Article posted: 6/23/2012 7:01 AM

Five misconceptions about teaching math and science

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Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is crucial in the high-tech global marketplace that has replaced the industrial economy. Unfortunately, American students perform poorly on international assessments of math and science knowledge. One challenge to reforming our educational system is that politicians and voters think they know what's wrong with American schools — after all, they went through the system themselves. But some of those common-sense opinions are simply wrong, and these false assumptions undermine much of the public debate about how to improve education.

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Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is crucial in the high-tech global marketplace that has replaced the industrial economy. Unfortunately, American students perform poorly on international assessments of math and science knowledge. In 2005, Bill Gates said, "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow." Here are five of the myths that are making it difficult for us to fix science education.

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