Making Science Make Sense

Bayer Facts of Science Education Survey

• CEOs assigned an average grade of "C-" (2.87) to the U.S. pre-college or K-12 education system for the job it is doing engaging and nurturing girls and minorities to pursue STEM careers.
  
  
• Higher education fared somewhat better with CEOs assigning it an average "C+" grade for training girls and minorities for STEM careers. In addition, more than one-half (56 percent) believe U.S. colleges and universities are doing a good job preparing students for workplace realities.
  
  
• Almost all the CEOs (96 percent) say it is important (72 percent "very important") that girls and minorities receive a strong science and math education beginning in elementary school in order to eliminate their underrepresentation in STEM fields
  
  
• Some eight in ten (81 percent) say, that in elementary school, science should be taught as the fourth "R" and given as much emphasis as reading, writing, arithmetic.
  
  
• They (82 percent) believe elementary school students should be learning science through hands-on, inquiry-based methods that allow students to conduct experiments, form opinions and discuss and defend their conclusions with others Ð rather than through the traditional textbook-based, rote memorization method.
  
  
• Eight in ten (83 percent) believe STEM companies have a role to play in ensuring that women and minorities succeed in science and engineering fields and almost all (91 percent) say it is important for their companies to support pre-college science education programs that help create the next generation of inventors, innovators and discoverers (55 percent "very important.")
  
  
• And while only approximately one-third (37 percent) say their companies and/or employees engage in such programs, nearly three in five (56%) of CEOs whose companies/employees do not yet participate, say they would indeed like to.