Re: Testing How Well Science Teachers Know What They Teach (Forwarded)

From: Mr. 4X (random.pwa_at_xme.invalid.com)
Date: 10/03/04 

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 18:45:26 +0000 (UTC)

Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca> wrote in message
news:xzH7d.29751$MD5.1586843@news20.bellglobal.com:

> Public Affairs
> Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
>
> For more information, contact:
>
> David Aguilar, Director of Public Affairs
> Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
> Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468
> daguilar@cfa.harvard.edu
>
> Christine Pulliam
> Public Affairs Specialist
> Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
> Phone: 617-495-7463, Fax: 617-495-7016
> cpulliam@cfa.harvard.edu
>
> For Release: Friday, October 1, 2004
>
> Release No.: 04-30
>
> Testing How Well Science Teachers Know What They Teach
>
> Cambridge, MA -- The National Science Foundation has awarded a
> five-year, $2.4 million grant to the Science Education Department
> (SED) of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The grant
> will fund the department's Misconception Oriented Standards-based
> Assessment Resource for Teachers (MOSART) project.
>
> The Foundation awarded the grant through its Math and Science
> Partnership (MSP) program, whose goal is to strengthen K-12 science
> and mathematics education in support of "No Child Left Behind."
>
> MOSART is part of SED's continuing effort to improve science education
> throughout the country by determining the best ways of instructing
> both teachers and students. The goal of Project MOSART is to improve
> teachers' professional development by designing methods for testing
> their understanding of science topics that they will be covering in
> their classrooms.
>
> "We will look at a question that has concerned a lot of people: what
> is the contribution of a teacher's scientific knowledge to the gains
> their students undergo? We will try to measure the influence of
> professional development courses on teacher knowledge and, more
> importantly, on the conceptual gains of those teachers' students,"
> says Dr. Philip Sadler, the principal investigator for MOSART and
> director of SED.
>
> MSP Institutes, which are affiliated with the Foundation's MSP
> Program, and other professional development programs for teachers,
> need to evaluate the science understanding of participants. By
> measuring the ability of science teachers to comprehend subjects
> listed within national science education standards, these programs aim
> to improve the overall quality of classroom instruction. One teacher
> reaches many students, so improved teacher development programs can
> impact thousands of students nationwide.
>
> The MOSART team will develop tests to assess the degree to which
> teachers possess the knowledge and understanding required by national
> standards.
>
> Those same test questions will prove useful to students as well. "Many
> people think that if students pass tests like the Massachusetts MCAS,
> they can handle college. However, about half of the students who pass
> the tests end up needing remedial classes. We will construct new kinds
> of tests that allow students to test themselves and see if they're
> ready for college science courses," says Sadler.
>
> MOSART is a direct outgrowth of Sadler's earlier efforts, including
> the video "A Private Universe," which revealed that astronomical
> preconceptions are remarkably tenacious even among highly educated
> Harvard graduates. In that video, Harvard University students filmed
> on commencement day were unable to provide a correct explanation for
> the cause of the Earth's seasons.

I say that's a big problem.

BTW I remember that a few years ago a German TV started a survey on this
subject on the streets. They interviewed about 20 people until they got
one guy who knew the correct answer. They asked him what his profession
is: he said he's studying geography on a college...

> Sadler's awards include the 2002 Thomas J. Brennan Award from the
> Astronomical Society of the Pacific and a 1999 award from the Journal
> of Research in Science Teaching.
>
> Other SED members of the MOSART team include Hal Coyle, Cindy Crockett
> and Bruce Ward.
>
> Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
> Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian
> Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA
> scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin,
> evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
>

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