Want STEM grads? Focus on elementary school, not high school
For more than five decades, educators have struggled to increase the number of American students who graduate with a STEM (Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering) degree.
At the beginning of this quest it was apparent that a stumbling block was failure of many Americans to successfully complete two years of calculus, which led to studies seeking to improve the learning of mathematics. Today the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is considering proposals for grants to improve the teaching of Algebra 1.
The Gates Foundation will provide millions of dollars in grants and the results will probably not differ much from previous efforts. These programs fail because the focus is on teaching math at the college level or in high school or even middle school.
They are all looking in the wrong place since the root cause of failure in mathematical learning is found in the elementary school.
Why the elementary grades?
There are two impediments to math achievement in elementary school. The first is the inadequate college preparation in mathematics for most elementary teachers, while the second is the persistence of elementary math classes to be mixed ability.
Most college faculty who teach math for future elementary teachers have never taught in a real elementary classroom. You would expect a professor of surgery to actually conduct surgeries to stay current. A marketing professor is expected to stay active in the field, yet these math courses are taught by educators who are not aware of the dynamics of the elementary math classroom.
A simple solution to this lack of real experience is to require these faculty to teach a daily elementary school math class for one semester every three years. It must be mandatory to avoid faculty noncompliance.
Elementary classes are constructed with mixed ability to avoid creating elites. This is fine for language arts, science and social studies, but math is a cumulative subject. Examine a typical fifth-grade class, where there is a wide diversity of math achievement.
There are a few students who have not yet mastered adding and subtracting whole numbers. Some can already operate with fractions and decimals, and most are in between those two groups. The teacher teaches to the middle, leaving those at the lower end convinced they cannot do math, while the accomplished students grow bored and decide that math is not worth pursuing. There are two possible solutions. One is to have each grade level schedule math classes at the same time, and send students to the class appropriate for their ability level. The teacher with the lowest group must know alternate computational methods and should have a supply of engaging activities that will promote student achievement.
Those concerned about misbehavior will find engaged students are not disruptive. One or two students who still disturb the class must be dealt with by the administration.
If this structure is too complex for a school, the answer is to hire a highly qualified teacher to teach an advanced math class for each grade level, taking students from their home classroom to attend a grade-level advanced class.
I have taught advanced math classes in Arizona, Georgia and Texas, and feedback from former students yields evidence that a challenging math class can lead to a successful career in science and engineering, as well as business.
Foundations and government entities must wake up and see that the answers to a dearth of American STEM majors lies in the elementary school, with minimal cost. Is it not about time to get this done?
Murray Siegel is a United States Air Force Vietnam War veteran who taught mathematics for 44 years and currently teaches, as a volunteer, an advanced fifth-grade math class in the Maricopa Unified School District. Reach him at murray.siegel@asu.edu.