Unsolicited Interdisciplinary NSF Funding Query for Scientific Research of STEM Educational Content Standards

I just sent the following email to several contacts at the National Science Foundation:

Hello,

I am looking to fund research that is vital to the future of the U.S. but whose value has not yet been recognized.  From the NSF website, it suggested that I “develop a one-to-two paragraph description that can be sent by email” and thus I’m sending this message (although I hope you will forgive the fact that it has 5 small paragraphs instead of 2 big ones.)  And I am also sending this to all the points of contact that seemed most relevant, due to the interdisciplinary nature of my desired research.

It is clear that the educational content standards set in the fields of STEM will have wide-ranging consequences on the future of the United States.  But how are these content standards being developed?  The answer is, that the development is generally occurring through committees that are not given an objective framework of understanding in which to build their standards.   I have first hand experience with this problem as a member of the committee in California to revise the K-12 Information and Communications Technologies standards for K-12 schools.  Further, I have done research, that is as yet unpublished, which shows that not one state in the U.S. requires students to know what a “trillion” is before they graduate high school.  From economics of our national debt, to computer storage space, understanding a trillion is a critical concept for all citizens to understand.   If sufficient research had been done before-hand that would have created a fairly comprehensive framework in which to place the standards, then this type of huge hole would not have occurred.

I believe the solution to the problem is to use recognized models of needs, such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, combined with automated qualitative research of materials, such as job postings, newspapers, etc to build a model that can bring our standards up to the needs of society today, and lend credible evidence to what should be taught for our future needs.  It further can distinguish what content of STEM is critical for all citizens to know, and what content is specialized and should be taught to those who decide to go into a specific field.

STEM is earning a reputation of being “Science and Engineering only”, as I heard from a speaker at the California Statewide Career Technical Review.  Evidence of this is further borne out by the fact that the while States’ Career Clusters Initiative has a STEM pathway of “Engineering and Technology,” the pathway only mention “engineering” in many specific pathway standards.  And Information Technology is a separate cluster, not even being considered part of STEM.  Yet, Information Technology has been the major economic force in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math thus far in the 21st century.  It is only with objective interdisciplinary research could a more balanced curriculum that accurately reflects the needs of our nation be created.

I hope you will consider this idea, and that we can start dialog about how to improve the methodologies of developing standards, and the possibility of gaining funding to assist in doing the necessary research to be part of this methodological improvement.