1. Board on science education
A National Perspective on K-16 STEM Education: Current Trends and Pressing Problems
Heidi Schweingruber
Director, Board on Science Education

2. The National Academies
A non-governmental organization (NGO)
Founded in 1863
Bring together committees of experts in all areas of scientific and technological endeavor
Address critical national issues and give advice to the federal government and the public
NAS is not a federal governmental agency
Work based on experts and evidence
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE

3. Board on Science Education (BOSE)
K-12
Higher Ed
Informal

4. National Reforms in K-12 & Higher Education are Driven by Insights on Learning

5. Learners actively construct their knowledge
Expertise is more than knowing a lot of facts

6. To learn science and mathematics students need to DO science and mathematics
Need to think carefully about sequencing
Relevance and interest matter

9. Three-Dimensional Learning
What is new?
Central role of scientific practices
Organized around crosscutting concepts & core explanatory ideas
Organized in learning progressions

10. Three Dimensions Scientific and Engineering Practices
1. Asking questions and defining problems
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions
7. Engaging in arguments from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information
Crosscutting Concepts
Patterns
Cause and effect
Scale proportion and quantity
Systems and system models
Energy and matter
Structure and function
Stability and change
Disciplinary Core Ideas
• Physical Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Earth and Space Sciences
• Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Science

11. In Higher Education Evidence-based instruction
“Active learning”/ student-centered instruction
Engaging students in meaningful tasks
Frequent formative assessment
Encouraging reflection

12. Important Questions about Instruction
How to sequence activities – when lecture/telling is appropriate, when group work is appropriate, when individual work is appropriate?
What scaffolds are needed and when they can be faded?
Common misconceptions or errors and how to deal with them
How to incorporate technology
How to build in assessments

13. Changing Classroom Instruction

14. Teachers’ Preparation
Teachers’ backgrounds in science and mathematics varies by school level.
Percent of college degrees
Elementary
Middle
High
Science or Science Ed. 5%
41%
82%
Math or Math Ed. 4%
35%
73%

15. Supporting Teachers’ Learning: K-12
Characteristics of effective learning experiences for teachers:
content-focus
active participation of teachers who engage in the analysis of examples of effective instruction and of student work,
alignment with district policies and practices, and
sufficient duration to allow repeated practice and/or reflection on classroom experiences.

16. Supporting Teachers’ Learning: K-12
Shift from a focus on individual teachers to building collective capacity
Create job-embedded supports for learning and opportunities for collaboration
Cultivate teacher leadership

17. Higher Ed
What are the features of effective professional development for faculty?
Is there a parallel to “collective capacity” and “job embedded” in higher ed?
What are the roles of the department, the school, or the institution?
How might solutions or effectiveness vary by type of institutions?
Tension about how to make instruction a priority – promotion and tenure

18. Changing Instruction in a Complex System

21. Coherence

22. Curriculum Instructional materials development Materials selection
Support for implementation – Professional development and other resources
State and district policy decisions

23. Assessment Classroom assessment Accountability systems
State and district assessments
College entrance, placement practices

24. In Higher Ed – What is “the system”?
How to think about systemic change in higher education
Department level
Across an institution
Across all institutions of a particular type (community college, liberal arts college, HBCU, Research I university)
Across all types of institutions in higher education

25. Example -- AAU Framework
Pedagogy
Articulated learning goals
Assessments
Educational practices
Access
Scaffolding
Professional development
Resources
Data
Facilities
Cultural change
Leadership
Measures of teaching excellence
Incentives

26. Open questions about systemic change
Scaling up innovations vs. innovating at scale
How to make sense of contextual differences and variations in implementation
Pros and cons of bottom-up vs. top-down
New models for research-practice partnership -- Networked Improvement Communities and Design Based Intervention Research

27. Major Systemic Challenge: Equity

28. Equity in K-12

29. NAEP: The Nation’s Report Card
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) -- nationally representative measure of achievement in various subjects (since 1969).
Administered to 4th, 8th and 12th graders (scores range from 0 to 300)
Four science practices are defined in the framework in addition to the science content areas. These four practices—identifying science principles, using science principles, using scientific inquiry, and using technological design—describe how students use their science knowledge by measuring what they are able to do with the science content.

30. Fourth Grade NAEP Science (2015)

31. Fourth Grade NAEP Science (2015)

32. Equity in Instruction Recognizing cultural assets on which to build
Attending to cultural, linguistic and other differences
Providing all students with equitable opportunities to learn

33. Inequities in Quality of Instruction
Students in high schools with lower percentages of non-Asian minority students spent more time with hands-on, manipulative or lab work (NRC, 2006).
Teachers in high schools with higher percentages of non-Asian minority students were more likely to engage students in individually reading texts or completing worksheets (NRC, 2006).

34. Inequities in Teachers’ Backgrounds
Students in high schools with higher concentrations of minority or poor students are more likely to be taught science by a teacher without a major or minor in the subject (US Dept of Ed, 2004).
Science classes in high poverty schools are more likely than those in low poverty schools to be taught by teachers with 5 or fewer years of experience. (Banilower et al 2013)

35. Science course-taking by race/ethnicity
Biology course
Percent of students

36. Inequities in Course Offerings
Fewer AP courses are offered in schools with higher percentages of low-income students, rural schools and small schools (Horizon Research, 2012).
Only 66% of schools serving the highest percentages of black and Latino students offer chemistry and only 74% offer Algebra 2 (US Dept of Ed, Office of Civil Rights).

37. Equity in Higher Ed

38. Enrollment in Post-secondary

39. “Undermatching”
Going to a four-year institution less demanding than one a student is qualified to attend, to a two-year college, or to no college at all.
59% of students in bottom quartile of SES; 27% of students in top quartile of SES
64% of students whose parents have no college education; 41% whose parents have college degrees; 31% whose parents have graduate degrees

40. Cumulative percentage of 2004 STEM aspirants who completed STEM degrees in 4, 5, and 6 years
Completion rates vary considerably by race/ethnicity, gender, & STEM fields
Overall students take more time for degree (only 22% complete STEM degree in 4 years)
Within 6 years of entering college, 40% completed STEM degree
Asian American students outpaced peers (52% earn STEM degree)
White students lagged their Asian American counterparts (43% earn STEM degree)
Historically underrepresented minorities lagged further
29% Hispanic, 25% American Indian, and 22% black aspirants earn STEM degree in 6 years
Compared to ALL MAJORS earning degrees: 38% Hispanic, 51% American Indian, 41% black
Source: Eagan et al., 2014 (Fig 7)

41. Supports for Diverse Students
Improving instruction
Attending to classroom culture
Providing co-curricular supports
Internships
Summer bridge programs
Student professional groups
Peer tutoring
Living and learning environments

42. STEM degrees in 2012 from Public, Private Nonprofit, and Private For-Profit, by students’ race and ethnicity
For-Profits train diverse population of students who take varied pathways to STEM degree
Half of all STEM credentials earned by black, Hispanic, & native Hawaiian & other Pacific Islanders were from for-profit institutions
For-profit institutions typically attract students whose goal is to “get in, get out, and get a job”
Recent analyses by U.S. Department of Education indicate that, in fall of 2013, students enrolled in for-profit institutions (both 2-year and 4-year and both full time and part time) were older than comparable students at nonprofit 2-year and 4-year institutions. Earlier data suggest that the majority of students at for-profit institutions work 35 or more hours per week (Ruch, 2001, p. 134).
Source: Kinser, 2014

43. Percentage of all undergraduate STEM students with various debt levels by type of institution
Proportion of students graduated 2007–2008 w/STEM bachelor’s degree w/more than $30,000 of debt (other than psychology & social sciences)
Lowest debt rates among students at public research & master’s institutions
Highest debt rates among students at for-profit 4-year institutions
Source: Kirshtein, 2013c (p1)

44. Data Limitations
Lack of national data on first-generation college students and low-income students
Limited national data on transfer students (from 2- to 4-year), making it difficult to understand completion
We do know there is significant “swirling”, no detailed data on which students are more likely to “swirl”

45. Information about BOSE & BOSE projects: http://nas
Information about BOSE & BOSE projects: Access to all NRC publications: