[regional_school] Re: The Disciplines
- From: Kristin Rapp <kris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:36:18 -0400
Let¹s hear it for REVOLUTION in science and all subjects!
Hell, in the school reform movement all together!
More support for inquiry, project-based, hands-on, arts and technology
integrated curriculum...
Kris Rapp
On 4/13/09 9:18 AM, "William Cala" <wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> If you were at my presentation on the Regional School on September 22nd, you
> heard me speak at length of the problems in which we teach the disciplines.
> The article below should be a reminder that teaching the way we have been made
> to teach will push students further from where we want them to go.
>
> Bill
>
> SCIENCE IS FAILING TO INSPIRE SOME:
> PROMINENT EDITOR CALLS FOR OVERHAUL OF HOW DISCIPLINES ARE TAUGHT
> Houston Chronicle -- April 10, 2009
> By Eric Berger
>
> Across the land, students in science class diligently memorize human
> cell components like DNA, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. They
> learn to rigidly order the natural world, from kingdom down to species.
>
> And - most disturbingly, say a growing number of scientists - they learn
> to hate science.
>
> Advocates cite many problems with science education, such as teachers
> lacking a science background. But perhaps the most critical issue, they
> say, is standardized testing that forces students to memorize and
> regurgitate.
>
> "Students don't need to know what an endoplasmic reticulum is," said
> Bruce Alberts, editor of the journal Science and former president of the
> National Academies of Science, who has called for a "revolution" in
> science education.
>
> "Bad tests are forcing a trivialization of science education and drive
> most students away from science. Real science is exciting. It's
> completely different from these textbooks."
>
> Yet change may be afoot in Texas, with some legislators calling for a
> re-evaluation of the influence of TAKS testing. And some science
> educators see opportunities to change science class from a dull exercise
> in memorization to inquiry-based learning.
>
> There's no shortage of smart people tackling the issue, like Nobel
> Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman, who argues that children should
> be taught physics first in high school in order to grasp the broad
> outlines of the natural world.
>
> "I've been working at it for a long time," he said. "We're not doing
> well. 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."
>
> U.S. Falls Behind
>
> American students finish near dead last among developed countries in
> math and science testing, and they're turned off at an early age.
> Foreign students now earn six out of every 10 engineering doctorates at
> U.S. universities. Just one-third of U.S. undergraduates earn a degree
> in science and engineering, while nearly two-thirds of Chinese and
> Japanese students do so.
>
> A recent report on U.S. economic prospects in the 21st century, /Rising
> Above the Gathering Storm/, concluded that leadership in scientific
> endeavors was crucial to success. By extension, the report found it was
> necessary to "vastly improve" America's talent pool through science,
> math and technology education.
>
> Some schools are trying to do it differently.
>
> At the Houston Independent School District's Cornelius Elementary
> recently, groups of fifth-graders were seated around tables where one
> student wore a name tag that said, "principal investigator."
>
> Each table received a white coffee filter filled with mealworms, a type
> of beetle larvae. They examined the worms with magnifying glasses, and
> not a minute passed without the teacher asking a question. Hands shot up
> each time in response.
>
> Given pieces of wet and dry paper, a stopwatch and a metric ruler, the
> students were then instructed to devise and conduct their own
> experiment. Their choices varied, such as whether mealworms traveled
> faster or slower over wet paper, or how far they could go in one minute.
>
> This was science. It was fun and engaging.
>
> "The science lab allows the student to have a hands-on opportunity,"
> said Sandra Antalis, HISD's elementary science curriculum manager.
>
> In 2004, HISD began spending $4 million to put science labs on all of
> its 189 elementary school campuses, and fifth-graders beat the statewide
> average in recent standardized testing, she said.
>
> Problems with TAKS
>
> But the system's still not ideal. At magnet schools like Cornelius,
> there's a lab teacher for each grade providing specialized, interactive
> instruction. At most schools, there's just one lab teacher for all grades.
>
> Additionally, educators remain concerned there's only so much
> inquiry-based learning that can be done in a system that rewards high
> test scores.
>
> One issue is the timing and subject matter of tests, said Michael
> Baldwin, a biology teacher at Hanna High School in Brownsville and
> president of the Science Teachers Association of Texas. The 11th-grade
> science test, which students must pass to graduate, covers a disparate
> amount of material, from biology to Earth sciences. Yet students often
> are taking physics during that year.
>
> "So maybe a month before the test, or even as early as December, instead
> of teaching physics class, the teachers are reviewing biology and
> chemistry," Baldwin said. "It puts huge pressure on teachers to abandon
> their curriculum. The students pass the TAKS test, but then don't have
> enough physics for a proper foundation in college."
>
> http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6367232.html
>
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