Engineering a curriculum
THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE has gone beyond its traditional mission of science instruction and entertainment in Boston to engage young people throughout the United States in the value of engineering. It's an ambitious agenda, aided greatly by a $20 million gift from Bernard Gordon, an entrepreneur and engineer who wants to get more young people interested in using science to solve real-world problems.
The education initiative is the brainchild of museum president Ioannis Miaoulis, previously the dean of engineering at Tufts University. Miaoulis is convinced that young people must be taught the basics of applied science as well as biology, chemistry, and physics. The question is whether the nation's fragmented education system will accept his approach.
Miaoulis has an ally in the Massachusetts Board of Education, which decided in 2000 that engineering questions should be included on the fifth- and eighth-grade science Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests. The tests are just being rolled out, and it is too soon to say that students have mastered the material. But the state has become the first in the nation to put all its local districts on notice that engineering needs to be taught.
Through the National Center for Technological Literacy at the museum, Miaoulis is determined to devise the courses and train the teachers necessary to make engineering an essential and lively part of the national science curriculum.
The center has already drawn up programs for elementary and high school students and is working on a middle school version. One of the elementary school lessons features a potato chip factory. High school students learn how an athletic shoe is engineered. Science becomes connected to everyday experience through the medium of engineering.
School systems are pressed for time and money to squeeze all required instruction into the short school year. As Gordon and Miaoulis realize, science is not being taught well now in many classrooms, and new approaches are needed to make it compelling.
The Gordon gift will allow the museum to create new exhibits, build a permanent headquarters for the center, and establish an endowment to guarantee its long-term success. Gordon also donated $20 million to Northeastern University for its engineering programs. That's an important gift, but without solid K-12 instruction, college engineering programs will have trouble attracting qualified students, at least from this country.
As shown by its modern facilities and exciting exhibits at Science Park above the Charles, the Museum of Science has come far from its origins as a collection of artifacts. Miaoulis' engineering initiative is turning a Boston treasure into an asset for the nation.
