Underrepresentation by Race–Ethnicity across Stages of U.S. Science and Engineering Education

Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives are underrepresented in science and engineering fields. A comparison of race–ethnic differences at key transition points was undertaken to better inform education policy. National data on high school graduation, college enrollment, choice of major, college graduation, graduate school enrollment, and doctoral degrees were used to quantify the degree of underrepresentation at each level of education and the rate of transition to the next stage. Disparities are found at every level, and their impact is cumulative. For the most part, differences in graduation rates, rather than differential matriculation rates, make the largest contribution to the underrepresentation. The size, scope, and persistence of the disparities suggest that small-scale, narrowly targeted remediation will be insufficient.Most scientists and engineers take great pride in their reliance on logic and empirical evidence in decision making, and they reject the use of emotional, parochial, and irrational criteria. Prejudices of any sort are abjured. The prevalence of laboratory personnel and research collaborators from diverse national origins is often cited as an example of this meritocratic ideal. Therefore, the U.S. biomedical research community was shocked when a study revealed that Black Americans and other groups were substantially underrepresented in the receipt of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), even after other correlates of success were controlled (Ginther et al., 2011 ). This picture clashed dramatically with the standards the community claimed. In the wake of this revelation, NIH created a high-level advisory group to examine the situation and make recommendations to address it (NIH, 2012 ).Concern about underrepresentation of Black Americans and other race–ethnic groups in science is not new (Melnick and Hamilton, 1977 ), and many attempts have been made to ameliorate or eliminate the gaps. While there have been some gains—underrepresented racial minority (URM)1 students rose from 2% of the biomedical graduate students to more than 11% since 1980 (National Research Council, 2011 )—disparities remain in all fields of science and engineering at all education levels and career stages (National Academy of Science, 2011 ).Given the limited progress in correcting this situation, it is essential to have a better understanding of the origin and extent of the problem. Especially in the current fiscal climate, with insufficient funding for education programs, interventions must be accurately targeted and appropriate to reach their goals. How large are the race–ethnic differences in science enrollments at each level of education? Are there general patterns that can help guide policy? Using data from 2008 and 2009, a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) report illustrates the underrepresentation of Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives at various education levels (NSF, 2011a ). While informative and illustrative of the extent of the problem, this single-year, cross-sectional perspective does not capture the conditions encountered by recent doctorate earners as they progressed through earlier stages in their education. Looking at graduation rates in the life sciences, Ginther et al. (2009) found that minority participation is increasing in biology, but minority students are not transitioning between milestones in the same proportions as Whites.     

Comparison of the Late Qing Dynasty＇s Early Overseas Education in the U. S. A and Europe and Its Contemporary Inspiration

清末早期的留学教育对中国近代化的起步具有重要意义。留美教育是留欧教育展开推动的基石,留欧教育是留美教育某种程度上的改进和延续。然而,不同的历史背景使得留美与留欧教育有各自鲜明的特色。文化背景不同的倡导者,越来越具体细化的留学目的及其准备工作,在中国近代化建设中不同角色的担当等都值得我们分析研究。当下,留学浪潮此起彼伏,跟风留学、低龄留学等现象成为大众焦点,各种国际班和形式多样的出国方式也给中国的留学教育事业带来许多新问题。本文通过对清末早期留美与留欧教育的比较,一则使读者对两次留学教育的具体情况有一个全面的体认;二则通过分析,取长补短,并结合当今一些留学现象给出指导建议。     

How Relevant Is R.S. Peters’ Conception of Education to Science Education?

This paper discusses R.S. Peters’ concept of education, particularly his notion of cognitive perspective and its relevance to school science education. In light of the problems inherent in any attempt to define the notion of scientific literacy, it is argued that the development of cognitive perspective can be considered an important, if not the ultimate, goal of school science education. Such a goal not only provides an alternative way to view the development of scientific literacy, but it also points to a conception of scientific literacy that is neither too narrow nor too broad. In view of recent reform efforts that promote a utilitarian and instrumentalist conception of school science education, Peters’ notion of cognitive perspective can provide food for thought for all those interested in a science education that educates students in science by helping them understand the personal and the wider significance of scientific knowledge. Such a conception of school science education is in line with the view that education and learning should make students change their outlook on the world. In addition, such a conception can enrich the ongoing dialogue on scientific literacy as the primary goal of school science education.     

A “Chameleonic” Identity: Foreign-Born Doctoral Students in U.S. Counselor Education

This study explored the interplay between a multidimensional model of acculturation and professional identity development among eight foreign-born doctoral students in U.S. counselor education. Themes generated through an interpretive phenomenological analysis revealed that the participants, while trying to adapt to the Euro-American cultural context of their counselor programs, experienced a sense of conflict, loss, and grief, resulting in what they called a “chameleonic” professional identity. Findings illustrated that for international counseling students, professional identity development is an arduous and complex process deeply intertwined with their acculturation experiences. Implications for counselor programs and future research are further discussed.     

Concentrated or Fragmented? The U.S. Market for Online Higher Education

Research in Higher Education - As the financial challenges facing the U.S higher education industry mount, colleges and universities seek new activities that can improve their financial situation....     

Where are the “People Like me”?: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Transnational Lives and Teacher Education in the U.S.

ABSTRACT

Global multicultural teacher education courses and programs have made claims to offer Prospective Teachers (PSTs) a global understanding of diversity and multiculturalism. However, there is very little research that has examined the classroom experiences of PSTs and teacher educators. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnography, this article explores the ways our transnational identities shaped our experiences (as a PST and a teacher educator) in a global teacher education course focused on diversity and multiculturalism. We were guided by the following research question: How do we, as South Asian transnational migrants, experience the curriculum of a global multicultural education course in the United States? We found that the curricular nationalism within multicultural education courses often negates any critical engagement with the influence of transnationalism on immigrants and their educational experiences. Transnational migrants are expected to translate their experiences, cultural practices, and life ways to fit into the container of the U.S. nation-state. Furthermore, there was a visible absence of narratives and research about transnational lives and identities in the course curriculum. As teacher education programs prepare PSTs to enter classrooms with growing immigrant populations, it is important that we attend to this glaring gap in both practice and research.     

Programmed Learning in Engineering Education?A Preliminary Study

A recent study of programmed learning, including experimental use in an electrical engineering department, indicated that the most fruitful application of teaching machine methods is in the presently nonprogrammed or loosely programmed hours spent by students outside classroom or laboratory periods. Programs already developed for use in this study have been concerned with analytical skills; further programs under development are concerned with concepts. Larger scale experiments are planned in which additional questions can be answered, particularly as to whether exposure to programmed instruction adversely affects the capacity of the student to learn independently.     

A Race to the Top From the Bottom of the Well? The Paradox of Race and U.S. Education Reform

Abstract

This article explores the paradox of “race” and U.S. education reform in the 21st century. I consider how the invisible ontology of race and its entangled relationship with class divert our attention from economic inequality and undermine policies intended to redress racial inequality in schools. I conclude that the education research community must unpack its use of “race” and focus on the role of racism in the maintenance of racial caste in America's schools.     

Continuing Education and Flourishing China by Science and Education

The article，which discusses the relationship between the policy of flourishing China by science and（3ducatlon and continuing education， Is divided Into two parts，     

Seattle（U.S.A）

Ever wondered whether caffeine is a viable substitute for sunshine？If so,Seattle is your kind of town.More than any other city in the regions,Seattle epitomizes what people know of the Pacific Northwest.     

Beyond the Black–White Binary of U.S. Race Relations: A Next Step in Religious Education

Abstract

Many if not most people in the academy as well as the public sphere tend to regard race and racism in the United States in terms of a default frame of reference (i.e., a paradigm): the black–white binary. Although this frame is constructive as well as compelling, it displays serious liabilities. This article outlines, for religious educators, nine expressions of the black–white paradigm—three variations of the binary, three approaches from black studies/theology, and three models that express efforts to transcend binary thinking. A concluding comparative exercise illustrates how participants may discern, address, and ideally revise the paradigm.     

Is Christian Education Compatible With Science Education?

Science education and Christian education are not compatible if byChristian education one means teaching someone to be a Christian. Onegoal of science education is to give students factual knowledge. Even whenthere is no actual conflict of this knowledge with the dogmas ofChristianity, there exists the potential for conflict. Another goal ofscience education is to teach students to have the propensity to be sensitiveto evidence: to hold beliefs tentatively in light of evidence and to rejectthese beliefs in the light of new evidence if rejection is warranted by thisevidence. This propensity conflicts with one way in which beliefs are oftentaught in Christian education: namely as fundamental dogmas, rather than assubject to revision in the light of the evidence.     

Is the U.S.Next?

联合国粮农组织总干事迪乌夫警告说,全世界有100多个国家面临“疯牛病”危险。我国由于管理严格和没有传染途径,目前没有发现疯牛病。美国由于早年的一些措施,使“疯牛病”没有进入本土,但美国并没有因此感到轻松,因为与“疯牛病”类似的“疯鹿病”正在西部兴风作浪。在“疯牛病”恐慌蔓延欧洲乃至世界的今天,美国学者忧心忡忡:“美国会是下一个吗?”     

Science and Society‐‐a Report on Science Education Activities Organized and Co‐ordinated by the Council of Europe

This study explores the tension between subject knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge in primary teacher education. It documents students and in-service teachers learning about forces within the context of floating and sinking. In doing so it describes not only significant features of the learning process itself but also examines subject specific aspects of learning, identifying some of the inherent difficulties for learners within this domain and demonstrating how learners construct links between tacit knowledge and abstract scientific notions. Implications for teacher education and the teaching of science in the classroom are explored.     

Torsten Husén: A case of ethnocentrism in U.S. educational research?

This paper documents and discusses the lack of reference by U.S. educational researchers to the work of noted Swedish social scientist and educational researcher, Torsten Husén. The paucity of U.S. textbook or journal citations of Husén's writings and research is interpreted as an example of cultural ethnocentrism and academic imperialism in U.S. educational and psychological research. Crosscultural perspectives, interdisciplinary analyses, and global learning are proposed as methods of overcoming the methodological parochialism, overspecialization, and international fragmentation Husén describes as characteristic of much educational and social scientific research.     

Elementary Science Methods Courses and the National Science Education Standards: Are We Adequately Preparing Teachers?

Despite the apparent lack of universally accepted goals or objectives for elementary science methods courses, teacher educators nationally are autonomously designing these classes to prepare prospective teachers to teach science. It is unclear, however, whether science methods courses are preparing teachers to teach science effectively or to implement the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). Using the Science Teaching Standards as a framework for analysis, this research proceeded in two phases. During the first phase, the elementary science methods courses, perspectives, and practices of six science teacher educators were examined to determine similarities and differences in the course goals and objectives, overall emphases, and their efforts to prepare their students to implement the Science Teaching Standards. The second phase of the study investigated the elementary science methods courses of a national sample of science teacher educators as reflected in their course syllabi. It was found that universal inclusion of content related to the Science Teaching Standards does not exist, nor are there clear linkages between course goals, activities, and assignments.     

Trust in Science and Science Education — Part 1

Science & Education -