To recognize National Engineer Week, scientists and engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, visited Jenkins High School on Feb. 25, 2011. Demonstrations and hands-on events gave the Savannah, Ga., magnet school’s students a look at various aspects of science and engineering. The team also discussed the importance of science and mathematics studies for students’ and the nation’s future. Some rights reserved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
What is an engineer? This question seems simple, but if you actually ask it, then you realize that it can be difficult to answer. As a high school student, I have asked several of my friends what an engineer is, and they inevitably reply with some variation of “someone who invents and fixes stuff.” If pressed for more information, they do not elaborate on what skills it takes to be an engineer or what an engineer actually does in his or her daily work. It has become clear to me that most, if not all, high school students do not truly understand what an engineer does.
How did this happen? Shouldn’t every high school aim to teach students about science and math, and how they relate to engineering and technology? It is true that these classes teach students lot. Given a little information, I could solve dozens of test problems in my chemistry, physics and biology schoolbooks. However, we do all of these calculations simply for the sake of doing them and for the grade the teacher hands out.
None of my science classes have taught me how these calculations apply in the real world, or how they apply beyond a theoretical calculation. Educators need to move beyond requiring rote memorization of simple calculations and formulas, and teach us how engineers and scientists actually use them. They need to explain why these rules and laws are significant outside the classroom. Right now, I could calculate how long it takes an imaginary rock thrown off an imaginary cliff to hit the ground, but why does that matter? No one particularly cares how long it takes the rock to hit the ground. Anyone could find the same answer by throwing a rock off a cliff and using a stopwatch. The only reason to calculate how long it takes the rock to hit the ground is to solve the theoretical calculation assigned to me by my teacher. The formula I am taught therefore loses its significance for me. I have not been taught how to take the many little pieces of information I have learned in school and apply them in real-world situations, such as their use in propelling rockets into space. Without these real world examples, the material becomes useless —and, in some cases, forgotten — as soon as the test on each section has passed.
High school science classes need to better educate students in two key ways: They need to show students how basic principles apply outside of the classroom, and they need to bring in current engineers and scientists to teach students about their work and how this all stems from where we are now — high school science classes. Programs such as the Baker Institute’s Civic Scientist Program are a good start. Among other activities, the Civic Scientist Program sends scientists and engineers from Rice University and the Houston community to local middle and high school to talk about careers in science. Ideally, multiple scientists should be brought in over the course of the year to provide different perspectives on their work and to provide numerous different real life applications. By meeting us where we are now, scientists and engineers can show students how to follow in their footsteps.
David Kaplan is a senior at Emery Weiner High School working as an intern in the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program during the summer. He hopes to go to college in Texas or California and study engineering, if he figures out what they do.