Science Education in the USA During the Cold War

Several countries have implemented educational changes in recent years, most of which generally happen suddenly and abruptly to appease sectors of society that benefit economically. Most educational change watchword is innovation, fulfilling more a propaganda space than a fundamental educational transformation. One of the foremost educational innovations in science education was the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC), a physics education project aimed at improving science education in the USA during the Cold War. In this period, teacher training was critical to the science education imbroglio in which the country found itself, primarily due to the long period the government made little educational investment. The reactions came with the creation of multiple committees, including the PSSC, when the nation faced a shortage of qualified teachers and a crisis in training scientists. In this investigation, we seek to understand the relationship between economic policies and science education in the USA by analysing the administration’s economic reports through document analysis methodology. The findings show that science education had three different levels of priority throughout the period: the first, when it was deemed irrelevant; the second, when it started to be seen as imperative for economic and technological development; and the third, when science education was considered essential for national security. This historical case study shows the lasting impacts of treating education as unimportant, even for a short period, and the enormous inertia to move the complex economic and political network between society’s superstructure and infrastructure activities.