Future Educational Principles 4 th CeTUSS Workshop Uppsala University, December 4-5, 2006 Trond Clausen Høgskolen i Telemark & IEEE Education Society

Source: A Report of the Presidential Young Investigator Colloquium on U.S. Engineering, Mathematics and Science Education for the year 2010 and Beyond. Directorate for Education and Human Resources, National Science Foundation, Washington D.C., U.S.A., January, 1992 PRINCIPLES 1.Encourage and reward teaching excellence, instructional scholarship, and public service as well as research. 2.Increase substantially resources for instructional innovation and curriculum renewal, especially for undergraduate education. 3.Assume primary responsibility for public understanding of science and technology, principally through high quality pre-college teacher preparation and lower division undergraduate instruction. 4.Assure career participation in engineering, mathematics, and sciences by all segments of society, particularly careers as pre-college or college faculty. 5.Encourage the development of discovery-oriented learning environments and technology-based instruction at all educational levels.

1. Encourage and reward teaching excellence, instructional scholarship, and public service as well as research. Teachers are facing: 1. A general lack of support. 2. Direct neglect of faculty achievements in: –Teaching. –Instructional scholarship. –Public service. There is a need to promote a higher quality of faculty life that more fully recognizes and develops the diverse talents and interests of all the faculty.

2. Increase substantially resources for instructional innovation and curriculum renewal, especially for undergraduate education. Funding of instructional innovation is almost nonexistent and consequences severe: Inadequate attention to long-term curriculum renewal. Constricts the number of faculty engaged regularly in broad-based instructional scholarship. Sustains an unfortunate and inaccurate impression in minds of many that teaching is unimportant and without merit. There is a critical need for review of existing budget priorities to provide both new resources and expansion of current educational programs consistent with the coequal importance of teaching and research.

3. Assume primary responsibility for public understanding of science and technology, principally through high quality pre-college teacher preparation and lower division undergraduate instruction. In public opinion: Knowledge of mathematics and the sciences has little to do with everyday life. Courses in these fields need only be taken by students preparing for engineering or scientific careers. Remedies: More efficient communication and cooperation with pre-college schools. Greater responsibility for public understanding of a science and technology through high quality instructional offerings to all students and participation in science and technology education policy.

4. Assure career participation in engineering, mathe- matics, and sciences by all segments of society, particularly careers as pre-college or college faculty. Questions to be asked: Is science and mathematic dull, tedious, uninspiring? Or is it something, maybe, limited to those with a special talent? Is it really inclusive, i.e. takes the needs of the society at large into consideration? A tentative answer: In large measure, it is necessary to develop both an inviting educational environment and one that encourages all students to succeed

5. Encourage the development of discovery-oriented learning environments and technology-based instruction at all educational levels. Questions to be asked: Are we “overlecturing” our students? Does a lecture-based system lead to mass production of curricula? Do mass produced curricula really stimulate student activity and good learning? A tentative answer: Discovery-oriented learning environments should be created. Such environments should capitalize on the full power of new communication, information, and visualization technologies.

Those were the problems of ’92! They have been addressed and solved long ago, I assume. Thanks for your attention!