EDUCATION AND TRAINING
NSF places a high priority on efforts
to improve science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education
and training at all levels: pre-kindergarten through secondary, undergraduate,
graduate, and public science literacy. All programs place high priority
on developing effective strategies for increasing participation and achievement
of groups underrepresented in science and engineering. Other important
efforts include programs for research that advance the understanding of
learning and instructional practices. Evaluation and communication efforts
establish the extent to which education programs achieve their goals and
ensure that program and project outcomes reach a wide audience. In addition,
the Foundation supports the development of timely, relevant data and analyses
on the science and engineering enterprise. A subset of activities within
the Education and Training key program function contribute to the NSF-wide
themes of Educating for the Future (EFF) and Knowledge and Distributed
Intelligence (KDI).
NSF programs are dedicated to increasing
the opportunities for all students to learn mathematics and science, prepare
for higher education, complete degrees in science, mathematics, engineering,
and technology fields, join the workforce as competent and contributing
members, and become well-informed, science-literate citizens of the United
States. Such participation, from education to employment to life-long learning,
is NSF’s vision of human resource development in the national interest.
NSF fosters the natural connections
between learning and discovery. When research resides alongside education
and training, the rewards of discovery are shared more quickly and disseminated
more widely. Support for education and training includes most activities
funded through the Education and Human Resources appropriation, as well
as those programs funded through the Research and Related Activities appropriation
that aim to accomplish education and training through the tie to research
programs. While focused on research, much of NSF’s investment in Research
Project Support is, at the same time, an investment in education and training,
particularly through support for research activities by undergraduate and
graduate students, research at undergraduate institutions, and furthering
the careers of young investigators. Education is, in fact, an integral
component of all research projects in that the skills and training needed
for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists are
provided within the context of the research experience.
(Millions of Dollars)
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Includes about $8 million per year in FY 1997, 1998, and 1999 in Administration
and Management (A&M) costs funded through the Education and Human Resources
Appropriation that support education and training activities. A&M
costs include Intergovernmental Personnel Act appointments and contractors
performing administrative functions associated with education and training.
NSF is increasing its emphasis on partnerships
with academic institutions, based on the view that treating whole systems
is the most effective way to make improvements in science and mathematics
education. Together, academe and NSF are developing new approaches to education
activities, involving others with a stake in the science, mathematics,
engineering, and technology education enterprise, including state and local
governments, the private sector, and other agencies. Examples include activities
in the Urban Systemic Initiatives, renewed networking and collaboration
with former and current Statewide Systemic Initiative sites, and undergraduate
education reform efforts. Partnership with other federal agencies, such
as the Department of Education (DoED), are being strengthened in FY 1999,
in response to initiatives for K-8 mathematics education and research on
K-12 education and training technologies. Within NSF, partnership activities
in the education and training function include the NSF-wide Integrative
Graduate Education and Research Training program for multidisciplinary
training of graduate students in unique research settings.
PreK-12
The goal of NSF's programs at the PreK-12
level is for all students to succeed in mathematics, science,
and technology. To accomplish this goal, NSF programs are directed primarily
at systemic reform, teachers, and instructional materials. NSF's systemic
reform efforts aim to make lasting improvements in science, mathematics,
and technology education at the state level, in urban centers, and in rural
regions. The systemic approach involves broad partnerships in the development
of goals, solutions, and actions. Teacher enhancement and teacher preparation
programs strengthen teachers' knowledge and pedagogical skills and create
a network of teachers who are better able to foster reform. The instructional
materials development program supports development of comprehensive curricula,
supplemental materials, and assessments that are aligned with science and
mathematics standards.
The FY 1999 Request for PreK-12 programs
is $429 million, an increase of about $54 million above the FY 1998 Estimate.
In FY 1999, support will focus on the following activities:
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expanding systemic reform, particularly
the urban systemic initiatives (USI) and statewide systemic initiatives
(SSI);
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developing standards-based, validated
instructional materials, including the incorporation of learning technologies;
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developing a teacher workforce capable
of delivering standards-based mathematics and science education;
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developing standards-based student performance
assessments;
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training teachers on effective use of
education and training technologies;
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conducting research on educationally relevant
technologies;
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developing new forms of educational software,
content, and technology-enabled pedagogy;
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conducting research on implementation
of learning technologies in the classroom; and
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conducting research on cognition and learning.
Many of these activities align with the
K-8 mathematics initiative ($29.60 million), and the research on K-12 education
and training technologies initiative ($15.0 million out of an NSF total
of $25.0 million). These initiatives will be implemented in partnership
with the Department of Education. Support for the K-8 mathematics initiative
will focus on pre- and in-service teacher education activities, implementation
of standards-based curricula, and development and implementation of standards-based
mathematics assessments. Funding for the children’s research initiative
on cognition and learning totals $8.50 million. Increased funding for the
USI and SSI will focus on expanding the number of urban school districts
supported and on renewed networking and collaboration with current and
former SSI sites. Informal science education funding remains constant,
with an emphasis on engaging parents in science and mathematics education,
integrating research and education, and fostering linkages with formal,
in-school activities, particularly in systemic initiative sites.
Undergraduate
NSF's programs support many facets
of undergraduate education, including curriculum, laboratory, and instructional
practice, as well as preparation of the technological and K-12 instructional
workforce. In order to improve the quality of undergraduate courses and
curricula in the sciences, NSF provides funds to encourage the development
of multi- and interdisciplinary courses as well as to encourage science,
mathematics, and engineering faculty members to work collaboratively with
schools of education in order to enhance the ability of prospective teachers
to deliver standards-based K-12 education.
NSF programs that address undergraduate
needs include:
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Advanced technological education projects
which focus on meeting the demands of the competitive, technology-based
workplace by targeting technician education programs at the undergraduate
and secondary school levels in advanced technology fields;
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Course, curriculum, and laboratory improvement
projects which focus on institution-wide implementation of quality instruction
in classrooms and laboratories;
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Alliances for Minority Participation,
which support comprehensive approaches to increase the quantity and quality
of underrepresented minorities who successfully earn science and engineering
baccalaureate degrees, and the number who go on for graduate study in these
fields; and,
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Engineering Education Reform, which stimulates
innovative and comprehensive models for systemic reform of undergraduate
engineering education and aims to increase the retention of students.
Undergraduate activities will total $167
million in FY 1999, an increase of $13 million over the FY 1998 Estimate.
In FY 1999, new approaches will be developed that build on and integrate
the efforts of curriculum, laboratory improvement and faculty renewal programs.
These efforts will coordinate educational materials development, institution-wide
adaptation and implementation of exemplary curricular models, and national
dissemination of high-quality education products and practices. Funding
for the Advanced Technological Education program will be enhanced, to support
programs that prepare technicians for the advanced technology workplace.
Support for Engineering Education Reform will also increase, with emphasis
on stimulating innovation in engineering education, and disseminating and
institutionalizing successful educational models and materials throughout
the engineering education community. Other funds for undergraduate research
activities are included under Research Project Support, particularly Research
Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) which provides opportunities for undergraduates
to gain valuable scientific research experiences, and Research at Undergraduate
Institutions (RUI) which provides research support for faculty in predominantly
undergraduate institutions.
Graduate/Postdoctoral
NSF's graduate education programs are
designed to improve the human resource base for science and engineering
in the U. S. and to increase the participation of scientists and engineers
from groups that are underrepresented in advanced levels of science, mathematics,
and engineering.
Graduate and postdoctoral programs
will total $132 million in FY 1999, an increase of $12 million over FY
1998. In FY 1999, NSF will continue the Foundation-wide Integrative Graduate
Education and Research Training (IGERT) program begun in FY 1998. Support
will increase about $7 million to a total of $28 million. IGERT reflects
a shift in strategy from a more diffuse support of graduate education through
research grants to a focused effort designed to respond to the growing
need for researchers and faculty educated beyond the boundaries of a single
discipline.
Other graduate funding increases include
the Graduate Research Fellowship program, particularly to support an increase
in the institutional cost-of-education allowance. Other increases include
collaboration between the Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Education
and Human Resources Activities to support Vertically Integrated Grants
for Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences program, aimed
at achieving systemic reform of graduate and undergraduate mathematical
sciences. The science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education
postdoctoral program for production of K-12 and undergraduate level professionals,
initiated in FY 1997, will be sustained. Other support for graduate student
and postdoctoral research activities provided through research grants are
included under Research Project Support.
Other Support for Education and
Training
NSF supports programs to promote public
understanding of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET),
including the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data on U.S. and
international resources devoted to science, engineering, and technology.
The FY 1999 Budget Request for these activities is $26 million, an increase
of $2 million over FY 1998. In FY 1999, increased support will focus on
expanding applications of technology that promote scientific literacy and
disseminating findings from NSF-supported research. NSF will also provide
increased support to develop a new survey of science, engineering and technological
innovation, a longitudinal study of science and engineering graduate students,
and continued implementation of an international science and technology
indicators network.
Highlights
Examples of accomplishments resulting
from Education and Training support include:
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Informal Science Education. As
part of NSF’s effort to encourage young people to select and pursue careers
in the sciences, and to encourage life-long learning, NSF has supported
a number of outreach activities designed to stimulate interest in science
and mathematics. Among its most successful funded projects is A Science
Odyssey, a recently acclaimed Public Broadcasting System television
series developed over the last five years to expand public understanding
of the nature of science in the 20th
century. The Odyssey television series is a voyage of discovery that reveals
mysteries of outer space and the natural world, as well as human inventions
and ideas that impact our lives. The success of the series is based on
its delivery of high-quality content to a nation-wide audience.
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The comprehensive science and mathematics
curricula, grades K-12, supported by NSF through the Instructional Materials
Development program in the early-to-mid 1990s, are beginning to have
an impact on the textbook market. The new elementary mathematics curricula
are being used by more than 1,500,000 students in over 60,000 classrooms.
Under these challenging curricula, student performance data from standardized
field tests (e.g., Ability to Do Quantitative Thinking Test, Essential
Skills Mathematics portion of the Michigan Education Assessment Program)
show a variety of positive results, including significant gains in student
achievement in mathematics and reading for all students, as well as better
performance in statistics and other subject areas not in the traditional
curricula. Full Option Science System (FOSS), an inquiry-based science
curriculum, has captured 20 percent of the market for grades K-6 science.
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Local Systemic Change (LSC) projects
reform science and mathematics education in entire school systems through
teacher professional development linked with implementation of exemplary
instructional materials. In grades 7-12, LSC scales-up field-test sites
of NSF-supported instructional materials that have been successful in increasing
both student interest in mathematics and achievement on national tests.
In southwestern Michigan, for example, 15 high schools are implementing
the Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP). First year CPMP students have
shown growth significantly greater than both the national 9th
grade norm on the Ability to Do Quantitative Thinking Test and a control
group of peers. Moreover, 11th
grade teachers reported that 50 percent of CPMP-enrolled students would
normally not have taken 3rd
year mathematics.
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The Third International Mathematics
and Science Survey (TIMSS), jointly developed and supported by
NSF and the Department of Education, has advanced understanding of science
and mathematics student performance internationally. For the U.S., it has
shown erosion of student achievement between grades 4 and 8. An accompanying
NSF-supported analysis of international curricula helps explain the differences
in country performance. For example, TIMSS has shown that simple policies
(e.g., increasing length of school year, reducing class size, increasing
homework) are unlikely to improve student achievement; that U.S. classrooms
and textbooks lack focus; and that technology, if not embedded in a strong
curriculum, is ineffective.
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Promoting partnerships of two- and four-year
institutions, secondary schools, and business, the NSF Advanced Technological
Education (ATE) program strengthens science and mathematics preparation
of students entering the high technology workplace. In FY 1997, six ATE
Centers – focused on critical technology areas – involved 450 community
colleges, 50 four-year institutions, 1,000 businesses and industries, as
well as numerous small and medium sized firms. Among them, the Northwest
Center for Emerging Technologies at Bellevue Community College in Washington
is revising information technology programs in response to emerging job
needs with substantial investments by regional industry (e.g., Microsoft,
Boeing). Over the next five years, the Center will improve the education
of 5,000 college and 2,700 high school students as well as the preparation
of 350 technology faculty and high school teachers.
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The Alliances for Minority Participation
(AMP) program supports 27 institutional collaborations intended to increase
substantially the quantity and achievement of underrepresented students
receiving baccalaureate and graduate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering,
and technology. The most mature projects awarded in FY 1991, enrolled 52,116
students from underrepresented groups in FY 1995, an increase of 32 percent
over four years. By comparison, national enrollment increased 37 percent
from 1980-93, and 8 percent from 1991 to 1993. In 1995, AMP institutions
awarded 14,565 bachelor’s degrees in science, mathematics, and engineering,
nearly 25 percent of the total awarded to African-Americans, Hispanics,
and Native Americans.
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From 1993-1996, the Graduate Research
Traineeship (GRT) program supported 926 Ph.D. candidates across all
NSF-supported disciplines. Of those trainees, 37 percent were female and
29 percent were from traditionally underrepresented groups. Research products
attest to the quality of their education. For example, over the three years
reported, trainees wrote or co-authored 452 journal articles, 11 books,
and 55 book chapters; made 973 presentations; obtained 12 patents; and
received 430 other academic awards.
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In response to an NSF workshop on Graduate
Student and Postdoctoral Education and Training, NSF made several competitive,
experimental awards to universities in Illinois, Missouri, Texas and Connecticut
in FY 1997 aimed at reinvigorating the Master’s Degree program. These awards
place a strong emphasis on industrial interaction and the integration of
research with the educational experience of M.S. students in Materials
Science and related areas of science and engineering. An important goal
of the program is to enable students to prepare for careers that may include
non-traditional roles in communication, business, leadership, ethics, teamwork,
and mentoring.
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In FY 1997, Science Resources Studies,
NSF’s statistical arm, helped the Office of Management and Budget set up
the FEDSTATS web site. The FEDSTATS site, well received in news stories
and internet media, helps guide users to statistics on-line from more than
70 federal agencies, giving the public the statistical information they
need for personal and business use. More than 170,000 visitors made over
300,000 visits to FEDSTATS in the first 4 months.
Many activities within the Research Project
Support key program area address issues related to Education and Training.
Examples of projects that integrate research and education include:
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In the Teachers Experiencing the Antarctic/Arctic
(TEA) program, high school teachers travel to Antarctica or the Arctic
for several weeks to team up with researchers in the field. Prior to going
into the field, the teachers visit the polar researchers at their home
universities for training on specific research projects. The TEA participants
spend approximately 4-8 weeks in the field on a wide range of studies.
For example, one teacher rode an icebreaker exploring the deglaciation
history of Antarctica’s Ross Sea, while another monitored stream flow at
a Long-Term Ecological Research site in the Transantarctic Mountains. The
teachers keep electronic journals of their experiences and answer students’
e-mail questions. Upon returning home, the TEA teachers work with their
school districts to bring Antarctica and the Arctic into the classroom.
Funding for TEA is a collaborative effort within NSF and reflects the strong
commitment to the integration of science education and research.
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The Research Experiences for Undergraduates
(REU) program provides opportunities for undergraduate students to experience
hands-on participation in research or related scholarly activities in areas
of science, mathematics, and engineering. NSF supports researchers who
involve students in either ongoing research (REU supplements) or special
programs (REU sites). NSF’s investment in FY 1997 was approximately $30
million and supported nearly 300 sites across all 50 states. For example,
at an REU site at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, undergraduates gain
research experience spotlighting high-latitude chemical and biochemical
components of environmental and ecological studies. Research includes environmental
chemistry, molecular evolution, bioinorganic chemistry, molecular biology
of marine organisms, and atmospheric chemistry. Alaskan students can then
exchange perspectives with students from the lower 48.