On June 10, the Carnegie Corporation of New York—Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Commission on Mathematics and Science Education kicked-off a national mobilization to achieve much higher levels of math and science learning with the release of its report, The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy. The report identifies where change is needed to transform math and science education and recommends concrete actions to a range of organizations from nonprofits and businesses to federal and state government, colleges and universities, and donors who must coalesce to “do school differently” to transform math and science education.
As part of the initiative, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), New York, published Emboldened Capacity: Science Education and the Infrastructure of Science-Rich Cultural Institutions, summarizing the outcomes of two meetings convened by AMNH in December 2008 in association with the Carnegie-IAS Commission: a “national summit on science education” and a follow-up meeting with leading museum directors and scientists. The paper also explores the role of museums in successful school partnerships and describes promising models at AMNH; Brooklyn Botanic Garden; the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; COSI, Columbus, Ohio; Museum of Science, Boston; North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh; and Pacific Science Center, Seattle.
About the image: As a partner in New York City’s Urban Advantage Middle School Science Initiative, the American Museum of Natural History showcased 650 students’ research projects on June 6. Photo courtesy AMNH