A major part of the problem in major research universities is the way science is taught. At our institution, we are so stringently organized along departmental lines that only the most interdisciplinary individuals have an interest in looking at science in a more integrated fashion--in relating their expertise to other courses and other subjects. "Cold fusion" could have originated only in a university where physicists and chemists rarely communicate. There are very few institutional incentives to facilitate interdisciplinary communication.
It is therefore difficult for a high school teacher who obtains his or her credentials from such an institution to effectively involve students or to integrate science in the high school environment.
None of this will substantially change until department chairpersons, deans, vice presidents, and presidents of major research institutions do more than give lip service to these problems. Until that happens, only a small fraction of the faculty will have ...
