California Failing to Provide K-5 Science Education

Only 10% of California’s K-5 students regularly experience hands-on science activities the Los Angeles Times reported this week. The data comes from a 2010-2011 survey of teachers, principals and district administrators at 300 California public schools and was conducted by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley, SRI International and others. 

The researchers found that 40% of teachers dedicated 60 minutes or less to science instruction, while 13% spent 30 minutes per week or less teaching science. Only one-third of elementary teachers said they felt prepared to teach science, while 85% said they have not received any recent science training. In addition to inadequate training, many felt there was insufficient class time available for science, as so much class time was now devoted to preparation for the state’s high stakes exams. They also complained of lack of funds for supplies.

The report can be found at www.cftl.org/science.

The study indicated that most science instruction in California begins in fifth grade, when the state starts measuring science knowledge on its standardized exams. The absurdity of this policy is that by then it is already too late for most students. Science is not simply a bunch of facts and vocabulary that can be memorized over the course of a single school year, but an entire manner of thinking that requires continuous practice and skill-building over many years. Students who are encouraged to explore and observe natural phenomena starting in kindergarten and who learn how to make hypotheses and collect and analyze data as they get older, are much more likely to enjoy science and take it seriously in school and they are more likely to understand it well enough by fifth grade to perform well on the exams.

The problems of low science literacy and science phobia can grow over time. Each year I have students in my high school biology classes who had little or no science in middle school. I have dozens more who have an irrational fear of or disdain for science, in many cases because of limited or negative experiences with past science classes. Most of these students struggle in a college preparatory high school science course because of their lack of prerequisite knowledge and skills.

The biggest tragedy, however, is not their low test scores or the potential F they could earn, but the lack of curiosity or interest in natural phenomena so many of them exhibit. Science ought to be fun and exciting, and it usually is when taught well. When students have had positive past experiences in science, they tend to be more fully engaged in future science classes, ask more intriguing questions, and desire to understand concepts more deeply. In contrast, students who are tuned out or who lack self-efficacy in science risk growing into adulthood harboring dangerous misconceptions about disease and immunity, human reproduction, nutrition, pollution and climate change.

Fundamentalist Nut Tries To Enforce Ignorance in California

Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor, Republican, Costa Mesa, is introducing Assembly Bill 1348 to the California State Legislature. The Parental Oversight and Involvement Act would require schools to “receive affirmative permission from a child’s parents before providing classroom education related to sex, family life, morality, religion, gender, or sexual orientation,” the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.

The Times did not go into much detail, devoting only a paragraph to the story. Considering that state social studies content standards include world religions, the bill could have far reaching implications that go far beyond health and sex education courses. Biology courses, likewise, routinely cover sexual reproduction and human physiology and anatomy. However, the bill seems most targeted at health education courses that cover human sexuality, reproduction and STDs, as well as tolerance curriculum that is common throughout California. In fact, the bill may have been drafted in retaliation to Mark Leno’s senate bill, SB 48, which would require teachers to discuss the contributions of LGBT historical figures in their curriculum.

While it is not surprising that some parents and fundamentalist residents would be upset over the teaching of tolerance for gays and lesbians, or the discussion of safer sex, there is a far more important public good to be gained by these practices. Ignorance about safer sex practices and pregnancy prevention increase the frequency and the costs of STDs and unwanted pregnancies, costs that all Californians must bear. Ignorance about other religions, cultures, sexual orientations, lifestyles and family structures contribute to fear, misunderstanding, prejudice and abuse.

Also, if parents do not want their children to be taught about their bodies and sexuality at school or to learn about other religions or famous homosexuals in their history classes, parents have the right and the responsibility to remove their children from public schools and either place them in a parochial school or home school them. They should not be allowed to burden schools and society simply to satisfy their fears and prejudices, particularly considering that society will end up bearing much of the future costs caused by the additional unwanted pregnancies, STDs and hate crimes resulting from their ignorance.