A Description of Current Resources and Activities in STEM Education Research and Outreach
A Report by an Ad Hoc Committee of the Learning Sciences Institute
In the past century, the United States has emerged as the preeminent research and development country in the world, and our schools have educated the elite of the scientific disciplines. Recent statistics, however, have presented a distressing picture of the stature of the United States in science, engineering, and mathematics achievement, with high-school students continuing to decline relative to their international counterparts. Thus, leaders in government, industry, and education are calling for change in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The purpose of this ad hoc committee report is to propose ways in which Vanderbilt University specifically and other universities in general can respond to the challenge of enhancing student achievement in the STEM disciplines. A number of factors already in place at Vanderbilt University puts us in a unique position to move science education in new and important directions that could transform how the United States and the world approaches the education of STEM students for the 21st century. Many elements needed for leadership are in place; we now must move aggressively and with confidence to review—and if necessary, reform—what students in the STEM disciplines should be learning, and how that learning should take place.
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