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LOYOLA OFFERS ANSWERS TO SCIENCE AND MATH PROBLEMS

Loyola is helping to transform the Chicago Public Schools’ science curriculum.

“It’s possible that in our kids’ lifetime, American economic viability will be eroded, because we won’t have people to run critical industries of the future.”

That’s how David Slavsky, PhD, director of Loyola’s Center for Science and Math Education (CSME), encourages his students to take an interest in science and math to counter the disturbing trend. “The America they live in may be different if we don’t address the need for having our children better educated in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” he explains. “In other parts of the world, kids are well educated in these areas, and increasingly travel to countries other than the U.S. for graduate-level science and math education.”

The CSME, a cooperative effort between Loyola’s School of Education and College of Arts and Sciences, is working to address this problem, with help from the Gates Foundation. The CSME is the science provider for Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) High School Transformation Program, which is funded by a new Gates Foundation grant to overhaul science and math programs in select city high schools. The three-year grant will help the center provide an integrated curriculum that includes coaching support for teachers.

“We want to make sure the key concepts in science are always revisited, so students will see the same language and ideas throughout their education,” Slavsky says.  “Their education should be consistent and integrated, so they come to see science as a whole, with overarching principles that govern all of nature.”

A step towards a solution

This kind of curriculum change is a significant step toward solving the science and math crisis in the U.S., according to Slavsky. Dwindling numbers of education students are focusing on these disciplines, and many experts believe that elementary school science and math programs lack the necessary quality and relevance.

In fact, a well-publicized report, titled “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future,” states that federal policymakers must increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 science and math education. The solutions suggested in this report, which was initiated by Congress this year, are in line with the goals of the CSME, which has been working on these issues for the past four years.

The Center for Science and Math Education is a key resource for Chicago schools.

The CSME has become a key resource for Chicago-area schools. The center provides educational opportunities for CPS teachers, such as a new preparation program for teaching physics; offers Loyola students a new undergraduate major in science education; and serves as the implementation site for SEPUP (Science Education for Public Understanding Program), a research-based curriculum for seventh- and eighth-graders in Chicago Public Schools.  

JENNY KUSTRA-QUINN