One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein: Creating Scientists PDF
Preview One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein: Creating Scientists
One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein CLASSICS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION Volume2 SeriesEditor: KarenC.Cohen Forfurthervolumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7365 Deborah C. Fort One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein Creating Scientists 123 DeborahC.Fort 3706AppletonSt.NW Washington,DC20016 USA [email protected] ISBN978-90-481-2527-2 e-ISBN978-90-481-2528-9 DOI10.1007/978-90-481-2528-9 SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2009926887 ©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2010 Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorby anymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,microfilming,recordingorotherwise,withoutwritten permissionfromthePublisher,withtheexceptionofanymaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurpose ofbeingenteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Foreword Once again, our nation has a powerful need for a revolution devoted to creating scientists. As we face the challenges of climate change, global competitiveness, biodiversity loss, energy needs, and dwindling food supplies, we find ourselves in aperiodwherebothscientificliteracyandthepoolofnext-generationscientistsare dwindling. To solve these complex issues and maintain our own national security, wehavetorebuildanationalethosbasedonsoundscienceeducationforall,from whichanewgenerationofscientistswillemerge.Thechallengeishowtocreatethis transformation.Thoseshapingnationalpolicytoday,in2009,needlooknofurther thanwhatworkedahalf-centuryago. In1957,SputnikcircledandsentaclarioncallforAmericatobecometheworld’s most technologically advanced nation. In 1958, Congress passed the National DefenseEducationAct,whichfocusedthenationalwillandcalledforscholarsand teacherstosuccessfullyeducateouryouthinscience,math,andengineering.Itwas duringthistimeperiodthatPaulF.Brandweinemergedasanationalscienceedu- cation leader to lay the foundation for the changes needed in American education to create the future scientists essential to the nation’s well-being. Paul’s hands-on teachingexperiencesatGeorgeWashingtonandForestHillshighschools(bothin New York) and at universities and colleges, including—among others—Columbia TeachersCollegeandotherpostsecondaryinstitutions,particularlyinColorado;his seminal writings (especially The Gifted Student as Future Scientist [1955/1981]); andthestrategiesheemployedasatopeditorandadministratoratHarcourtBrace Jovanovichuniquelypreparedhimtohelpcreatetheparadigmshiftinscienceedu- cation that allowed us, as a nation, to meet the challenge to become the leading societyofthe20thcenturyintheexcellenceofourscienceeducation.Today,ahalf- centurylater,wecontinuetoreapthebenefitsofthisnationalfocusinallfieldsof science,intechnology,andinmedicine. The cultural and scientific revolutions of the 1960s, coupled with Paul’s strong understandingoftheinterconnectednessofscienceandsociety,broughtanewfocus andintensitytoPaul’sworkandstrengthenedhisandhiswifeMary’scommitment to environmental conservation. It was during these years, while Paul served as the codirectorofthePinchotInstituteforConservationStudiesatGreyTowers,inMil- ford,Pennsylvania,thathisworkinthenewlyemergingfieldofecologyinspireda growing national environmental awareness. Paul also fostered greater understand- vii viii K.A.Wheeler ing of the role that the natural world can play in cultivating the curiosity and cul- ture of investigation necessary to create new scientists. Paul understood from his researchthatthebestwaytoencouragetheyounginsciencewastohelpthemearly to do original work investigating scientific questions for which the answers were still unknown. What resulted was the introduction of inquiry-based, ecologically focusedscienceeducationintoclassroomsacrossthenation. Paul spent his professional life as a scientist, educator, author, and publisher focusedonthedeepquestionofhowweasanationcancreatethescientistwithin. Through varied contributions from his former students, his colleagues, and his friends, One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein: Creating Scientists explores how one man’steachingsandphilosophiesonscience,education,andenvironmentalismboth laidthegroundworkforthefirstgreatscienceeducationrevolutioninournation’s history and prepared the way for the one so necessary today. Many of the essays inthisbookofferfirsthandreflectionsbyformerstudentsandcolleaguesofPaul’s duringthe1950sandbeyondthatrecordtheimpactof,andinspirationthatresulted from, their encounters. Paul’s insights highlighted in this book1 illuminate a path forwardforustoday,asweworktocreatethesecondAmericanscienceeducation revolution. AspresidentofthePaulF-BrandweinInstitute,Iwishtoextendonbehalfofits boardofdirectorsheartfeltcongratulationsandthanksbothtoDeborahC.Fort,the contributingeditorofthisbook,andtoalltheotherindividualswhoprovidedtheir owngenerousandinvaluableofferings.Deborah’scommitmenttoandperseverance during this project are overshadowed only by the timeliness of this publication in insuring the vital and continuing impact of Paul F. Brandwein’s legacy in creating thenextgenerationofscientists. KeithA.Wheeler Unionville,NewYork 1Someoftheminhisownwords(seePartII). Preface MyPathtoThisBook I first learned of the existence of Paul Franz Brandwein in 1986, when, working as a freelance editor at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), I was asked to edit a manuscript on teaching science to talented students. The head of the publications department and I agreed that the decidedly ungifted manuscript had to be rejected, and she suggested that I pull together materials for another book on the subject. I started by compiling a bibliography and discovered, to my astonishment—thesewerethedayswhenafuturedevastatingshortfallofresearch scientists was widely (but it turned out falsely) predicted—that only one signifi- cant book existed on the subject. The sole volume was Paul’s The Gifted Student as Future Scientist (first published in 1955 by Harcourt Brace and republished in 1981bytheNational/StateLeadershipTrainingInstituteontheGiftedandtheTal- ented). In the intervening years, Paul had become copublisher of Harcourt Brace Jovanovichand,coincidentally,hehadbeenthatyear’srecipientofNSTA’spresti- giousRobertH.CarletonAward,which“recognizesoneindividualwhohasmade outstanding contributions to, and provided leadership in, science education at the nationallevel....”(2007).Heseemedtometobetheperfecteditoroftheprojected NSTAvolumeonencouraging“giftedandtalented”1 students. Mybibliographicresearchalsoturnedupthenameofamanactiveinfostering education for the gifted, one A. Harry Passow, then president of the World Coun- cil for Gifted and Talented Children. I promptly wrote to both men in hopes that theymightbepersuadedtocoeditthebook.Harry,theJacobH.SchiffProfessorat TeachersCollegeofColumbiaUniversity,waseasytofind.ButmylettertoPaulat Harcourtwentunanswered.Moreresearchrevealedthathehadrecentlyretiredtoa farminUnionville,NewYork.ThereIwrotetohimagain,andherepliedbytele- phonedayslaterthatonlyifHarry,whodescribedhimselfasa“defrockedscience teacher,” would serve as coeditor, would he agree. Since Harry had made Paul’s coeditorshiphisprovisionforjoiningtheproject,Ihadmyeditors. Although I had been making my living as a freelance editor for more than 10 years at that point, Paul had much to teach me, not only about editing but moreimportantlyaboutthebusinessoflivingresponsibly,kindly,andsignificantly. 1Onthedefinitionofthesetrickyterms,morelater. ix
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