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posted by:
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George Hein
on May 18, 2003
at 7:47AM
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subject:
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When is science taught?
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I agree that one of the legacies of the LSC effort (probably more than
the SSI’s that preceded them; although all these efforts are
cumulative) is and will be that teachers actually do teach science.
But my experience has been that it’s still a second tier subject, not
the core of the curriculum. The most compelling evidence I’ve seen for
this is that as far as I have observed science is usually taught at the
off hours, after time (and increasing time!) has been spent on language
arts and then math.
The developing push to upgrade science may be assisted by the increased
need to add standardized tests in science to the whole collection of
NCLB tests. Of course, that increases the tension between teaching
science to the test and doing inquiry science.
It’s interesting to note Elaine Woo’s comments that employers are
complaining that they can’t find enough staff with technical skills. I
believe that’s the case, but I also know that the same complaint has
been heard for as long as I’ve been interested in science education—and
that’s a very long time. How does the US continuously manage to
produce goods and services, including lots of high-tech products, if
our educational system has been so inadequate for decades?
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