Science Outreach

I just received an email from another grad student about a science outreach program looking for volunteers.  The purpose of this organization is to have undergrad and grad students in the College meet with some teachers at a local elementary school and train them to teach science in a more engaging and deeper way than they might normally teach.  In addition, the volunteers get to meet with the students occasionally to hold events like science fairs.  I've been part of honor societies and student groups who do similar things, but this one in particular is unique as it is co-directed by two professors and the principal of the elementary school.  I'll be meeting with some of the volunteers shortly and will learn more about the success of the program so far.  But I believe this institutional support is vital to the success of these outreach programs.

We all know that teaching for standardized tests leads to rote memorization instead of true understanding.  This is a shame and needs to be addressed.  But even without NCLB causing these kinds of problems, another obstacle to great math and science education is that so few K-12 teachers have technical degrees.  This affects how well students can learn technical material.  Teaching science dryly and through memorization only holds the interest of a few students who have a strong desire to learn math and science.  For everyone else, a common question is "Why do I need to know this?"  This is the question that can be difficult to answer by a teacher without a technical background.  This problem is what outreach organizations like this one hope to solve. 

I am confident that most, if not all, K-12 teachers can teach the math and science they are required to teach.  But if they wish to grab the attention of more students and teach concepts that will be remembered beyond the test, they often need a deeper understanding of the material than what is presented in textbooks.  Outreach organizations bring demos to teachers and train them to recreate them in the classrooms.  They help the teachers see the uses of technical concepts and see the importance of learning these concepts.  The student volunteers get to practice teaching the concepts they learned in college while working towards the goal of improving science and math education.  Everyone wins in this situation, but a cost must be paid.  That cost is time and effort, usually unpaid.  This is the root of most of the problems I've seen in outreach work.  Volunteers have exams and homework and teachers don't want to spend their evenings and weekends at work.  This is where institutional support comes in.  Sometimes volunteers and teachers need a gentle nudge from their bosses: principals and professors.  I'm sure most teachers want to maintain the attention of all of their students and want them to learn.  Likewise, all the volunteers want to help out as well and the encouragement of their adviser can help them open up some free time to volunteer.

This organization is looking to expand to a new school in the city and that's why they need more volunteers.  I hope to join and will be learning more about the group soon.  The group's mission statement includes an excerpt from "A Mathematician's Lament", an essay by Paul Lockhart.  This really caught my attention because I've been trying to get as many people to read this essay as possible.  If any of you reading this blog have a technical background or are even remotely interested in math education, please read the essay.  It's the best argument I've read thus far about the need to teach math like art.