Please mess with Texas: Texas textbook fiasco threatens US science

Introduction

Once again, Texas has joined a list of U.S. states that are fighting a rear-guard war against the progress of modern science.

On September 9, 2013, the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network issued a joint news release expressing alarm at comments made by members of a Texas state committee reviewing proposed science textbooks for the state. If a publisher’s textbook does not obtain the highest rating, because of ill-informed comments by the state review panel, then it is likely that the textbook will not be approved by local school districts. In fact, a sub-par

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September 15th, 2013 | Category: Essays | Comments are closed

Massachusetts leads the way in science and math education

For many years, educators in the U.S. have been able to do little more than cry at the disappointing test scores. For example, in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which tests mathematics and science, U.S. eighth graders ranked 11th in mathematics and 10th in science. While not disastrous, these scores are not very impressive for a nation that claims to be the world’s pre-eminent force in science and technology.

By comparison, Australian eighth graders ranked 19th in mathematics and 12th place in science. In Europe, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, England and Russia did fairly well in

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September 3rd, 2013 | Category: Essays | Comments are closed