美國商會、企業高等教育討論會、美國資訊科技協會等都表示,他們將致力於擴大動機的計劃,像是各州學者計劃鼓勵中學生選修更多嚴謹的課程,並協助提供獎學金給有志往科技領域發展的年輕學子,遊說政府官員和國會議員履行這些計畫。 位在阿靈頓的全國科學教師協會執行長蓋瑞德‧惠勒讚許表示,這份報告強調應提供數理科技和工程學科有吸引力的教學,深得科學教師之認同。這份報告呼籲,數理教師應以其教學表現做為給薪基準,並強調教師專業成長,以彌補教學內容與最新發展知識之間的鴻溝。 (資料來源/教育週刊) |
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Calif. to Recruit and Train Math, Science Teachers | |
策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
加州州長阿諾‧史瓦辛格召集企業領袖、以及加州大學和加州州立大學體系的學校,一起為預備公立學校更多的科學與數學教師師資做投資規劃。 在這個被州長稱為「經濟誡命」的計劃下,加州大學體系計畫將合格數理教師名額增加4倍,也就是從現在每年的250名,在2010年前,增加為一年1千名。加州州立大學體系也會擴大相關領域的教師培育工作。 計劃中也提到,將會徵召以科學或數學專業的學生投入這個教師陣容,並計劃讓學生提早接觸教學,並安排暑假師資培訓課程,以及實習教師畢業後一年實習階段提供全薪等措施。 這項計劃的經費將由州政府和私部門提供。 (資料來源/教育周刊) |
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台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
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