Secondary & Postsecondary Perspectives

This report has 5 components:

The study committee’s report

Disciplinary panel reports for:

•Biology•Chemistry•Mathematics (emphasis

on calculus)•Physics

NSF Awards $1.8 Million to Study High-School Advanced Placement Work in Math and Science

May 2, 2006 - The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $1.8 million grant to the College Board to redesign Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses in biology, chemistry, physics and environmental science. The funds will be used to develop a process for making ongoing changes in the courses and exams to incorporate the latest science developments and leverage best practices in science teaching.

The College Board's AP redesign plan draws on the recommendations of Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools, issued by the National Research Council in 2002.

ORIGIN OF STUDY

Jointly requested by the Department of Education and NSF following the release of 12th grade data from TIMSS showing that students in the U.S. who had taken calculus or physics scored much lower than their counterparts in most other countries.

CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION2. CONTEXT OF ADVANCED STUDY3. ADVANCED PLACEMENT PROGRAM4. INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE PROGRAM5. OTHER APPROACHES TO ADVANCED STUDY6. LEARNING WITH UNDERSTANDING: SEVEN PRINCIPLES7. DESIGNING CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, ASSESSMENT, AND

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT8. ANALYSIS OF THE AP AND IB PROGRAMS BASED ON LEARNING

RESEARCH9. ANALYSIS OF AP AND IB CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, ASSESSMENT,

AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT10. USES, MISUSES, AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF AP AND IB11. RECOMMENDATIONS

This percentage was calculated as follows: The numerator includes each public school student in the graduating class of 2008 who earned an AP Exam score of 3 or higher on an AP Exam at any point in his or her high school years; if a student earned more than one AP Exam grade of 3 or higher, she or he was still only counted once. The denominator is simply the overall number of public school students graduating from high school in 2008, as projected in “Knocking at the College Door” (2008), Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Race/Ethnicity of Total Student Population Versus Students Scoring

3 or Higher

Source: http://www.collegeboard.com/html/aprtn/theme_2_reflect_demographics.html#figure_2

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:Primary Goal of Advanced Study

The primary goal of advanced study in high school should be to help students develop deep understanding of the organizing concepts and principles of a subject domain.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:Primary Goal of Advanced Study

The primary goal of advanced study in high school should be to help students develop deep understanding of the organizing concepts and principles of a subject domain.

Accelerated Advanced Study Study?

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:Research on Learning

Neither program has used research about how people learn and its applications to improving curriculum, instruction, assessment, and teacher professional development to the extent that they should, although there have been some attempts to do so (e.g., AP calculus.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9853.html http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10019.html

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:Curriculum

Much greater efforts should be made to align middle and high school curricula, instruction, and assessments in ways that enable all students who wish to pursue advanced study to do so.

The committee supports recommendations of many other organizations that low-level courses in mathematics and science be eliminated from middle and high school curricula.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:Assessment of Learning

Assessments for advanced study students should include content and process dimensions of performance and should evaluate depth of understanding in addition to mastery of content knowledge.

Greater emphasis should be placed on measuring learning through multiple assessments rather than relying on end-of-course examinations.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:Teacher Qualifications and Education

Schools and districts offering advanced study should provide frequent opportunities for continuing professional development to enable teachers to improve their knowledge of both content and pedagogy.

America’s Lab Report: Investigations in High School Science

This report by the National Research Council’s Committee on Undergraduate Science Education and the activities that led to its production were supported by a grant from the Exxon Education Foundation

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Directed primarily toward two- and four-year postsecondary institutions.

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Pre-college preparation in science, mathematics, and technology

Quality undergraduate courses, especially at the introductory level

Continual assessment of courses Roles of SME&T faculty in K-12 teacher

preparation and professional development Institutional roles in promoting and sustaining

reform Roles and responsibilities of graduate and postdoctoral

programs

Vision statements and implementation strategies address:

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Pre-college preparation in science, mathematics, and technology

Vision 1: All postsecondary institutions would require all entering students to undertake college-level studies in SME&T. Entry into higher education would include assessment of students’ understanding of these subjects that is based on the recommendations of national K-12 standards.*

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Quality undergraduate courses, especially at the introductory level

Vision 2: SME&T would become an integral part of the curriculum for all undergraduate students through required introductory courses that engage all students in SME&T and their connections to society and the human condition.

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Continual assessment of courses

Vision 3: All colleges and universities would continually and systematically evaluate the efficacy of courses in SME&T.

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Roles of SME&T faculty in K-12 teacher preparation and professional development

Vision 4: SME&T faculties would assume greater responsibility for the pre-service and in-service education of K-12 teachers.

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Institutional roles in promoting and sustaining reform

Vision 5: All postsecondary institutions would provide the rewards and recognition, resources, tools, and infrastructure necessary to promote innovative and effective undergraduate SME&T teaching and learning.

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Roles and responsibilities of graduate and postdoctoral programs

Vision 6: Postsecondary institutions would provide quality experiences that encourage all of their graduate and postdoctoral students, and especially those who aspire to careers as postsecondary faculty in SME&T disciplines, to become skilled teachers and current postsecondary faculty to acquire additional knowledge about how teaching methods affect student learning.

Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology

Accompanying each vision is a series of strategies for implementing the visions.

Primary audiences for implementation strategies:

- Chief Academic Officers- Individual faculty and

departments

Bio2010: Tranforming Undergraduate Education for

Future Research Biologists

Research in biology has undergone a major transformation in the last 10 to 15 years…

In contrast, undergraduate biology education is still geared to the biology of the past. Althoughmost colleges and universities require biology majors to enroll in courses in math, chemistry and physics, these subjects are not well integrated into biology courses. Furthermore, most courses, especially those for first-year students, are still primarily lecture-based, and do not convey the exciting reality of biology today.

Bio2010: Tranforming Undergraduate Education for

Future Research Biologists

•Biology in Context: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum•Central Concepts in

•Biology•Math and Computer Science•Chemistry•Physics•Engineering

•Energizing the Curriculum•Interdisciplinary Approaches•Building on Concepts through Labs•Undergraduate Research•Professional Development in Teaching