IBSE Final

164 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Epilogue Science Teachers as 21st-Century leaders

The Genius of American Education, Lawrence Cremin pointed out the misguided

nature of a teacher-proof curriculum. As part of a discussion of education

reform, Cremin suggested that reformers rightfully had a concern about contem-

porary teachers and teaching. But he saw their solution of designing materials

impervious to misuse as flawed. Cremin gives advice that is appropriate for

any generation of leaders and reformers, especially those teacher educators and

science coordinators who are directly responsible for the professional develop-

ment of science teachers.

But education is too significant and dynamic an enterprise to be left to mere

technicians; and we might as well begin now the prodigious task of preparing

men and women who understand not only the substance of what they are

teaching but also the theories behind the particular strategies they employ to

convey that substance. A society committed to the continuing intellectual,

aesthetic, and moral growth of all its members can ill afford less on the part of

those who undertake to teach. (Cremin 1965, p. 57)

The quotation notes the disparity between the intentions of teacher-proof

curriculum materials and the extent to which that goal was achieved. The

teacher-proof approach to curriculum did not work.

In the wake of teacher-proof materials, teacher-dependent materials

emerged. Although the origins may be in well-meaning responses to science

teacher questions for instructional activities and materials that they can “use on

Monday,” the result has been a dependency that has become a countervailing

force to Cremin’s point (and also my themes in this book) of preparing men and

women who understand both the substance of science teaching and the theories

behind the particular strategies they employ. It is past time to reduce teachers’

dependence on short-term quick fixes and develop long-term knowledge and

skills that will indeed empower their science teaching.

Science teachers could, at this point, accurately ask—What are the qualities

of empowerment? In a book titled Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, Warren

Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985) described several dimensions of empowerment.

One of the first dimensions is significance. Effective leaders create a vision that

makes others feel as though they make a difference. Of critical importance, the

significance has substance and transcends the superficial significance of slogans.

The individuals are, for example, translating the vision into innovative science

programs and sustaining the new programs. Science teachers indeed would be

making a difference in the education of their students.

A second dimension of empowerment involves developing new knowledge,

skills, and beliefs. This results in greater competence and a sense of mastery. Third,

empowerment provides a sense of community. For example, when all the science

teachers in a school system have the common purpose of improving science