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  • OUTLOOK

Better teachers are needed to improve science education

The latest training techniques emphasize classroom practice and design thinking.
  1. Joshua Hatch

    1. Joshua Hatch is assistant managing editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Credit: Sébastien Thibault

If you spend time with a young child it soon becomes clear that the astronomer Carl Sagan was right when he said: “Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist…”. Spend time with a typical high-school student and it’s clear that the second part of Sagan’s quote is also correct: “...then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.”

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Nature 562, S2-S4 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06830-2

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Science and technology education, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

References

  1. Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education: 5-Year Strategic Plan (National Science and Technology Council, 2013).

  2. The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2016 (ACT, 2016).

  3. Ingersoll, R. Kappan Mag. 92(6), 37–41 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gray, L. & Taie, S. Public School Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the First Five Years (NCES 2015-337 ) (US Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics, 2015).

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