_____________________
Experiencing a slow PC recently? Fix it now!

The live Wiki sites seem to be pretty popular for a lot of departments here at the University of Colorado–listing seminars and upcoming events–ones for the Astrobiology Department for specific schools could be very useful.

Is there already an astrobiology wiki page? I’m sure google would tell me this information . . .

Fortunately, I think things are moving in the right direction. I’ve noticed more formal efforts in my department to train graduate students to teach. The requirements for this when I entered my Ph.D. program were non-existant, and now they’re there.

If there were more higher-education curriculum materials (textbooks) that were written with these types of research-based approaches in mind rather than the string of facts and highlighted vocabulary words currently contained in the texts the situation would be less of a problem. Then again, many professors write the books (or know the persons who wrote the text) they use to teach. The current approaches assume that laboratory sections are the hands-on, practical component, when in actuality the entire approach should be pragmatic and engaging – not just the lab section.

In regards to minority students, on average a disproportionately low number of minorities decide to pursue careers in the sciences to start – they feel unprepared or are actually unprepared, or even don’t realize it’s an actual option (the ‘I don’t look like a scientist’ feeling.) Less are starting out and even fewer finish and persist to graduate school. The problem is particularly troubling in the geosciences and astronomy where only 1-2% of the Ph.D. degrees awarded (on average) are awarded to minorities.

The reasons for this discrepancy depend upon who you are talking with. Some chalk it up to public schools which do not prepare minority students sufficiently for example, because of poorer teacher quality in lower-income schools. Some cite cultural differences that influence students into more well-known areas for them. Biology seems to be the exception to this, however – the majority of minority students pursuing the sciences in college are in biology programs, but most intend upon becoming physicians via medical school.

Of course, I could go on and on about this, but this is my answer in a nutshell.

“The percentages are even lower among black and Hispanic students, who make up a growing share of the undergraduate population.”

Is that to say a lower percentage of these students receive a degree in science, math, or engineering than their peers, or that the drop-off from their incoming intentions is greater? (Or both?) In other words, is the problem that they enter college less interested in these fields than their peers, or is is that academia dissuades them from these fields to a greater degree than their peers? (Or both?)

So how do you think we best address the issue? Separating teaching and research responsibilities further by hiring more full-time instructors at the collegiate level? Do we do it by changing the tenure process to allow more time for teaching and less pressure to do research? Or do we just spend more energy as a community on making the transition to these methods easier and less time-consuming?