Proof that education in KS has not always sucked

[proud2BlibKansan]

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackstclair.shtml

Inventor of the integrated circuit died this week. He was a native Kansan.

There are few men whose insights and professional accomplishments have changed the world. Jack Kilby is one of these men. His invention of the monolithic integrated circuit - the microchip - some 45 years ago at Texas Instruments (TI) laid the conceptual and technical foundation for the entire field of modern microelectronics. It was this breakthrough that made possible the sophisticated high-speed computers and large-capacity semiconductor memories of today's information age.

Mr. Kilby grew up in Great Bend, Kansas. With B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the Universities of Illinois and Wisconsin respectively, he began his career in 1947 with the Centralab Division of Globe Union Inc. in Milwaukee, developing ceramic-base, silk-screen circuits for consumer electronic products.

In 1958, he joined TI in Dallas. During the summer of that year working with borrowed and improvised equipment, he conceived and built the first electronic circuit in which all of the components, both active and passive, were fabricated in a single piece of semiconductor material half the size of a paper clip. The successful laboratory demonstration of that first simple microchip on September 12, 1958, made history.

Jack Kilby went on to pioneer military, industrial, and commercial applications of microchip technology. He headed teams that built both the first military system and the first computer incorporating integrated circuits. He later co-invented both the hand-held calculator and the thermal printer that was used in portable data terminals.

In 1970, he took a leave of absence from TI to work as an independent inventor. He explored, among other subjects, the use of silicon technology for generating electrical power from sunlight. From 1978 to 1984, he held the position of Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University.

Mr. Kilby officially retired from TI in the 1980s, but he has maintained a significant involvement with the company that continues to this day.

Jack Kilby is the recipient of two of the nation's most prestigious honors in science and engineering. In 1970, in a White House ceremony, he received the National Medal of Science. In 1982, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, taking his place alongside Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers in the annals of American innovation.

Mr. Kilby holds over 60 U.S. patents. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He has been awarded the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal, the NAE's Vladimir Zworykin Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Holley Medal, the IEEE's Medal of Honor, the Charles Stark Draper Prize administered by the NAE, the Cledo Brunetti Award, and the David Sarnoff Award. On the 30th anniversary of the invention of the integrated circuit, the Governor of Texas dedicated an official Texas historical marker near the site of the TI laboratory where Mr. Kilby did his work.

In 2000, Jack Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit.

From Jack Kilby's first simple circuit has grown a worldwide integrated circuit market whose sales in 2004 totaled $179 billion. These components supported a 2004 worldwide electronic end-equipment market of $1,186 billion. Such is the power of one idea to change the world.

[donco6]

1. My science teachers in KS were great.

I went to school in the late 70s. I had great science teachers. What's happened since then is a travesty, not just in education, but in virtually every arena. Where will it end?

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. It won't end until

we get rid of the RW idiots on the state board.

[donco6]

3. They did that once, tho.

And they just reared up again. Is this seesaw going to keep going indefinitely?

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I hope not

I also think they are gathering lots of negative publicity and that helps our cause. When Connie Morris called evolution a fairy tale recently, she was driving the nails into her own political coffin, IMO.

[donco6]

5. No kidding.

Man, she's a whack. Makes no bones about it, either. I think people are supporting the cause in spite of her right now. But if she keeps blundering around, I think even the hard rightists will tire of her.

The real question will be What strategy should we use to solidify our own position, so we don't have this seesaw yet again. I just can't imagine it's good for the students to have their science standards yanked back and forth at the whim of every political/philosophical breeze.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Here is an important aspect to this story:

Mike Hendricks wrote a column about this in The Star a week or so ago. He pointed out that the state standards are merely a GUIDE and no teachers are mandated to follow them. He also said he figured that any decent science teacher with knowledge of biology would never favor creationism over evolution. And I would agree.

The state standards are (partially) what dictates the content of state tests. And it is easy to teach to the test for this item but still cover evolution more thoroughly. I would also be willing to bet that some science teachers will just sacrifice this test question and not teach creationism at all.

It is also important to note that what teachers teach is driven more by local curriculum than by state standards. So it's not impossible to imagine creationism being totally ignored in some school districts. And guess who writes the science curriculum? Not Connie Morris. :)

[donco6]

9. Do you think, though,

that the curriculum could give a few RW school boards the impetus to force their teachers to emphasize ID? I doubt it would ever be very widespread, but I could see it leading to something of a Balkanization of communities in KS - with some districts teaching ID/Creation Science, and others evolution. Those RW boards could use the excuse - "Well, we have to teach it, it's on the test!"

Overall, I would be really nervous being a science teacher in KS. It's just got to be having a chilling effect on education.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. No I don't

I have been in the education business for 25 years. Parents don't read the curriculum. Most have absolutely no idea what it contains. Over here in JoCo, they are more concerned about banning books than reading the science curriculum.

And creationism may be on the test, but in MO, TEACHERS write the test. I would assume the same is true in KS. That is, IF creationism is even included - last I heard KS was using a nationally standardized test and I would bet my paycheck there are no creationism questions on it. So there is a very good chance that creationism is not even tested. And that makes this even more of a non issue.

Unfortunately, the greatest damage done by this creationism nonsense is to our state reputation. We need to worry more about that, IMO, than in what is actually taught in our science classrooms.

[donco6]

12. That's good.

Sounds like you're right then - all this is really doing is making KS look like a state full of numbskulls. I'm often embarrassed to admit I grew up there.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Oh you shouldn't be

Clyde Tombaugh, one of the most well respected astronomers, (he discovered Pluto) is from Kansas. So are lots of other famous scientists.

George Washington Carver
Amelia Earhart
Walter Chrysler
Robert Ballard (he discovered the Titanic shipwreck)
Clyde Cessna (aviation pioneer)
Walter Beech (aviation pioneer)
Willaim Lear (aviation pioneer)
William Purvis & Charles Wilson (invented the helicopter)
Omar Knedlik (invented the first frozen carbonated drink machine in 1961)

[donco6]

14. Walter Chrysler was born in my hometown!

Wamego

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. That's over by Topeka, right?

My grandmother was from St. Mary's. Isn't it right down the road from Wamego?

[donco6]

16. Yes!

Rossville, St. Mary's, Belvue, Wamego, Manhattan.

Highway 24 route.

[hfojvt]

17. is the Oz museum there?

I wanted to stop there, but there was not time.

[donco6]

18. Yes.

My childhood friend is Tod Machin, who collected most of the stuff there. It's worth a stop. Plus they have funny Tshirts.

[Scout1071]

6. My KS Science teachers were recognized every year for

their excellence. We had one of the best facilities. Proud knows it well - The Shawnee Mission Evironmental Science Lab (SMESL). Itwas great, we had everything from Boa's, Llama's gators and acres and acres of land to study. Sadly, I hear it's been going downhill since Dr. Jernigan was forced to leave.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Yes that is an awesome facility

How sad to hear it is going downhill.

Speaking of awesome facilities, not many in our community realize there is a state of the art planetarium inside Southwest High School in KCMO. But since that building is now closed, it is not being used. Talk about wasting tax dollars. grrr

[donco6]

10. My school sent kids to the International Science Fair

almost every year. Great teachers. Very supportive board, too. I hope they're weathering this OK.