[Bridging_the_digital_divide] Teachers concerned for science education

[Jason Barkeloo]

Teachers concerned for science education

By Ben Feller, AP Education Writer  |  July 6, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Many educators and employers liken the state of science  
education to a chemistry project gone awry: A bad mix of factors has  
come together and it spells trouble.

By law, making students better at reading and math is the nation's  
priority. When it comes to science, however, a quiet crisis is  
engulfing schools, say scientists, educators, business leaders and  
entrepreneurs.

It begins when young students skip challenging science courses and  
later produces an understaffed or ill-trained corps of science  
instructors. The result is lagging U.S. performance in jobs, research  
and innovation.

"The public is not hearing this," said Gerald Wheeler, a nuclear  
physicist and executive director of the National Science Teachers  
Association. "It's troubling that at one level, we understand that we  
live in a technological society, but it's not playing out that way.  
Science is on the back burner."

Not everyone is pessimistic.

The country remains a dominant force in the advancement of science.  
Also, some observers say the picture of an "emerging and critical"  
problem in the labor force, as it was put by the government advisory  
National Science Board, is overblown.

But teachers in the field say they need help, mainly in professional  
training and enough class time to be creative.

"Is the goal now a set of scores or is the goal a set of scientists?"  
said Janis Elliott, who teaches physics at a high school in Bellevue,  
Neb. "That's the difference and you don't achieve those goals in the  
same way."

Teachers attending the National Education Association's annual meeting  
spoke about the state of science education in a group interview  
Saturday with The Associated Press.

Elliott, who trains other teachers in science trends, says she often  
must seek her own training from outside sources. They include military  
weapons experts, a private engineering company and a cancer research  
institute.

"In physics, with infrared imagery, I have to tell kids how to use it,  
how they're going to need to know it, what computer applications come  
with it, how they're going to use it in medicine and in looking for  
bomb shelter in war ... We don't get that training in college," Elliott  
said.

Carol Bauer, an elementary school teacher in Yorktown, Va., says she  
sees inquisitive students who do not know what they are missing, either  
in school or in their own free time.

"The kids today don't have a chance to discover," she said. "They don't  
even get to go check out their own neighborhood. We have to know what  
they're doing all the time. They just don't know what exploration is."

Education Department leaders say science is not a second-class subject.  
They have led efforts aimed at improving teachers' skills and they are  
watching for results. By 2007, under the No Child Left Behind law, all  
schools must test students in science at least once in elementary,  
middle and high school.

The science news of late has not been uplifting, from national test  
scores to teachers' confidence in their science skills and parents'  
satisfaction in course offerings. Business leaders say they have seen  
declining interest in science among students.

"It's going to cause a steady weakening of U.S. leadership in  
technology and related fields," said Gary Bloom, chief executive of the  
Veritas software company and one of several technology executives to  
ask Congress to put greater focus on science in schools. "More and more  
creativity, new ideas, patents, engineering and businesses will begin  
to creep overseas."

Daniel Greenberg, a guest scholar at The Brookings Institution who  
specializes in the politics of science, disputes any notion of an  
impending crisis. American scientific exploration will thrive  
"regardless of the worry-mongers who periodically sound false alarms,"  
he wrote recently.

But in today's schools, teachers see problems even in finding time to  
plan and set up a science lesson in class.

Improving training is essential if those with science backgrounds are  
to stick with teaching over more lucrative jobs, said Sandy Sullivan,  
an elementary school teacher from Ashburn, Va. "That's important in any  
subject, but especially science," she said, "because it can be left  
behind."

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2004/07/06/ 
teachers_concerned_for_science_education/


---

Jason Barkeloo
President
TouchSmart Publishing
http://www.touchsmart.net
tele 513.225.8765


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