Professional Development Is One Part of Science Education Solution

Much of the wonderful work on K–8 science education reported by Ramon E. Lopez and Ted Schultz ( Physics Today, September 2001, page 44 ) will be wasted, I’m afraid, unless greater emphasis is placed on training and supporting teachers.

Not long ago, in an affluent suburb known for its excellent schools, I helped my son’s fourth-grade class with a unit on pulleys. The students were to measure the weight required to lift a standard load and the distance the load rose, using one, two, and three pulleys. It sounded straightforward. But the pulleys had a lot of friction and were not light compared to the load. Neither the students nor the teacher realized that the distance needed to be measured from the load’s initial height, not from the floor; and no effort was made to keep the strings close to vertical. With attention to these details and judicious use of some oil, we obtained reasonable results, and had a good discussion about what they meant. Apparently that had not happened before. Another teacher who saw the results on the blackboard was astonished to see patterns that actually made sense. I can only imagine the impression of science that this unit had left on previous classes.

In other subjects, these talented and experienced teachers had no trouble improvising, identifying and solving problems on the fly, and helping students understand what they were doing. But in science they were adrift, and the kids could sense it. Teachers need help. At a minimum, every elementary school should have a full-time science specialist. In my son’s school, that position had been eliminated to fund a computer room.