The College of Science and the College of Education are teaming up in an effort to better train and prepare math and science teachers at the K-12 and college levels.
Pierre Sokolsky, dean of the College of Science, and Michael Hardman, dean of the College of Education, both envision Utah soon being at the top in math and science education scores.
To accomplish this goal, they have worked together to propose a new Math and Science Education Center that, if created, will give combined training to prospective teachers.
“In the past, the two colleges have not had much of a working relationship for a variety of reasons,” Sokolsky said. “But this is a marriage, a partnership between the Colleges of Science and Education.”
Hardman said students involved in this center would benefit from teaching and program development from instruction in both colleges at the same time, rather than one at a time. Faculty from both colleges will collaborate to design curriculum and to teach classes, he said.
“Historically the College of Education would have a math and science education program and in many universities today, the faculty in the College of Education do not interact with the faculty of the College of Science,” Hardman said. “We are bringing those entities together.”
Plans for the new center are going through the hierarchy of university administration, but both Hardman and Sokolsky are optimistic their plans will go through because of the large need for math and science teachers both at the U and in public education.
“If you look at the state of Utah, the numbers of teachers we need at K-12 in science and math, we are short about 200 teachers a year, not counting those teachers out there that aren’t well trained,” Sokolsky said. “There is a tremendous need for increasing the number of science and math teachers and improving the quality of teachers.”
Sokolsky said U science and math majors graduate in their major only 50 percent of the time, compared to 80 percent in other majors. He said part of the problem is students having a difficult time getting through introductory classes because their high school science educations were inadequate.
Hardman said that science and math scores have been low all around the country and there is a greater need for teachers to be better trained to prepare future mathematicians and scientists.
“This is a partnership between the College of Science and the College of Education but also a very strong relationship with public education,” Hardman said. “We will be working with them to improve the quality of math and science education and to recruit students out of high school to choose science education as a career.”
Hardman said the center will be completely functional in two years, but will have elements finished within the next few months. The two deans are undergoing a search for a director for the new center that they hope to finish as soon as possible.
Hugo Rossi, a professor of math, said the center will affect two types of students.
“One has to do with teacher preparation and the other has to do with preparation of future scientists, engineers, pharmacists and mathematicians,” he said.
Rossi said not only would prospective teachers be integrated into the normal science curriculum, science majors would also be more integrated into other science programs.
“I would like to see in undergrad education integrated programs so that students understand that if they become a pharmacist how all the sciences play a role,” he said.
Sokolsky also said the College of Science would explore new kinds of introductory courses. For example, instead of having students take Physics 1010, students would take a course on the science of molecules which would combine chemistry, biology and physics all together.
“We also hope to combine science laboratories and possibly new facilities in coming years,” he said.