Letter

Math Policies Made Him Better Science Teacher

January 9, 2007

To the Editor:

Regarding "Critics Accuse NSTA of Having Conflict Over Film" (Dec. 6, 2006), which reports on the National Science Teachers Association’s decision not to distribute free copies of former Vice President Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”:

I do not find the NSTA’s problem with global warming to be surprising. I taught high school science for 10 years, and am now a high school math teacher. While the NSTA has chosen to pursue political gains, the Nation Council of Teachers of Mathematics has gone ahead and provided the nation’s math teachers with assistance in developing inquiry-based classrooms and instruction.

If at some point I decide to return to the science classroom, I will be a better teacher because of the work of the NCTM. But I should not have had to become a math teacher to become a proficient science teacher.

Ken Jensen

Rangeview High School

Aurora, Colo.

Vol. 26, Issue 18, Page 31

Published in Print: January 10, 2007, as Math Policies Made Him Better Science Teacher