Where Should I Start?
Summary of a presentation by Jan Tuomi and
subsequent small-group discussions at the working conference
"Scientists and Engineers and Science In the
Schools".
Where to begin is a dilemma to scientists and
engineers contemplating some kind of volunteer
involvement with schools. I have sought a pattern in the
experiences told me by the hundreds of scientists and
engineers with whom I have interacted over the last
several years. By pasting together the lessons learned
from both successes and failures and correcting for
personality quirks, a basic roadmap useful to others has
emerged.
Depending on your background and experience with K-12
education or teachers, you will need to make a modest
start so that you can learn more about today's schools,
classes, teachers and students. Committing yourself to a
one-shot appearance is a logical strategy to get to know
what you might be getting into. Most people start with
giving a talk or judging a science fair. Organizations
often start by giving small discretionary grants to
teachers or hosting one-time events. These are excellent
starting points--fulfilling to many participants and
meaningful to individual students or teachers, but
unfortunately have little effect on the overall quality
of science education.
Even as a novice, you may be tempted to make a more
long-term commitment. If you are considering joining an
ongoing program that requires a long-term commitment, you
should also be able to get detailed information on
expectations, receive assistance in finding a good match,
and be eligible for some level of on-going coaching. You
can benefit from their previous experience. To be sure,
if they don't require an interview, you should interview
them.
Do not fall prey to the "quick fix"
syndrome. The education system has many interactive
subsystems, and is notoriously resistant to change. If
you think you have independently come up with "the
answer", you are sure to fail. Instead, try to
listen more than you talk, ask questions more than
provide opinions. Your best mentors are teachers and
principals with excellent reputations among students and
their peers. Successful volunteers often began by simply
and honestly offering to be of assistance to such a
person.
Working Smarter
It doesn't take long before you get hooked on
increasing your effort. Primarily, you become aware of
how immense the needs are. For every teacher or student
whom you have assisted or inspired, you cannot escape
thinking about how many others you did not affect.
Hopefully, you will also have discovered how you can make
a significant contribution. If your information-gathering
effort was wide ranging, you may have found a number of
resources you would like to explore. There are a variety
of ways to power-up your effort without necessarily
taking more of your limited time.
If you are an individual, you may now recruit others.
You may look for increased resources, such as
administrative support for more participation or
contributions of money and materials. In fact, small
grassroots efforts that have survived and perhaps evolved
developed administrative support and diversified their
leadership. Talk about your accomplishments and ask
others what they think about your plans. The more you
talk--and listen, the more likely you are to increase
your impact over time.
You may also revise your "target". For
instance, many individuals want to spread more widely an
innovation that worked well in one classroom. To do so,
they graduate from being a partner to one teacher to
assisting in introducing the innovation to many teachers
through training sessions. You may also come to
appreciate the long-term impact of helping teachers
become completely confident and competent in new and more
effective methods, thereby affecting all their students
for a number of years. You may now have evidence that a
district or state policy is standing in the way of
desirable innovation, and become motivated to enter the
administrative and political areas of the education
system.
Enduring the Test of Time
By this time, the resistance to change of any
education system will have made itself known. Some
scientists and engineers have described their work in
education as "trying to move a giant
marshmallow". But, being born problem solvers, some
partnership veterans have distilled advice and
encouragement from their experiences. Two facets of their
advice have to do with time and leadership.
The time needed to establish change is likely to be a
decade or more. Developing the full array of supportive
policies and comprehensive programs needed to spark and
sustain productive changes in classrooms takes much more
time than you might have imagined. In addition, as time
passes, you-an outsider-must pass more and more of the
responsibility and control you have assumed to local
educators. This process of building capacity and sharing
leadership, while fundamental to lasting success, is
often undermined by the high turn-over rate among school
superintendents and other administrators and by the
shifting priorities of school boards and state education
agencies. Broad and diverse support, along with visible
intermediate milestones of progress are important
antidotes for eroding support.
Never has a long-standing partnership implemented its
objectives exactly as originally planned. Coping with
unpredictable shifts in a system in which you have
invested much effort but have little or no authority
requires patience and creative flexibility. The most
often cited inspiration to persevere is personal,
positive feedback from teachers and students who have
directly benefited from the partnership.
Becoming Part Of The System
"Systemic reform"
has become the buzzword for the ultimate goal in
improving science education. If the system has been
reformed, it is assumed that the schools now go about
their business in a completely different (and more
effective) manner. The system includes all the
participants in education, from the students and teachers
to the superintendent, from the accountants who process
materials orders to the president of the PTA. See the www.Science
Education System Standards for a more detailed
overview of the educational system. To have the greatest
impact, your effort -- combined with others' -- must be
as systemic as circumstance and resources allow. Only
then can your effort outlive you, the benefits of a good
science education become available to all students in
your community, and resources be allocated in the most
cost-effective manner.
The hallmarks of an effort that is systemic are:
long-term planning, widely-representative participation,
and the goal of benefiting each and every classroom. The
figure below represents the growth of impact and equity
as partnership efforts become more integrated with the
greater educational system.
Are We There Yet?
The purpose of describing the pathways open to
participants in science education partnerships does not
include reaching a common destination. A vision of
science literacy for all students will always be
somewhere on the horizon, even as progress is achieved.
The lessons are in the journey itself. Interestingly,
many partnership veterans have the urge to radically
shorten the pathway for those who would follow. In the
tradition of lecturing, they try to provide a "AP
course" in K-12 science education, and prepare their
students to jump into systemic reform. However, everyone
needs some hands-on experience to build their own
understanding of the attributes of the local education
system and determine how to make a unique contribution.
In doing so, a roadmap of advice on where to begin, what
is ahead, and features of the terrain should then be a
useful guide.
