The accelerating impact of science and technology on the lives of
Americans makes a basic understanding of science and mathematics an
essential part of any education for the 21st century. In the 1980s
researchers alarmed the nation with reports on the low level of scientific
and technical literacy among high school graduates. In response, Americans
began new education initiatives, such as the 1989 summit with former
President Bush and the nation's governors outlining education goals for
the nation, many state and local education coalitions, the National
Science Foundation's systemic reform initiatives, and the production of
new instructional materials and benchmarks for science literacy. In
addition, later this year, the National Science Education Standards will
be published by the National Research Council.
Despite this progress, science is still greatly undervalued in our
schools. Science is too often treated as an optional activity, rather than
as a core subject. Moreover, the nature of classroom science must change.
Science educators must move away from the mindless memorization of science
terms now plaguing many classrooms. Classrooms should offer children
experiential opportunities to learn basic scientific concepts and to
develop and carry out systematic processes for solving scientific
problems. Further, science education must start during the early years of
schooling, when children still display their natural curiosity and
excitement for learning. We must highlight science as an inquiry activity
and cease the drill and rote learning approaches that have caused so many
of our students to lose interest in school science.
Teacher-Scientist Partnerships
The scientific, engineering and medical communities have not contributed a
great deal to school reform. However, a number of individuals have
demonstrated the potential to help catalyze widespread improvement in
science classrooms by building partnerships with their colleagues in K-12
education. Through partnerships, these professionals learn about obstacles
to improving science education in America's classrooms, and they learn how
to best apply their varied talents toward creating lasting change.
On the basis of our own experience in partnerships between scientists and
engineers and K-12 educators, we recommend focusing partnership activities
on teacher professional development activities that support the
implementation of a modular science curriculum. We have worked to
establish such a partnership between the University of California San
Francisco (UCSF) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)
over the last five years.
San Francisco is a city rich in science and technology resources. At UCSF,
scientists, doctors and graduate students carry out cutting-edge research
and apply scientific knowledge and new technologies to widespread societal
challenges. Many UCSF employees have children in the SFUSD, and so are
familiar with the quality and quantity of science education their children
receive in the city's public schools. Many of these parents had voiced
concern over the years, but few had found effective pathways to
involvement that could significantly improve science instruction or
resources.
San Francisco Schools
In 1990, most elementary teachers taught little or no science; instead,
the focus of their activities was on reading and math. Classrooms received
only textbooks from the school district. Some teachers collected science
activities from workshops or summer institutes, and produced their own
materials. While many active programs existed to improve elementary
science education, these efforts did not reach the city's classrooms in a
consistent and equitable way. Most importantly, valuable programs were
never successfully integrated into the infrastructure of the school
district.
Today, after four years of intense partnership activity between the school
district and the scientific community, the school district supplies every
school with four science modules per grade-level per year. They also send
materials from a district materials center that refurbishes materials for
each teacher's use. All teachers have had an introduction to the new
hands-on curriculum and to strategies for using the units successfully.
Why are the teachers paying more attention to science as an integral part
of the classroom experience? First, the teachers now receive the kinds of
resources needed to implement a successful science lesson, including
materials, teachers' manuals, lesson plans, and suggestions for curriculum
integration. Grade-level meetings address ongoing implementation concerns
and provide mentoring for less experienced teachers. Finally, district
principals and parents actively support the teachers in their work.
Scientists from UCSF and other community institutions contribute to the
effort primarily by participating in the teachers' professional
development activities. Approximately twenty scientists, for example,
worked with teachers to plan about 30 days of staff development activities
per year. Scientists acted as examples of authentic scientific inquiry,
sources of content knowledge and research expertise, and liaisons to
science university labs and clinics. They also helped design extensions to
the curriculum and worked with the district in developing their long term
strategic plan for science education. Equally important, the scientists
became active advocates of high quality science education in their
community.
Lessons Learned
How did this transformation take place? Will it last? How would we advise
others to go about setting up a partnership between scientists and
educators? We believe that the following ingredients greatly improve the
likelihood of success in science education partnerships.
Start in Elementary Schools
The natural response of a scientist who wants to help improve science
teaching in our schools is to concentrate at the high school level. Here,
the science is taught in the academic disciplines that scientists are used
to biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences. Many of us with
experience in school systems have come to the conclusion that the major
revolution called for in science education is best accomplished by
starting in what at first seemed to us to be a very alien world the
elementary school. The advantages of focusing our limited resources on
elementary science include the fact that many of our best teachers are
found in these schools. Moreover, elementary teachers work with the same
group of students all day; this allows them to schedule the time required
for a meaningful science inquiry experience. At this level, engaging
science explorations will foster positive student attitudes toward science
from the start of the students' academic careers.
Engage District Administration
It is critical for partnership participants to engage the school district
leadership in a dialogue about their current science curriculum and future
plans. Ultimately, it is the district managers and school principals who
must provide the professional support teachers need to experiment with new
instructional techniques. The success of our partnership has depended on
our ability to foster enthusiastic support from school district
administrators.
Instructional Materials are Key
Identifying the best instructional materials available is critical to the
success or failure of any partnership. If instructional materials are ill
conceived, shallow or incomplete, professional development activities
organized around these materials are likely to be similarly flawed. Well
developed instructional materials often inspire the same level of
fascinated inquiry in teacher workshops that they do in the classroom, and
help provide models for teachers of well-designed science lessons.
Materials that have been carefully field-tested will help newcomers avoid
common pitfalls in materials management and instruction, which helps
maintain teacher enthusiasm for the effort as a whole. Currently,
research-based curricula exist that have been tested extensively in
diverse classrooms. These curricula are designed to foster conceptual
understanding over a period of several weeks. SFUSD adopted the following
two programs: Full Option Science System and Insights.
Beyond identifying specific curriculum units, partnership participants
must develop a common vision of science teaching and learning. The
National Science Education Standards will provide a valuable new tool to
help develop this vision, build local consensus, and guide plans to align
teaching, learning and assessment. This overall vision helps keep
activities focused on improving science education through the difficult
periods that come with any long-term effort.
Provide for the Professional Development of Teachers
To foster excellence in science learning, merely advocating specific
curricular units is not enough to support reform. The partnership effort
must also provide professional development that helps teachers understand
scientific inquiry. As teachers begin working with the curriculum units,
they expand their repertoire of instructional strategies and gain deeper
insight into their students' conceptual development. The teachers learn to
enjoy not fear science teaching, and become more adept with using a
variety of hands-on materials. Teachers are quickly inspired by their
students' positive reactions to hands-on science. Soon, the teachers are
ready to explore more in-depth studies of scientific inquiry, the role of
the teacher as facilitator, curriculum integration, and student
assessment. With mastery of science content and pedagogy, teachers may
develop individual, student-centered innovations to enhance commercial
curriculum kits.
The long-term goal of a professional development program should be to
reach all teachers in the region a goal that requires a well-planned,
step-by-step dissemination plan. Our strategy for building this capacity
was to prepare a core group of lead teachers. These teachers provide
feedback from principals and their colleagues on what works in the
schools.
Build a Regional Infrastructure
To ensure lasting change, the school district must supply classroom
materials and continual professional development. This requires
reallocating resources to design and implement a materials distribution
system, to provide release time for teachers to work and plan with
colleagues, and to build the infrastructure needed to support ongoing
improvement of science education.
To support science education improvement, community stakeholders need to
become informed about the goals and activities of area partnerships.
Moreover, they might need to change their on-going programs to avoid
duplication of effort and optimize the use of resources.
Create Long-term Community Support
Strategic efforts in school districts often fail due to the transitional
nature of school district employment: superintendents often have a short
tenure, school board members and state politicians fail at reelection, and
local school district employees change jobs. Local technical
professionals, who are knowledgeable about the state of science education
in their local area, can provide the stable platform needed for a
continuous improvement process.
Local efforts will not succeed without support from a community that
values science education. Scientists can provide this kind of supportive
voice. United in our conviction that children need quality science
education to lead productive and satisfying lives, we must do our best to
give them the chance to succeed.