Testimony on the Role of the National Science Foundation in Undergraduate Science and Engineering Education.

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9

Policymakers; Community

College Science; Community Colleges; Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Educational Quality; Educational Responsibility; Federal Aid; Federal Programs; Government Role; Science Education; Technical Education; Technological Advancement; Technology Transfer; Two Year Colleges

The National Science Foundation (NSF) should be a guiding force in science education and in building public understanding of science and technology transfer issues. The nation's community, junior, and technical colleges, which now enroll 52% of all Americans who go to college for the first time, are eager to work with the NSF to further these goals. Four imperatives are critical to the future of science education and the role of the NSF: (1) developing public understanding of and support for science, with particular focus on increasing minority understanding of science; (2) meeting the nation's occupational demands for employees competent in the applied science fields; (3) ensuring that specific needs with respect to science instruction and curriculum, faculty, and facilities and equipment are met; and (4) using available technologies to create new means of instructional access and improve the nature of teaching and learning. Two additional issues that should be of major concern to the NSF are the aging of the community college faculty and the related need to train and upgrade their replacements; and the community colleges' constant struggle to provide high quality, up-to-date equipment for instructional purposes. In each of the areas of teacher training and retraining, science equipment programs, technology transfer, public understanding of science, and science education programs in general the NSF can play a major role in helping community colleges meet the educational needs of vast numbers of Americans. (LAL)

1986

ED262833