Educators Convene In San Diego For STEM Education Conference

MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: This is KPBS Midday Edition, I am Maureen Cavanaugh. The second annual California STEM Symposium brings thousands of educators and science industry leaders to San Diego this week. The focus is on increasing student achievement and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and math. This year, much of the discussion is on a new way of teaching STEM subjects. The program is called the next generation science standards. It is set to be introduced in California schools next year. I would like to welcome my guests, Cristina Trecha and Muhammed Chaudry. As I said, this is only the second annual symposium in California, focusing on science and tech subjects in school. Let me ask you both, what kinds of things do you hope will be discussed at the symposium? CRISTINA TRECHA: I am hoping teachers will have opportunities to think in new ways about what it means to be a teacher. Does it mean just time in the classroom, or does it mean beyond and outside of the classroom, off-campus in the community, science rich institutions and industry, and thinking about the locally and regionally with professionals in STEM fields. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Muhammed, what are you expecting or hoping to hear at the symposium? MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: There are a lot of symposiums out there that talk about the business of education, or the policy. The idea behind the symposium was to bring practitioners together to talk about how to implement all of the things we talk about in science, technology, engineering and math. For example, next generation science standards, relating concept with practice, we can talk about it at a high level. But teachers coming together, and developing relationships and communities and actually to see it implemented, we see that translation across California to the 6 million students across the state very much so. We are expecting to expand on that. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: The next generation standards that are going to be such a focal point of this symposium, can you tell us how these standards were developed? CRISTINA TRECHA: They were developed by a large group of states and stakeholders. Twenty-six states together under the leadership of a non-profit called Achieve, to take all of the things we now know about teaching and learning, and the science that has happened in the last fifteen years, and say what should students be learning in the K-12 spectrum? They enter in kindergarten and leave and twelve grade, and what does that look like? We now know it sometimes does not have so much science in the beginning. We are putting emphasis on building coherency. The next generation standards are based on a national framework. It is that framework that the national academies of science have the national research counsel right. It says we need to have these certain pieces in standards, focus on equity and science for all. That framework is the book for which this group of people got together and wrote the standards. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: On the next generation science standards website, one educator says that teachers, first exposed to the new way of teaching, they are stunned. And then they are very excited. What is so stunning about a new way to teach science? CRISTINA TRECHA: Some teachers have been secretly trying to teach more hands-on science, but it has been a focus on math and English-language arts. The excitement is that I can really do this now, and not only that, I am giving students phenomenon or something interesting to puzzle over, and they are having to explain it. I am no longer telling them the science, they are trying to work with their ideas on how the world works, and I'm working from those ideas. As a teacher, that means I may be able to go to a local museum and get an idea, I can go online and get an idea, I can introduce phenomenon and interesting pieces to students, and they work collaboratively like scientists from their own ideas. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: The website also says that science classes are about to get messy. CRISTINA TRECHA: And loud. If you walk into a science classroom now, and their assist a teacher lecturing to students and they are all facing the front, you know something is wrong. We know now that research says that is not how you learn science. MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: I think of it as, biology as it is taught now, it is more of a foreign language course. Students learn a lot of terminology and never get to get hands-on. We're talking about getting messy and engaged. As well as interrelating different concepts, climate change and physical forces that impact biologically, plants and other things, and how to connect those dots. Those are things that we want students to fall in love with science in K-12 education so they pursue a career. We are not seeing enough students pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering, or math. The jobs are at a shortage. They are thinking about why this is important for the average person in San Diego. Employers need to hire more folks in this space, and we are not producing enough. One of the challenges is, the way that we teach science, students do not fall in love with it. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: We have done a lot of programs about the new common core standards for reading and math. I'm wondering, is this a little like common core for science? CRISTINA TRECHA: That is a language issue. We have common core around math and English-language arts. The science standards are separate. They also took into consideration that teachers are going to be receiving these common core standards, and writers of the next generation science standards said we will make them look kind of similar. We have practices just like the mathematical and listening which arts standards. There is a focus on thinking visibly in the classroom, talking, and working from evidence. At the heart of that, it is just the fact is of math and helping language and expressing yourself, and the development of your understanding of the world. They are all incredibly linked. We have been separating them for far too long. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Why do we need this big change in the way that we teach science? Where have we gone wrong? MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: It is already to what we want students to know. There are a few key terms here. We are talking about common core format and English, and next-generation science standards. How do we provide relevance? Most students ask when will I use this in real life? And how do we connect that.for the student, as well as our standards to date are a mile wide and an inch deep. Going there are and deeper so students understand more is a key second piece. The third pieces about competing against the rest of the world. Our students have not competed well in California as measured against other states and countries. We do not rank well. We need a set of standards that will allow them to compete for skills in the twenty-first century, and help them be part of an understanding that is relevant, deep, and they fall in love with it. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Are science classes taught this way in other countries that we look to to see how well students are doing compared to how not so well some of ours are? MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: Absolutely. We look at the competition and other states and countries where it has been done well. There is more relevance, and it is nowhere and deeper. If we were to teach our current California standards, it would take over thirty years to teach them. And we only have twelve years. All of this is now connected, and common core and English will now have science terminology in there. As we integrate, students will understand how everything relates to each other as well. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: When it comes to the need to increase enthusiasm and instruction in stem subjects, President Obama has made that a large part of his education program, isn't that right? MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: Absolutely. STEM is everywhere. Computational thinking, another part of the science standards that are sometimes not highlighted, like computer science. We know that requiring a job and the unemployment rate, understanding science and math is going to be key for that. For us to compete as a country, more of our students need to understand that. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Another focus of the conference is to get girls and underrepresented minorities engaged in sciences. Why do you think that is such a challenge? CRISTINA TRECHA: Historically, the relationship of low-income and underrepresented minorities, historically the relationship with school districts is a troubled relationship. You see in equity across districts. You see low income neighborhood schools that have had historically lower resources. They also have teachers who may be less prepare. That is kind of the framework from which we are working. In order to work in that framework, we think about resources and experiences for all students. You think about a school that has high-tech labs, and it has all of these great resources. If students are also coming from affluent neighborhoods, and are having those experiences, you're actually strengthening the gap and the inequity in our community. If we provide opportunities for all students, we will see more since getting interested in science earlier. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: What is being done in San Diego to level the playing field when it comes to the ability to get equity in science education? CRISTINA TRECHA: Right now, in a campus at UCSD, there is the stem initiative I am part of the stem initiative, I am a science coordinator and specialist role. When the national science education grants and other funding come in, how can we work with teachers so that teachers all over San Diego county are plugged into these resources, and how can we think in new ways about how female role models in research institutions are engaging with young girls everywhere, all throughout San Diego? There are specific programs. There is a program where they work long term throughout the year. Women from the science Center with a background in science are working with girls from low income neighborhoods and underrepresented areas of science, in fifth through seventh grade, with long-term investments in the community. We are seeing more of that, and a lot of industry interests. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: When it comes to industry interests, you work with a foundation that represent Silicon Valley. So many high-tech companies in the US claim they cannot hire as many people as they would like from other countries to fill high-tech positions. Is it really in fact they cannot find well-qualified American employees to fill those high-paying high-tech positions? MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: Absolutely. When we look at the amount of jobs available, there are 75,000 jobs available today that they have not filled. You ask Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, he will say his policy in hiring is to find as many computer science majors as you can, and they will hire them. There is clearly a shortage. How do we make up for that? When you look at kindergarten and twelfth grade education systems, the exposure and to just talk about computer science within STEM, only one in ten students are exposed to it. When we look at girls, there are less computer science females graduating with a major in computer science then ten years ago. What we were just talking about with Christina, it is a real album. To change that, we need a lot of policy changes, and exposure to create that equity will be key. I think technology will play a key role in that. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: There has been pushed back in common core, do you expect similar problems in introducing the next-generation science standards? CRISTINA TRECHA: I think people will be prepared for that, because of the current movement right now and conversation around common core. That conversation is happening now because we are in the implementation phase. They're saying you are assessing students, you're trying on these pieces, who is behind these assessments? For next generation science, our implementation is down the road. We are looking at implementing in 2016 to 2017. There are pieces of the next-generation science standards that might be controversial, but I also believe in teachers and advocating for students. If people are going to speak out against the new movement based on research, they should spend time in the classroom and see what it used to look like compared to what we envision with the new standards. MUHAMMED CHAUDRY: The area where I think the pushback is fair, is around teacher professional development. Training teachers, and bringing on new standards, a different way of doing things. How do we get our workforce of over 300,000 teachers in California, in bigger and bigger numbers, or in the neighborhood school, it cannot be done in one day. You are asking them to do something fundamentally differently. Particularly a mature schools, who are not credentialed in one of those subjects. I think it is fair to make sure as a community we invest in our teachers, to make sure they are prepared to take on the challenges of teaching new standards, whether in common core in order next-generation science. Next-generation science standards have a little bit of advantage, because common core standards are coming up before them. The second area is really around the area of technology. How do we provide technology for every student? Not only hardware inside the classroom, but all of the researcher in our schools, so they can leverage technology to individualize section. The third area is around parent and education. We will invest there to make sure parents know what it is and what it is not, and how we can prepare all students to compete in twenty-first century skills. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: And as you said, Cristina, we have until about 2016 to accomplish those goals? CRISTINA TRECHA: In my work with the San Diego science project, it is teacher and professional development. We are working with teachers who have a lot asked of them right now with common core, but they are ready to take on science, because it gets gets excited, and they want to engage kids. That is what next generation science standards, they are asking teachers to do a lot and go beyond what they were asked to do as a professional before. They are doing exciting things already. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Thank you both very much, I appreciate it. [ NEW SEGMENT ] MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: This is KPBS Midday Edition, I am Maureen Cavanaugh.