The History of Science Society

Vol. 39, No.3, July 2010
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What UTeach and the Current Replication Initiative Mean for the History of Science

by Bruce Hunt and Alberto Martínez

Alberto Martinez (right) with students at the UTeach Institute conference in Austin in May, 2010.

Alberto Martinez (right) with students at the UTeach Institute conference in Austin in May, 2010.

What part should the history of science play in science education? In particular, what part should it play in the education of science and mathematics teachers? These have been perennial questions in our field, and ones that loom large in discussions of how we might best reach a wider audience. These questions also have a direct bearing on the job market for historians of science.

Thirteen years ago, the University of Texas at Austin launched a new program designed to improve the training of secondary school science and mathematics teachers. Known as “UTeach,” it offers a coordinated set of nine courses, including substantial student teaching opportunities, through which students are able to complete their majors in science or mathematics while earning a teaching certificate in four years. UTeach has been very successful and has grown rapidly. In 2006, the UTeach Institute was established to replicate the program at other universities, backed by funding from the National Math and Science Initiative and the ExxonMobil Corporation. The first thirteen universities chosen as replication sites each received $1.4 million grants, with another $1 million per program after the first five years. Subsequent sites have received different funding packages. UTeach has recently attracted national attention, notably from President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. With backing from several foundations, efforts are now underway to replicate the UTeach model at twenty-one other universities across the country.

From the start, a special course in the history of science has been an integral part of the UTeach program, and is now a required component of the replication efforts. The course, “Perspectives on Science and Mathematics,” is designed to introduce future teachers to the history of their subject, to encourage them to think about how science and mathematics have developed over time, and to give them ways to
incorporate historical issues and materials into their future classroom teaching. At Texas, the course has mainly been taught by historians of science (initially by Bruce Hunt, and later by Abigail Lustig and Alberto Martínez); in the past, philosophers of science (including Fred Kronz and Jeff Leon) sometimes taught it as well, though always with a strong historical focus. Approximately 44% of our students are math majors, 22% are biology majors, 9% are chemistry majors, and the rest specialize in other sciences. The course does not aim to turn our students into historians, though of course we are happy if they are drawn to the subject. Rather, our aim is to give them a broader context to help improve their teaching of science or mathematics, to equip them with tools and materials they can later use in their own classrooms, and to expose them to the idea that science and mathematics have a history that is worth knowing. Most of our students begin the course with little or no background in the history of science or mathematics, and it often takes some “missionary work” to convince them of the value and importance of the subject. But it is very rewarding when students begin to see how history can illuminate broader questions in their fields.

By history of science standards, the numbers involved in the UTeach program are large. Starting from zero in 1997, the program now enrolls over 600 students at UT Austin, with over two thousand more at just the first cohort of thirteen replication universities. (In just three semesters of implementation, students’ interest in UTeach at those thirteen sites exceeded all expectations, growing from an enrollment of 519 in 2008 to over 2,400 in the spring of 2010.) As the existing replication programs grow, and as more programs are launched, these numbers will increase substantially. Moreover, UTeach graduates are now teaching in middle school and high school classrooms and exposing their students to ideas and approaches gained in the program, including the “Perspectives” course. UT Austin estimates that, as of 2009, UTeach graduates had already taught close to a quarter of a million secondary school students, and that number grows each year. The UTeach Institute projects that by 2016, graduates of programs modeled on UTeach will have taught an additional 1.2 million students, with that number also continuing to rise thereafter. These numbers constitute one of the largest audiences that historians of science can hope to reach, and ensuring that future teachers receive a sound and appropriate exposure to the field ought to be a priority for our discipline.

For now, the UTeach replication effort presents a pressing task to our discipline: the need to ensure that the “Perspectives” courses in new programs are taught by qualified historians of science, rather than being left to instructors from other fields who may be ill-equipped to carry out its goals. When the UTeach program started in 1997, and as the first group of replication programs began in 2007, administrators assigned existing faculty members—often but not always historians of science—to teach “Perspectives.” This sufficed at first, but as enrollments have grown, new faculty members have been hired, and more new hires will be needed. A major problem, however, is that each local program freely determines who will teach ”Perspectives” at that particular university. Accordingly, several universities have assignied the course to be taught by instructors in education, mathematics, or science. Although it lays out certain supervisory criteria of fidelity, the UTeach Institute does not oversee the process by which individual faculty are selected at each university. Therefore, we strongly encourage anyone seeking to pursue one of these positions to contact the directors of the particular program directly with an expression of your qualifications and interest. You may also seek information from one of the site coordinators by contacting Kim Hughes at: info@UTeach-institute.org.

Moreover, there will very likely soon be a job opportunity in Austin. In 2003, the UT Department of History hired Abigail Lustig specifically to teach “Perspectives,” and over the next several years she contributed enormously to the evolution of the course and to laying the groundwork for the replication effort. Unfortunately, the complications of coordinating the job in Texas with a husband and three small children in France eventually led her to give up the position, and this year the University of Texas plans to search for a replacement, preferably with a specialization in the history of the life sciences, to start in fall 2011. Further information about the search will be issued later.

Among the replication programs, the only new hire of a historian of science so far is Kristine Harper at Florida State University. It is noteworthy that she secured the position thanks to her own initiative, and we encourage job seekers to contact program directors at replication sites now rather than waiting for job listings that might never be posted. Historians of science at universities where replication programs are being launched should take steps to ensure that “Perspectives” courses are properly staffed, as called for in the replication guidelines. This is not just a matter of finding jobs for members of our discipline; it is about ensuring that teachers of science and mathematics, and the generations of students who will pass through their classrooms, are given a sound and appropriate foundation in the history of science.

In a time of budget cutbacks and an uncertain academic job market, UTeach and the programs modeled on it offer a promising avenue for the expansion of our field. They also offer important opportunities—and responsibilities—for our discipline as a part of public education.

For further information, please visit www.uteach.utexas.edu and www.uteach-institute.org.

Uteach Case Studies

Original UTeach program: location, program name

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, UTeach

First cohort of replication sites:

Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ, NAUTeach
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, Cal Teach Berkeley
University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA, UCI Cal Teach
University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, CO, CU Teach
University of Florida Gainesville, FL, UFTeach
Florida State University Tallahassee, FL, FSU-Teach
University of Kansas Lawrence, KS, UKanTeach
Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY, SKyTeach
Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA, Geaux Teach
Temple University Philadelphia, PA, TUteach
University of North Texas Denton, TX, Teach North Texas
University of Texas at Dallas Dallas, TX, UTeach Dallas
University of Houston Houston TX, teachHouston

Second cohort of replication sites:

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, CO, UCCS Teach
Cleveland State University Cleveland, Ohio, CSU Teach
University of Memphis Memphis, TN, UTeach Memphis
Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN, MTeach
University of Tennessee, Knoxville Knoxville, TN, VolsTeach
University of Tennessee, Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN, UTeaChatanooga
University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX, UTeach Arlington
University of Texas at Tyler Tyler, TX, UTeach Tyler

Universities in the first cohort applied for and received their replication grants earlier, so that several of them are already teaching the “Perspectives” course.

History of Science Society

What UTeach and the Current Replication Initiative Mean for the History of Science

by Bruce Hunt and Alberto Martínez

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Uteach Case Studies

Original UTeach program: location, program name

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Second cohort of replication sites:

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