Foreword EDUCATION FOR THE TALENTED IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE will be of interest to guidance counselors, school administrators, supervisors, directors of teacher education, curriculum coordinators, and laymen who desire to strengthen secondary school instruction for talented students. Since science and mathematics teachers were special contributors to the bulletin, there is much of value to classroom teachers in these fields. The problems associated with identifying students with potential and providing opportunities for their development are numerous. Suggestions for dealing with these problems in certain fields will also be helpful in other areas. This suggests that the ideas revealed in this bulletin will be useful 'to a large number of educators working at elementary, secondary, and college levels of instruction. The Cooperative Committee on the Teaching of Science and Mathematics of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that participated in planning for and publishing this bulletin is composed of representatives of seventeen national scientific and mathematical societies including representatives from the associated teaching organizations. The Committee has been seeking the improvement of science and mathematics teaching in secondary schools for about two decades. In 1947 the Committee prepared a treatise on the effectiveness of the schools in the training of scientists. The report, issued as an appendix to Manpower for Research, volume four of Science and Public Policy, appraised mathematics and science teaching in grades 1-12 as well as in institutions of higher learning. Recommendations looking toward the strengthening of weaknesses were given. Many of the recommendations are of high pertinence today largely because they were not heeded 5 years ago. Since 1949 the Committee has been holding its fall meeting with interested staff members of the Office of Education. Beginning in 1950 this fall meeting has been the occasion for a conference of leaders concerned about scientific personnel and ways to bring about desirable training programs. In 1951 the conference emphasized the place of high-school instruction in alleviating the shortage of specialized personnel for industry and defense. The fall conference of 1952 focused attention on the identifying of highschool students with potential for science and mathematics and providing opportunities for their development. Our critical shortage of leaders for all fields suggests that special attention should be given to all youth in our schools and especially to our talented youth. This report with emphasis on science and mathematics is of special pertinence today because of the importance of scientific research to discover new basic truth and to design. and manufacture new products for defense and progress. The report was prepared from addresses and discussions at the conference by Kenneth E. Brown, Specialist for Mathematics, and Philip G. Johnson, Specialist for Science. GALEN JONES, Director, Instruction, Organization, and Services Branch WAYNE O. REED, Assistant Commissioner, Division of State and Local School Systems Education for the Talented in Mathematics and Science Introduction THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS are dedicated to the task of providing opportunities for the maximum educational development of each pupil. If there is no discrimination, each student, from the slow learner to the rapid learner, from the most talented to the least talented, will have those educational experiences that will permit him to become of maximum worth to himself, to his community, and to society. In harmony with the purposes of education in a democracy is the important task of identifying and making provisions for the student with exceptional potential in each of the fields of learning. The present struggle for the very existence of our freedoms causes the need for the improvement of the instruction in science and mathematics to become increasingly important. This was recognized by a conference held at the U. S. Office of Education, November 13-15, 1952. The theme of this conference was "Ways of Identifying and Providing for the Student with Potential in Science and Mathematics." More than one hundred educators,1 including leaders in Government and industry contributed to the conference through the presentation of short papers 2 and participation in group discussions. Members of the Cooperative Committee on the Teaching of Science and Mathematics of the American Association for the Advancement of Science served as observers and provided a summary of each group discussion. The present brief report is a résumé of the special papers and the contributions from seven discussion groups. Many ideas were expressed by more than one individual and discussed by more than one group. At times exact statements seem to be distorted when taken out of context. For these and other reasons, this report contains no quotation marks, and no one person is given credit for any specific part. However, all the ideas came from the members of the conference. The statements may vary slightly from those expressed by the contributors, but care was taken to avoid any distortion of the ideas. As Montaigne, the French philosopher said, "I have gathered a nosegay of flowers in which there is nothing of my own but the string that ties them." 1 See Appendix, pp. 30-34. 2 See titles of papers. Appendix, pp. 29–30. |