It appears that a light is finally emerging from what many said was a black hole in the nation’s science instruction.
Some kids might even be able to tell you what a black hole is-and whether light can even emerge from it.
After an initial frenzy of concern after the 1957 launch of Russia’s Sputnik satellite, the nation’s secondary education again came under attack in the 1980s for the lackluster performance of students in science.
A slight rise in test scores this fall may indicate that actions taken to rejuvenate science curriculums and upgrade instruction may be working.
“You can’t turn kids on to science once they get into high school, because by then if you don’t have a strong math background, you can’t get into it . . . it’s just too late,” said Steve Sweeney, who heads an innovative program, called Science Depot, for south suburban Flossmoor District 161.
A number of districts in the metropolitan area, such as Flossmoor, funneled resources into science programs when the stark picture was first painted in the mid-to-late 1980s.
At the time, the Science Report Card, a federally funded project based in Princeton, N.J., found that just 7 percent of American high school seniors had sufficient skills to do well in college-level science courses. Scientists warned of a future generation unprepared for an increasingly complex world and the prospect that the U.S. could wake up to find itself with a second-rate work force.
But there is some evidence of improvement. Comparing last year’s testing results to this year’s shows that nearly half of the more than 200 suburban districts improved their science scores from a year ago.
Chicago public schools were lower on average than they were a year ago, but three city schools, Edison School, the Lenart Regional Gifted Center and Decatur Classical School, were among the top 10 in the Chicago area.
The flip side to that is that this is only the second year the state has even measured science knowledge.
The 4th-grade pupils at Americana Elementary School in west suburban Glendale Heights have certainly reversed the slide. They scored 374 on their Illinois Grade Assessment Program tests, up from the 320 the school’s 4th graders scored a year earlier. Pupils in the 4th, 7th and 11th grades were tested in science.
Americana’s 4th graders ranked third in the metro area behind Sears Elementary School in Kenilworth and Edison School for gifted children on Chicago’s Northwest Side. The state average is 250.
“The buzzword has become `authentic learning,’ which is really just another way of saying `learn by doing,’ ” said Americana Principal Larry Beadle.
“That means you don’t just read about plants, you actually grow the bean seed plant and then collect the data and then chart it on a graph. We also teach math and science together, so it’s easier to see the connection.”
Americana is in the third year of its science program, called Project Smile, which is in place at eight schools in Du Page County. “The idea is to teach the teachers first,” Beadle said, “and then go to the kids.”
That philosophy is being embraced by a number of schools that have come to realize that the old methods-which relied on memorization of formulas and dry-as-dust textbooks-were just not getting the message across.
But getting teachers to buy into science has not always been easy-especially at the elementary school level, said John Beckwith, superintendent of Kenilworth District 38.
“The emphasis clearly has to be on language arts, phonics and math, so you need a program that doesn’t demand a lot of time to prepare.
Plus, there’s some intimidation factor in teaching science because it may have been awhile since a teacher has taken a science course and this is an area that changes.”
In Flossmoor, Sweeney and parent volunteers help teachers get over their own science angst by putting together kits on everything from chromotography (the separation of colors) to the instincts of the hermit crab. The kits are then delivered to teachers at the district’s four elementary schools.
“Everything they need is right in the box,” said Sweeney, who taught 4th and 5th grade in the district before being tapped to oversee the program three years ago. “When you mix baking soda and vinegar, for example, it’s neat and spontaneous. . . . The teachers get excited, the kids get excited and the overall lesson is that science is fun.”
That certainly was the prevailing mood in Barry Okner’s 5th-grade class at Serena Hills School, where pupils were learning about electricity by using circuit-testers. If the bulb in the circuit tester lit up, they had discovered the hidden circuit. And smiles lit up their faces with each new discovery.
“I like it this way a lot better, because it’s more like a game,” said Michael Catanzarice, 10. “Besides, there’s not so much talking by the teacher.”
That’s OK with Okner: “It’s so hands-on, which is the way science ought to be. . . . It just leaves the kids wanting more.”
Don’t look for those needs to be satisfied at home. Most parents-even college-educated ones-have huge gaps in their own science education, as anyone who has ever tried to explain global warming to a 7-year-old can attest.
Jon Miller, a professor at Northern Illinois University, conducted a survey of 2,000 adults in 1988 and found that only 6 percent met minimum standards of science proficiency.
Miller, who is also vice president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, said that although he is “mildly encouraged” by recent gains, he cautions that the scores have also inched up for every other industrialized nation.
“Everybody is becoming aware that science is important to your economy and to your democracy,” he said. “We have a society where 90 percent of the people don’t understand what an atom is or the basics of genetics . . . so they tune these words out and leave it to someone else.”
Although elementary schools have rolled up their sleeves, the high schools still have a way to go, Miller said. He criticized an educational system that makes tough math and science classes optional.
Eighty percent of all graduates will never take a physics course, 50 percent will never take chemistry and 90 percent will never take calculus, he said.
“With those kinds of numbers, we shouldn’t be surprised that we do badly in these international competitions,” he said. “In the 21st Century, these subjects will be just as important for survival as reading and writing was for our grandparents. The idea that you can take only the subjects you’re comfortable with doesn’t work-and hasn’t worked for a long time.”
