Math and Science Education: Realizing the Interdisciplinary
Potential
Educating the scientists and mathematicians of the future has been
a critical concern among educators from the Kindergarten to the universities,
and with the recent publication of the National Academies’ report Rising
Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter
Economic Future has become a focus of broad national debate. Two
of the report’s four recommendations address this issue, calling
upon the nation to “vastly improve America’s K-12 mathematics
and science education” and “develop, recruit, and retain
top students, scientists, and engineers from both the U.S. and abroad.” This
effort cannot be the responsibility only of mathematicians and scientists
and educators in those fields. In fact, many of the most highly effective
math and science education programs are interdisciplinary efforts that
move beyond math and science, to develop collaborations with the arts
and humanities. An example is the Interactive Digital Multimedia program
at UC Santa Barbara, an NSF-funded IGERT program, which involves a
range of technologies and applications in science, engineering and the
arts.
To be successful in this arena we need to think very broadly about math
and science education. Curriculum and classroom-based programs at the
K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels are important, but we must also
recognize the importance of effectively communicating math and science
to the public, so children and their parents become more aware of the
beauty and relevance of these disciplines and the opportunities they afford
to students. Viewed in this way, math and science education offers possibilities
for collaboration not only among mathematicians, scientists, engineers
and educators, but also for historians, visual artists, journalists, writers
and museum directors. Some questions of interest:
- How can we develop programs that enable students – undergraduate
and graduate – to have a truly interdisciplinary education?
- How can we increase undergraduate involvement in math and science
outside the classroom?
- How can we increase the retention of undergraduates in STEM fields?
- How do we bridge the gap between disciplines – not just between
engineers and biochemists, biologists and physicists, but between historians
and computer scientists, artists and chemists?
- What resources are needed to help faculty develop effective education
and outreach programs needed for research grants?
