One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein Creating Scientists

This book includes a brief biography of Paul Brandwein, but its most vital contribution are the essays about Paul F. Brandwein’s teaching that encouraged a number of the high school students he taught between 1944 and 1954 at Forest Hills High School in N

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CLASSICS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION Volume 2

Series Editor: Karen C. Cohen

For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7365

Deborah C. Fort

One Legacy of Paul F. Brandwein Creating Scientists

123

Deborah C. Fort 3706 Appleton St. NW Washington, DC 20016 USA [email protected]

ISBN 978-90-481-2527-2 e-ISBN 978-90-481-2528-9 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2528-9 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009926887 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Foreword

Once again, our nation has a powerful need for a revolution devoted to creating scientists. As we face the challenges of climate change, global competitiveness, biodiversity loss, energy needs, and dwindling food supplies, we find ourselves in a period where both scientific literacy and the pool of next-generation scientists are dwindling. To solve these complex issues and maintain our own national security, we have to rebuild a national ethos based on sound science education for all, from which a new generation of scientists will emerge. The challenge is how to create this transformation. Those shaping national policy today, in 2009, need look no further than what worked a half-century ago. In 1957, Sputnik circled and sent a clarion call for America to become the world’s most technologically advanced nation. In 1958, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which focused the national will and called for scholars and teachers to successfully educate our youth in science, math, and engineering. It was during this time period that Paul F. Brandwein emerged as a national science education leader to lay the foundation for the changes needed in American education to create the future scientists essential to the nation’s well-being. Paul’s hands-on teaching experiences at George Washington and Forest Hills high schools (both in New York) and at universities and colleges, including—among others—Columbia Teachers College and other postsecondary institutions, particularly in Colorado; his seminal writings (especially The Gifted Student as Future Scientist [1955/1981]); and the strategies he employed as a top editor and administrator at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich uniquely prepared him to help create the paradigm shift in science education that allowed us, as a nation, to meet the challenge to become the leading society of the 20th century in the excellence of our science education. Today, a halfcentury later, we continue to reap the benefits of this national focus in all fields of science, in technolog