The first Robert D. Maurer Lecture was delivered by Dr. Sheila Tobias on
Thursday, December 1, 1994 in Giffels Auditorium. She spoke on "Revitalizing
Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don't." Dr. Tobias is a
distinguished researcher in the area of science and mathematics education.
During her visit here she led discussions with groups of faculty and graduate
assistants in several science departments. Her public talk was followed by a
Physics Colloquium entitled "Moving the Mountain, How to Get the Physics
Community to Change" on December 2.
A student of history and literature at Harvard, Tobias graduated magna cum laude and earned a doctorate in European history from Columbia. She is the author of 150 articles and seven books on the subject of science and mathematics education, including "Overcoming Math Anxiety," "Succeed with Math: Every Student's Guide to Conquering Math Anxiety," and "They're Not Dumb, They're Different: Stalking the Second Tier." Tobias has spent two decades working to reform science education in America. In April the American Physical Society recognized her research by making Tobias an honorary member. Tobias is a consultant to the Research Corporation and the H. Dudley Wright Foundation for the Advancement of Science. She has served as Associate Provost at Wesleyan University and lectured in Eastern Europe as an American Specialist on feminism in the U.S. Tobias is also the author of Women, Militarism and War and in her lectures often addresses the status of women and minorities in science. Sheila Tobias attracts large crowds wherever she goes with her message: women are as capable as men in science, poor scores in mathematics do not reflect a failure of intellect in students, but rather a failure of nerve, and it's simply untrue that people are either good in science or in the language arts, but never in both.
Her work has progressed on three fronts: Empowering college-age students to pursue mathematics by demonstrating through interventions at the college level that theirs is not "a failure of intellect," but a failure of nerve; examining at close range what makes science and mathematics "hard" for otherwise able students; and revealing that it is the "disciplinary cultures" not the students' abilities that are the culprit.
Dr. Tobias began her lecture by observing that after years of efforts to reform science education we have not made much progress. She sketched the past efforts at reform and obstacles that continue to block the transformation of science education. Tobias noted that most efforts at reform have been centered around changes in curriculum, computer assisted technology and pedagogy. What has been absent from these attempted reforms is changes in ideology. Tobias said that a lot of science teachers see their students in an "us" and "them" fashion. The "us" group of students is perceived as younger versions of the teacher. They are seen as eager and attentive; they ask good questions. The other group, the larger portion of the class, is "everyone else." They are seen as slower to learn and reluctant to do the required work. Tobias takes exception to this narrow perception of science students. She believes there are five student categories ranging from the first tier of "us" students to the fifth tier of "unlikelies." The "unlikelies" are the ones that she said "no amount of beefing up their skills, changes in curriculum, nothing will make them interested in science."
Tobias continued with the second tier of students, who, she said, apply themselves and are good learners but find science not relevant and "unnecessarily tension-producing"; next are the utilitarians, who make up the majority and are mainly interested in the use of science in their everyday life and work experiences; these are followed by the underprepared students, who take remedial science classes, but never proceed to take more advanced courses. Tobias stressed that it is important for teachers to accurately perceive who they are teaching in order to better teach students. This inability to differentiate student tiers results in terrible loss of math and science students in early years.
Tobias believes that the elitism fostered by the "us" and "them" perception, the attitude that only the very best can do science and it requires single-minded devotion, is a leading cause of the resistance to reforming the ideology of science education. Another contributing factor is the idea that one is predestined for science, and one's ability will show up early if at all. Tobias thinks this concept is particularly detrimental to women, who might be seen as abnormal if early science interests are expressed. Tobias said that periods of intense productivity in science come at varying stages for women and nonstandard males.
She continued that, in addition to the bias about who can learn science, there is resistance to reform on part of the faculty due to concerns such as a loss of control, uncovered material and change, simply because it is new. More staff may become necessary but may not be economically feasible. Tobias said students also resist science education reform. The current teaching methods are predictable; students know the rules, grading systems and teacher expectations. Reform encourages more open-ended questions on the tests, more student participation and a less predictable teaching style. Although students, faculty and the current basic ideology is not conducive to change, Tobias believes the challenge can be met. She said a new paradigm must replace the old ideology quoting the following passage from Francis Bacon, "The scientific method allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things."
Dr. Tobias's visit to the University of Arkansas was made possible by the efforts of Prof. Gay Stewart who is the newest member of physics faculty working in the area of Physics Education.*