What’s Being Done about the Crisis in Science Education?

• Seed (Science for Early Educational Development) – This hands-on science learning and experimentation curriculum is a joint venture of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and the Pasadena Unified School District.

“This is an attempt to introduce and support high-quality, inquiry-based, hands-on science teaching for all children,” says James M. Bower, Ph.D., one of the program’s co-founders.

Currently, all 800 K-6 teachers in this large school district teach four 10- to 12-week science units each year. “We start out with an emphasis on the needs of the youngest children, in grades K-6, because they begin school as natural scientists,” Bower says.

• The Toyota Tapestry Program – This program donated $550,000 in grant money to 82 science teachers in 2007. One of the gifted winners was Angie Meadows, a kindergarten teacher in Wilmington, Del. Thanks to her “Green Eggs and Sand” program, Meadows’ students have been learning about local ecosystems and horseshoe crabs, an endangered species that has lived in the Delaware Bay for the past 300 million years.

“That means they predate dinosaurs, something the kids find fascinating!” says Meadows. The kindergartners have made several trips to the Bay, bringing back eggs that they will return to the water at the end of the year. “I love it that we come back from our trips all sandy and gritty and with big smiles on our faces!” Meadows says.

• Science Education Fellowships – Elementary school teachers in Houston are getting a taste of what it’s like to be a scientist. The Baylor College of Medicine’s SELF (Science Education Leadership Fellows) program pairs teachers with Baylor postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to form science education improvement teams.

In June 2007, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), based in Chevy Chase, Md., announced a $22.5 million initiative to enhance science education from pre-K to 12th grade. Help yourSELF is just one of their projects. “Teachers learn laboratory methods through hands-on experience and conduct a three-week summer research project,” says Debra Felix, senior program officer for HHMI. “Scientists have opportunities to work directly with students, observing and teaching in classrooms.”

• Project Lead the Way – Now offered in more than 1,300 schools in 45 states and the District of Columbia, this cutting-edge program uses a hands-on approach to excite the full-range of students in middle school.

“A skilled teacher equipped with cheap, hands-on tools like LEGOs, ping-pong balls and hair-dryer-powered hot-air balloons can work magic in inspiring future scientists,” explains Anne Spence, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and director of Project Lead the Way at the University of Maryland.

Resources

• Exploratorium – www.exploratorium.edu – The Web site of the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco provides a wealth of online activities and online exhibits related to

science. If you can’t get there in person, the Web site is an excellent alternative.

• New York Hall of Science – www.nyscience.org – The Web site for this wonderful museumallows you to investigate current exhibits online.

• Science Adventures – www.scienceadventures.com – Provides a full listing of science

camps and after-school activities nationwide for children in grades 1-6.

• The Zula Patrol – www.zula.com – The Web site for this animated TV series on science and astronomy offers plenty of activities for parents and kids to have fun learning science together. It’s geared toward kids ages 4 to 8.

The Crisis in Science Education is a 4-part feature:

• Confronting the Crisis

• What Happened to Science Class?

• What’s Being Done About the Crisis in Science Education
• What You Can Do about the Crisis in Science Education: Three Steps to Science Learning

Judy Molland is a teacher, freelance writer and author, who frequently writes on education issues for Dominion Parenting Media and Parenthood.com.