NewsHour Extra: Science in Education

Did you catch the Simpsons episode where Lisa discovers the sweat from "brainy kids" produces a pheromone that drives bullies wild? Well, actually it's pretty close to the truth.

Christina Crabtree Christina Crabtree, a high school senior from Pennsylvania, conducted a science experiment extracting pheromones from the sweat of heterosexual and homosexual females to see which scent appealed to heterosexuals.

She found that people prefer the sweat of their own sexuality. Christina's findings could prove change the field of behavioral science, and it was just one of the 40 student science projects at this year's Intel Science Fair.

The 40 projects were selected from more than 300 submitted by high school students across the country. The winner gets $100,000 and a chance to compete internationally.

Johanna Waldman, from New York, focused on why students cheat. About 90 percent of her subjects admitted to some form of cheating. Her analysis suggested academic pressure and goal orientation are the most influential factors in student cheating.

Vinod Easwaran Vinod Easwaran, also from New York, focused on helping teenagers sleep better. He found that a later school start improved his subjects' test scores.

Brain drain

An X-ray of a human brain No, brain drain isn't something oozing out your head. It's the term business leaders use to describe the migration of top-level science and technology students from developing countries to places with more opportunity, like the U.S. Immigrants often fill high level jobs that many American students are not qualified to fill.

In Silicon Valley, California, the heart of the technology industry, as many as one-third of approximately 150,000 tech jobs are held by foreign-born folks. More than 65 percent are from China and India.

Senator John Mc Cain, the Vietnam Vet who ran for president, is sponsoring a bill to make it easier for people born outside the U.S. with degrees in science, math, engineering and technology to come to America.

For many less developed countries the brain drain is a big problem. Many of the brightest minds in places Money, money, money like India, China, and continents like Africa and Australia leave and never return.

The money in the U.S. is too great to ignore. In Silicon Valley, $46,000 a year is considered a low salary, while in India the average person makes $1,800 a year.

This leaves many developing nations with a shortage of brainpower. Imagine if the brightest science minds of the U.S. went to other places -- if Bill Gates and Microsoft moved to Beijing or Doctors Collins and Venter took their human genome work to New Delhi.

This would mean a tremendous loss of money and scientific "firsts" for the United States.

So, what are U.S. kids doing?

Students in a classroom If science is where it's at, then where are all the American kids? Many have lost interest in science.

Studies show that kids in elementary school say they like science and think it's fun. But by the time they're in middle school, most are turned off. Relatively few Americans study science in college and even fewer pursue masters or doctoral degrees in the field.

In the Third International Math and Science Study, U.S. students scored far below many other developed nations. The results are distressing because in the past four years alone, there has been a big push by educators and businesses to improve science and math scores.

International teachers overseeing part of the Math and Science study say one problem could be that U.S. teachers are trained in the field of education rather than professional backgrounds in science or math.

Stanford Logo Stanford last year gave out more than 50 percent of its Bachelor of Science degrees to foreign-born students.

Whereas the digital divide separates technology from the poor, a science and technology divide is widening between American born people and foreign newcomers.

Making science attractive...

Scientists and educators are devising new ways to keep American kids interested in science. Intel hands out $100,000; The Discovery Channel also holds a contest.

The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century is putting a comprehensive plan together to improve American instruction in math and science.

This will become even more important, as other countries try to put a plug in their brain drains. In Australia, the government is boosting funding for science research. In India the government is setting up special programs and incentives for their "bright minds" to stay put.

Students studying In the end, educators say the real solution is to get American kids back into science. One avenue could simply be to let high school students meet and talk with the 40 Intel finalists whose brain power has earned them full scholarships to MIT, Stanford and many other top U.S. universities.

This year's Intel Science winner was Mariangela Lisanti of Westport, Connecticut. Lisanti developed a new measurement apparatus that collects data at an unprecedented rate and is applicable to a wide range of studies. She is the third female in three years to win the top prize.

What do you think? Do you like Biology and Chemistry? Do the smartest students in your school want to become scientists or writers for the Simpsons? What can teachers do to make science more interesting?

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