This podcast is a recording of Dr. Steven Beering’s keynote address at our luncheon today during the 2008 OU K-20 Center’s MidWinter Conference in Norman, Oklahoma. Dr. Beering is the Chair of the National Science Board of the United States. He was appointed by the President of the United States and his appointment was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Dr. Beering shared key highlights of a recent report he just shared in Washington D.C. with our President and other national leaders, regarding steps that need to be taken to strengthen our educational support of students in STEM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Dr. Beering has had and continues to have a remarkable career in public service, which included (as Dr. Lee Williams shared in the introduction) being the medical doctor for the original Mercury 7 astronauts in the 1960s. Amidst calls for a focus on “right brain” thinking by author Daniel Pink and others, it is worthwhile to listen to Dr. Beering and his perspectives on the importance of “left brain” analytical thinking and scientific aptitudes as well as dispositions for the future of our nation and world. Many thanks to Dr. Beering for granting permission to share this presentation here as a podcast.
Show Notes:
- The National Science Board’s website is http://nsf.gov/nsb/.
- A National Action Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the U.S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education System
- The K-20 Center at the University of Oklahoma
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[tags]learning,school,stem,science,technology,math,neilarmstrong,nsf,nationalscienceboard,mw08[/tags]
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Comments
One response to “Podcast223: Strengthening America’s Foundation in STEM Education by Dr. Steven Beering”
Wes,
Dr. Shirley Jackson calls this “The Quiet Crisis”. In her discourse she estimates that it takes 15 years to grow a scientist. As I wrote about in my recent Infinite Thinking Machine blog post,
http://www.infinitethinking.org/2008/01/explore-express-and-learn.html
we need to do more to awaken the spirit of innovation. I’m trying to do little things like add free games like Crayon Physics to the school computers to more strategic activities like adding an engineering theme like Tinkering with Technology to my computer camp. Thanks for covering this important issues.