cepublicationoftheAAAS 1989report
"Science for all Americans" (l),
commissions, panels, and working
groups have agreed that reform in science
education should be founded on "scientific
teaching," in which teaching is approached
with the same rigor as science at its best (2).
Scientific teaching involves active learning
strategies to engage students in the process
of science and teaching methods that have
been systematically tested and shown to
reach diverse students (3).
Given the widespread agreement, it may
seem surprising that change has not progressed
rapidly nor been driven by the research
universities as a collective force.
Instead3 reform has been initiated by a few pioneers,
while many other scientists have actively
resisted changing their teaching. So
why do outstanding scientists who demand
rigorous proof for scientific assertions in
their research continue to use and, indeed defend
onthe basis ofthe intuition alone, teaching
methods that are not the most effective?
Many scientists are still unaware of the data
and analyses that demonstrate the effiectiveness
of active learning techniques. Others
may distrusthe data because they see scientists
who have flourished in the current educational
system. Still others feel intimidated
by the challenge of learning new teaching
methods or may fear that identiElcation as
teachers will reduce their credibility as researchers
(3).
This Policy Forum is needed because
most scientists don't read reports but they
do read Science. In addition, reports generallydo scientific teaching, as we do with supporting
online material (SOM) (3) and table
(see page 522). We also present recommendations
for moving the revolution forward
do not offer a guide to learning how to