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by Joe Cain History of Science Society Newsletter, Volume 27 No. 4 © 1998 by the History of Science Society, All rights reserved Email:hssexec@u.washington.edu Contributing to K-12 education is harder than it sounds principally due to a lack of clear access points. Who should you talk with at the start? How might information flow from your desktop towards K-12 classrooms and student investigations! Let's face it: many great contributions from HSSers go undeveloped due to the diffuse and decentralized nature of the pre-college universe. HSS's Committee on Education (CoE) is continuing its work to expand the value of history of science within K-12 settings (the HSS Web site lists its projects). In addition, one easy way HSSers can establish direct contact with teachers is by writing articles for trade publications in the teaching profession-the ones that, like Isis and the HSS Newsletter, come packaged with membership in a professional society. HSSers wanting to reach science teachers in the United States, for example, can turn to the non-profit National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). With more than 53,000 members across North America and overseas, NSTA produces publications that reach more K-12 classroom teachers than just about any other professional group. Its publications offer HSSers some of the most useful and effective access points available for placing better history of science in the hands of front-line educators. Say, for example, you've developed several well-received classroom activities on the history of optics or electricity or cartography and have placed them on your department's Web site. Or you've found at your local science museum some truly useful materials about the history of telescopes and economic botany. Now you want to raise awareness about them among science teachers. Short notices and news items such as these are ideal for NSTA's 52-page newspaper, NSTA Reports!, published six times a year, widely read, and much anticipated as a source of new ideas by classroom teachers. Or, perhaps, you've had a quick glance at one of the books your child uses as a text and take sharp offense at the hero worship or the triumphalist packaging of historical episodes. You want to produce a corrective so teachers have resources to engage the past in a serious and meaningful way. Publishing that material in teacher-directed periodicals might offer just such a solution. NSTA publishes journals for science teachers at four levels of practice:
They also produce Quantum, designed for teachers and students in mathematics and dedicated to weaving mathematics into humanities curriculum and vice versa. Included in these journals are activities for classroom use, articles designed to complement curriculum and to provide deep background for the educators, and often quite sophisticated discussions of what students should be learning, how, and when. The editors of these journals welcome submissions as any editor does. Know that articles are peer-reviewed by teachers and scholars. Article length varies, but all are short compared to our own trade journals. Know, too, that teachers make good and extensive use of articles appearing in journals like these. CoE members have received enthusiastic responses to the idea of HSSers submitting contributions. In short, the way is clear. Reaching into pre-university science settings has never been easier. More information about NSTA publications, and sample articles, can be collected from NSTA's Web site or directly from the managing editors of their publications. Of course, NSTA is but one professional organization for science teachers. Particularly at the secondary level, more specialized organizations also provide support for classroom science teachers. Several of the many are:
Joe Cain is a lecturer in history and philosophy of biology at University College London and is a CoE member (J.Cain@ucl.ac.uk) |