In this book, Rudolph talks about how Sputnik and the fear of losing the American lead in the scientific war has changed how the sciences are taught in public schools. After the launch of Sputnik, the government increased its funds to the National Science Foundation (NSF) which in turn sought out ways to improve the teaching of science in the public schools. Two notable projects were: Physical Sciences Study Committee (PSSC) and Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS). PSSC focused on new developments for teaching physics in the public schools while BSCS--which was a later project, thus following the PSSC--developed teaching materials for teachers teaching biology and chemistry in public schools. Both the PSSC and the BSCS created teacher guides and filmed actual scientists to show how science "should" be taught. An interesting quote that details what something in the teacher's guide for Physics was: "Even the PSSC teacher's guide made a point of reminding teachers to let students know that physicists were very much "like other Americans," that most "marry, have children and belong to PTA's; some play golf and bridge and watch westerns on TV." - pg. 127 Also, on the same page, Zacharias, the founder of the PSSC, "...went so far as to claim later on that the films were made only "ostensibly for the students." They were developed mostly for "teacher training," so that "the teachers could see how the arguments ought to go, how the logic lines ought to be.""

This article talks about how not only teachers of ESOL classrooms should focus on the importance of grammar, pronunciation, and syntax of the English language but also cultural differences that affect how students from different cultures learn and interact in order to have a better classroom environment and understanding.

Daniela, Check your e-mail, I just finished sending it to you. Hope it helps.

This article talks about how African American students were treated after the Brown V. School Board of Education and also how teachers were not prepared to deal with African American students.