Baker Institute conference looks at science, math education

Baker Institute conference looks at science, math education

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Educators, scientists and policymakers will discuss ways to improve the teaching of science and math in Texas schools during an Oct. 13 conference at Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.
 
The mission of the conference, co-sponsored by the Baker Institute and the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST), is to help formulate recommendations for making Texas a model state for science and math education.

The event will serve as a groundbreaking attempt to assess Texas’ strengths as they relate to the national academies’ recommendations, to document programs and to identify areas where Texas needs to improve its policies and programs.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will give remarks via video at the event. She will be joined by Rod Paige, former U.S. secretary of education; Florence Shapiro, Texas state senator and chair of the Senate Education Committee; Rob Eissler, Texas state representative and chair of the House Committee on Public Education; and Richard Tapia, director of Rice’s Center for Excellence and Equity in Education.
 
Leon Lederman, the 1998 Nobel Prize winner in physics, will give the keynote speech during a dinner for conference participants Oct. 12 at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. A 2005 report by the National Academies, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” described how improving science and technology research would help the U.S. sustain its economic viability as industries become more global. One major component of the report is the diminishing quality of science and math education in kindergarten through grade 12.
 
Conclusions from the forum will be available after the conference at http://www.tamest.org/.