27: Teaching Societal Issues in School Science and Mathematics

Traditional science and mathematics classrooms generally lack relevance and use. The National Science Foundation Status Studies provided abundant evidence that 90 percent of all U.S. schools have traditional classrooms (Helgeson, Blosser, and Howe 1977; Stake and Easley 1978; Weiss, 1978). This is true even in most college classrooms and laboratories (AAAS 1990). Students perceive a deep chasm between the classroom’s world of explanations and information in the real world. Brumby (1984, 501) offered a succinct diagnosis of the problem, describing how science is presented as “a body of absolute knowledge, most of which is recorded in books, or yet to be discovered by experts.” According to Brumby, students see their task as primarily memorization of facts so they can answer their teacher’s questions. These students may become highly skilled at rote memorization but without learning to reason. Brumby asked: “When will they begin to use rather than recite their knowledge?” (501).