U.S. Department of Energy invites WSU to help raise middle schooler science and math
The U.S. Department of Energy has asked Wayne State University to assist in its effort to improve school achievement by American students in math and science.
To help stimulate middle school student interest in the physical sciences, the Department of Energy announced January 14 that an annual large-scale expo event it launched last year in Chicago will take place in Detroit next year.
"Our nation's worldwide leadership in science may be at risk because there is disturbing evidence that our students are not doing as well in science as we should expect," said Spencer Abraham, the outgoing Secretary Energy. Abraham made his remarks at a press announcement held with two Wayne State University deans at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
At the announcement, Ralph Kummler, dean of the Wayne State College of Engineering, thanked Abraham for choosing Detroit for the location and "allowing Wayne State to participate in what we understand to be one of our most important tasks facing us for engineering and science for the future." Kummler and Paula Wood, dean of the Wayne State College of Education, participated in the announcement.
"Given that children are by nature curious about nature, and given the advantages they enjoy growing up with the Internet, in a nation that is a global scientific superpower& given all this, student achievement in science and math should be off the charts," Abraham said.
"Two recent international studies of student achievement in science and math confirm what earlier assessments reveal, U.S. fourth graders rank at or near the top in the world in science education," Abraham continued. "But as they make their way through the school system, American students start to fall behind their counterparts in the industrialized world. In fact, these studies find little or no change in the pattern over the past eight years."
The problem has to do with a confluence of issues, including a failure to impose federal standards and goals, the failure to integrate math practice with social science classes, and teachers who are not specifically trained to teach math or science, said Wood.
Abraham said his department's multi-pointed approach to address this challenge "takes advantage of our own scientific leaders, including Nobel laureates, to craft ways to better draw attention to their accomplishments and hold these scientific superstars up as role models." The 'What's Next' expo, which he described as the "most exciting aspect" of DOE's new education program, highlights exciting new areas of science and technology being studied in the U.S., and around the world. "We bring in several classes of middle and high school students for hands-on, interactive experience with cutting edge technologies."
Last October, more than 600 middle school students participated in the expo in Chicago. Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the site of this year's expo. "Our aim is to encourage the next generation of creators -- the innovators, designers and engineers of new science and technology," Abraham said. "Detroit is certainly a fitting place to hold this event. Henry Ford demonstrated how powerful technology could revolutionize society."