Science should be fun. Students should be excited about discovering. Unfortunately, science is all about memorizing facts and filling in the blanks on tests.
Science is More than Memorizing
While some students do enjoy science, many more state that it is boring because all they do is listen to lectures and memorize for tests. Scientists are concerned that students are beginning to hate science. "Advocates cite many problems with science education, such as leaders lacking a science background. But perhaps the most critical issue, they say, is standardized testing that forces students to memorize and regurgitate." [1]
Bruce Alberts, former president of the National Academies of Science, calls for a revolution in how science is taught. A major concern is that many teachers teaching science are not certified in science. Another concern is bad tests. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman states, "Meaningless testing is a bad thing. If we want scientific literacy, then we want teachers to teach the beauty of science, the fun in it, the humor in it, and to bring examples of modern science into the classroom." "[1]
U.S. Science is at the Bottom
U.S. students are turned off from science at an early age. Foreign students do better than American counterparts. Engineering students earning doctorates in the U.S. are 60% foreign-born, predominantly Chinese and Japanese.
Most U.S. classrooms do not have labs at the elementary level. This is left for middle schools or even high schools. Unfortunately, science can not be taught from a book. Many in the field are proposing that physics be one of the first classes taught in high school. This would inspire many students to learn more by the inquiry method. However, do we trade inquiry method for high test scores? If it is about accountability, then where should time be spent?
Depth vs. Breadth in High School Science
High school curriculums are filled with science classes that must be taken to be well prepared for college. Unfortunately, that is not what colleges want. "A recent study reports that high school students who study fewer science topics, but study them in greater depth, have an advantage in college science classes over their peers who study more topics and spend less time on each." [2]
8,310 students in a study took biology, physics and chemistry classes in randomly selected classes. Robert Tai of the University of Virginia and Marc S. Schwartz of the University of Texas along with Philip M. Sadler and Gerhard Sonnert of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics conducted the study. The results were surprising. Students that studied one major topic in-depth in high school earned better grades in college than students who studied more topics in high school.
"The study also points out that standardized testing, which seeks to measure overall knowledge in an entire discipline, may not capture a student’s high level of mastery in a few key science topics. Teachers who "teach to the test" may not be optimizing their students’ chance of success in college science courses, says Tai." [2]
Science is now included in the basic scores to qualify schools for proficiency under the No Child Left Behind mandates. How science is taught may make a major difference in the excitement about science.
[1] Eric Berger, "Science is failing to inspire some," The Houston Chronicle, April 9, 2009.
[2] "Students Benefit From Depth, Rather Than Breadth, in High School Science Courses," Science Daily, March 5, 2009.
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