Francium

I've talked about writing this post for awhile, so I'm happy to finally get some time to sit down and type! I saw this article back in November while perusing the NY Times and have read it what seems like a billion times since. The article delves into President Obama's recent announcement that he would like to see higher education produce 10,000 more engineers and 100,000 new STEM (science-technology-engineering-math) teachers in the very near future. It's certainly a great proposal, but here are some speed bumps:

College attrition rates. For students who are interested in the sciences, approximately 40% switch their major. Toss in pre-med students and that 40% dropout rate rises to 60%. Some of this can certainly be attributed to a lack of preparation in high school, but much of it comes from the stress of pursuing a science degree, especially at schools where science majors see their social science and humanities friends' grades inflated. Math and science majors are known for having the lowest grade point averages and it's not because we're stupid/lazy - it's because most science and math questions have a clear-cut answer. Blowing up a lab is not an art form - it's a problematic error.

With science comes math. It seems like a very simple statement, doesn't it? And to most science majors, it's pretty obvious. But what is scary is that people still don't seem to understand science and math's inherent coupling. Without Newton and calculus, there would be no physics. Without physics, no chemistry. Without chemistry, no biology. The cycle continues, but the most important part is that science boils down to being applied mathematics. People like numbers (for the most part), so when seemingly  interesting phenomenon arise, we seek to answer those questions with numbers. And with those numbers, explanations are needed, thus the quantitative and qualitative nature of science.

(NY Times multimedia image)

To paint a picture of why this article has been so alluring to me for some time, look at the graphic above. If we are in the "technology era" how is it that only 2.4% of bachelor's degrees are computer science related? And why has this number been declining since the early 2000s?

I recently asked my students if they knew how much science affected them and they scoffed at me...it took me a lot of mental persuading to not start on a diatribe about how their smart phones and iPods and computers are all related to science. We chalk these things up to "advances in technology" but what that really means is scientific experimentation and discovery (sorry if that comes as a surprise). The next time a pair of ear buds for your iPod breaks, take some time to cut those puppies apart - there is a reason why copper is the wire of choice for transmitting sound from the iPod to your ears, but could you explain why that is? (Guess what - some of my students can.)


Fun Fact: If a solid block of francium could be produced (nearly impossible if you were wondering), it would evaporate itself in a violent radioactive reaction.