program directors: Ira Bennett and Jameson Wetmore
Every year the United States loses some of its competitive edge in science. Numerous studies show that our education system is woefully inadequate in ensuring that our nation’s citizens have a basic understanding of math, physics, chemistry, and biology and therefore render the vast majority of citizens unable to enter the scientific workforce. Such deficiencies make the United States increasingly vulnerable both economically and militarily.
Much of the effort to address this problem has been inspired by a complex model known as “the leaky pipeline problem.” The idea is that we have many students involved in science at an early age, but for a variety of reasons they are led astray by other less nationally-important career options such as doctor, lawyer, K-12 educator, career politician, and science funder. Each time an individual chooses one of these inferior career paths he or she has “leaked” from the pipeline. Numerous admirable programs are currently in place to “make science fun,” show that “minorities can do science,” and proclaim that “girls can also be scientists” so that individuals do not stray from the one true path. Despite these efforts, it remains a fact that far too many individuals still choose not to become scientists.
This call for proposals is motivated by this deficiency. It is inspired by a new twist on the pipeline model. We argue that not only can the leaks in the pipeline be patched, but the number of individuals flowing into the pipeline at the beginning can be increased. There has been effort to do this already as early as Kindergarten where students are not only encouraged to memorize their A, B, Cs, but some of the basic principles of Newtonian science as well. This call for proposals looks to push the beginning of the pipeline even earlier. It calls for the development and piloting of pre-natal science education programs.
There are three main motivating factors behind this ambitious project:
- We believe that the more individuals we can stuff into the pipeline, the more scientists will come out the other end. If we can get more individuals interested in science before they have even left the womb, we will greatly increase the likelihood that more people will choose to be science practitioners for a lifetime.
- There is no more captive audience than fetuses in the womb. Once students leave the womb they can be distracted by everything from diaper changes to eating. By not looking to the womb, science educators are missing out on a rare opportunity to reach out to youngsters that will only become more distracted as their lives go on.
- It is clear that not every individual exposed to science in the womb will choose to become a scientist. But there are still benefits to such early education. We maintain that people really should understand the basic electron structure of oxygen and how it is necessary for life as we know it before an individual begins to breathe oxygen on his or her own.
It is clear that determining successful methods to implement pre-natal science education will be a difficult task. It is likely that it will require well researched pedagogy coupled with the latest technologies. Thus we encourage interdisciplinary teams to submit proposals. The program has $30 million to fund this effort. Individual awards of up to $5 million will be made. There is also a limited pool of funding (approximately $17) to study the social and ethical implications of pre-natal science education. At this stage we are accepting pre-proposals of up to 500 words. Please submit them in the comment section below this announcement by April 1st, 2011.
