Teaching Science in U.S. Public Schools

The widespread teaching of science was one of the last major subjects introduced into the American classroom in the early years of the twentieth century. Previously, science as a subject was reserved for colleges, universities, and the elite high schools that prepared the small percentage of nineteenth century American students entering post-secondary education. The teaching of science, like most subjects in the US public school system, varies widely from region to region and district to district. Much of the conversation on public school science education has been on the falling standardized test scores in math and science. The concern has been that, while the rest of the world emphasizes the teaching of these subjects, American schools, students, and teachers have fallen behind in them.

Keywords Creationism; Evolution; Inquiry-based Learning; National Defense Education Act; National Research Council of the National Academies; National Science Education Standards; No Child Left Behind; Pedagogy; Scientific Inquiry; Scopes Trial; Smith-Hughes Act; Theory of Evolution

Public School Education > Teaching Science in U.S. Public Schools

Overview

The teaching of science, like most subjects in the US public school system, varies widely from region to region and district to district. It is the responsibility of the individual state boards of education to develop and issue the subject matter requirements, proficiency levels, and curriculum guidelines to be used by each of the school districts located in that state. The individual districts then develop curriculum and specify the teaching method to be utilized in meeting the state requirements for that subject. Science is one of the core subjects taught in American schools and is now one of the educational components covered by the No Child Left behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which sets federal proficiency standards for the nation's schools ("Executive Summary," 2002). Science proficiency assessments are required for all public schools and have been since the 2007–2008 school year.

There has been a great deal of attention paid to the state of America's public schools in recent years. Much of that focus has been on the dropping test scores in math and science on standardized tests. The concern has been that, while the rest of the world emphasizes the teaching of these hard subjects, American schools, students, and teachers have fallen behind in them. Teicher (2005) reported that, "93 percent of public school students in Grades 5 through 8 learn physical science from teachers who do not have a college major or certification in the subject (based on data from the year 2000), for math students, that figure is 69 percent." Data collected by the World Policy Analysis Center and published in 2013 confirmed that the United States is lagging behind the majority of countries in its requirements for teachers of upper secondary-level courses (Brady, 2013). Also, "most K through 6 classrooms have science education for about 16 minutes a day" (Teicher, 2005, par 5). A 2009 study found that fifteen-year-olds in the United States placed twenty-third in science and thirty-first in math out of sixty-five countries polled (Scientific American, 2012). Of even more concern, the more diverse and economically behind a school's student population is, the more likely they will be taught science by teachers who do not have a major in the subject or who are not at least certified to teach it. Secondary students who attend schools that are high in poverty and minorities are often more likely to have an instructor who is inexperienced and not certified in the subject they are teaching (Taber, 2006).

In addition to these concerns about national standards, there is the issue of how to teach students such complex subjects as science. A pedagogical method in which science is taught level by level (elementary, middle, and secondary schools) is not specified by the federal government. In most public schools, the teaching model is likely to follow the method already in use in the district.

History

During the nineteenth century, the vast majority of schools taught a very basic curriculum consisting of reading, writing, and limited arithmetic. Science was not a subject generally taught in elementary schools. The teaching of science in school was basically limited to the few high schools in each state (most of which were not public) that served as college preparatory conduits for the fewer than ten percent of students that went on to college. This system was tailored to the requirements of the nation's population that was overwhelmingly rural and the agriculturally based economy that was extant during this period. Science was simply not one of the very basic skills required by most Americans of the time.

After the turn of the twentieth century and with the advent of the industrial revolution, it became apparent that the traditional public school curriculum was not preparing students for the requirements of the new paradigm. With the establishment of public high schools in all states, and the subsequent increase in high school enrollment, steps were taken to expand the curriculum of high schools to include not only a college preparatory tract, but a separate vocational tract for the majority of students who would not be going on to college. Change, however, came slowly and the teaching of science—particularly evolutionary science—was slow to enter the main stream of public school instruction. The 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial" held in Dayton, Tennessee, is an example of how a variety of obstacles such as the lack of qualified teachers, religious objections, and other limiting factors served the old ways of teachings well into the 1930s. It was then that the Great Depression began to force changes in school curriculum, the subject matter taught, and the teaching methods used.

The Second World War served as the catalyst for modernizing America's school system, as the demands of the war effort were paramount. Huge technological advances were made during the war that required the population to be educated and skilled in ways never previously imagined by the nation's educators. The Cold War that followed and the subsequent missile and space race with the Soviet Union resulted in the passage in 1958 by the US Congress of the National Defense Education Act. This was legislation aimed at improving the teaching of math and sciences in the public schools, while the space race of the 1960s continued the focus on science education.

As the pace of scientific discovery has raced ahead, schools have struggled to keep pace with these changes. Many different methods and approaches were developed, but it is apparent that there has been a marked decline in the last forty years in our student's abilities in the subject. With this apparent to almost all segments of the population, economy, and government, there have been increasingly pointed questions about our educational system's ability to meet the challenge of producing students well versed in science subjects. With the passage of the NCLB, a widening national spotlight has been shone on the deficiencies of science in many of our schools, even though the legislation itself has been the subject of wide debate on its overall effect on the quality of education as a whole.

Further Insights

Teacher Qualifications

Science teachers in the public school system must meet basic qualification requirements, as do teachers of all other subject areas. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistic's occupational handbook, high school teachers must hold a bachelors degree, have attended an approved teachers educational program, and they must hold a teaching license from the state in which they teach (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). Elementary school teachers (usually grades K–5 or 6) typically teach several different subjects either singly or in conjunction with one or more other instructors to either one class, or a defined grouping of pupils. Science may be within their teaching purview. However, some districts may have a single teacher instructing one specialized subject, such as English, science, math, or art to several groups of students, while multi-level teaching is another method used by schools in which one teacher may teach to several different grades of students.

Science in the Schools

Elementary school science programs focus on introducing students to the subject with hands-on techniques and a basic awareness of the subject in kindergarten, then graduating to more complex, academically focused instruction as they progress in grade level.

Teaching aids and materials such as computers, books, games, modular kits, and audiovisual materials as well as primary source experiences may all be used to enhance the learning experience. It is during the elementary school years that students receive a basic introduction to scientific subjects and concepts such chemistry, natural sciences, and physics that are designed to prepare students for more in-depth study as they progress through middle or junior high school and on to college or university.

Upon entry into middle and secondary school, students are usually taught by teachers specializing in a single subject. Here, they receive more in-depth instruction in the various scientific disciplines and are introduced to more complex subject matter within each subject through academic instruction, field trips, and extracurricular activities. It is here that students begin to be placed in differentiated programs focusing on each student's abilities and educational aspirations ranging from remedial to advanced placement classes.

National Standards

National Science Education Standards (NSES)

As with other core subjects, there is no single, nationally accepted means of teaching science. All districts and states have differing guidelines and "best practices" in regard to curriculum development and teaching methodologies. However, in 1996, the National Science Education Standards (NSES) were developed by the National Research Council as guidelines for teaching science in grades K–12. Although not every state in the nation adopted the standards, they did influence most states in developing a set of science learning standards and standardized tests in science.

The rationale behind the introduction of national teaching principles for the sciences is that all students will be taught to the same standard no matter where they attend school or in what part of the country, which then allows for the establishment of a national baseline by which to assess the progress of all US students and ensure they are receiving adequate instruction in the sciences.

The 1996 standards included:

• Establishment of long- and short-term goals for the school year that meet the requirements of local, state, and federal standards.

• Selection of subject matter, curricula, and materials tailored to the abilities, interests, and the previous knowledge of the students.

• Adoption of proper teaching and assessment strategies to facilitate effective learning and to monitor the progress of the students as they advance through the program.

• Coordination of teaching activities with other science teachers and colleagues across other disciplines and grades (National Research Council, 1996, pp. 30–57).

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

In 2013, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) released a position statement that made several recommendations for changes in the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) focus on active learning, as opposed to previous passive methods of learning through reading textbooks and listening to lectures, and call for a “refocusing” of K–12 science education in order to prepare students for college and for careers in science and technology (National Science Teachers Association, 2013). There standards include:

• Science education for grades K–12 should focus on the interconnectedness of science.

• The NGSS standards are expectations of student performance and are not presented as proposed curriculum.

• Learning goals for the teaching of STEM subjects should build upon one another and progress from year to year

• The focus of STEM education should be on a number of core ideas rather than on a series of memorized facts and details

• Science and engineering should be integrated into a curriculum beginning in Kindergarten and continued through the twelfth grade.

• The ultimate goal of the NGSS is to prepare students for “college, career, and citizenship.”

• The NGSS are aligned with common core standards for English, language arts, and mathematics in order to facilitate the integration of these subject areas.

As of the end of 2013, eight US states had adopted the NGSS, and several more had taken formal steps to at least consider adoption of the standards (Higgins, 2013).

Applications

Establishment of Goals

Planning and goal setting is a critically important step in the development of an effective science teaching plan. Once the framework of the plan has been laid, both short and long term goals must be set. These goals must take into account the requirements of federal, state, and locally mandated standards.

Once the teaching plan is implemented, it must be constantly monitored to ensure that the objectives of the plan and needs of the students are being met. Flexibility is important, and the plan must be constantly modified to take into account such variables as the actual versus projected progress of the students, the inclusion of teaching opportunities that arise during student inquiry, and the incorporation of topics that include local, national, and world events.

Goals for each year must be translated into coherent curricula composed of a set of topics that are broken down into specific lessons and learning activities that are progressively organized to follow the timeline of the overall teaching plan. In some cases, district policy delegates responsibility to the teacher to choose the topics, lesson plans and activities to be utilized as long as they conform to district, state, and federal standards. In other cases, the teacher utilizes pre-prescribed goals, content, and materials. In either situation, the teacher incorporates inquiry with direct experimentation in addition to the lesson plans to ensure the student's depth of understanding of the material.

Adopting Methods of Teaching & Assessment

Adopting successful teaching and assessment models is critical to the success of any science teaching plan. Learning science in the classroom is based on a sound balance of content, structured activities, and teaching methods, with an equally effective means of assessing the progress of students through the program.

Scientific inquiry based on student experience is the basis for the teaching of science in public schools. This inquiry can be carried out in the classroom, laboratory settings, or outdoor venues. The science teacher introduces students to the phenomena being investigated and guides them through the process that should be challenging but not overwhelming for those involved.

As more complex concepts are introduced by the teacher, the student's understanding of the root of the concept can be built upon by continued and expanded inquiry and information gathering utilizing multiple, reliable and authoritative sources of information and data such as libraries, audio visual resources, scientific and educational databases, and government documents and publications. Students must be taught the ability to understand and differentiate what constitutes primary and secondary sources of information and data. They must also understand the methodology used to arrive at a particular conclusion as well as what methods are actually considered to be legitimate and generally accepted by the scientific community.

Science is often best learned as a shared endeavor and students are usually organized into carefully supervised small groups and teams to undertake many of the inquiries being presented. This method gives all students the opportunity to participate in all aspects of the activity and to interact with others. This interaction and exchange of information is a proven means of enhancing the learning experience for all involved. The composition of the group is dependent upon the ages of the students, the supervision available, and the activities in which they are involved.

When giving lessons, teachers must decide what learning situation is most conducive to learning based on what is being taught. For broad areas such as lectures and general introductions, the whole classroom approach may be best, as the investigation of the phenomena becomes more in-depth, smaller group inquiry or individual work may be the best methodology. Generally, when this is the case, the learning of the simplest concepts can be achieved by individual study, as the complexity increases; small group inquiry may be more beneficial to learning. A full overview of the material with the entire class to tie everything together and to draw conclusions can be the most effective method to complete the inquiry or lesson.

Coordination across Disciplines & Levels

Not only is an effective individual plan vital to the teaching of science, a coordinated overall curriculum and teaching plan that not only interconnects other subjects within the grade level but that extends across all of the other grades as well is highly desirable. Such a comprehensive plan can serve as a professional platform for teacher growth, sharing of resources, and instructional development. Districts should ensure that their science teachers have access to each other at all levels of the district as well as the time and dedicated resources to make such a comprehensive plan a reality.

Science Teacher Turnover

One of the biggest issues in teaching is the high turnover in teachers in the nation's public schools. Wright (2006) calls the teaching profession "a revolving door profession" that sees 39 percent of new teachers leaving the profession in their first five years. Some of the reasons cited were low salaries, poor support from administrators, classroom discipline problems, and no input into the decision making process.

Difficulties in the Teaching of Science

• Relating to the subject—students spend too much time indoors with various technologies such as computers and often do not have many firsthand experiences with nature,

• Lack of funding to adequately teach science, which can often force teachers to pay for classroom expenses,

• The increasing size of classes, which makes it difficult to pay enough attention to each student,

• Aging facilities,

• Lack of qualifications in some teachers, and

• Student's lack of interest in the sciences.

Standards-based curricula was also mentioned as a problem as it placed a heavy load of material on teachers and students (Wright, 2006).

The Inquiry Method

For most science educators today, the inquiry method, which is based on the pedagogical constructivist model of learning (itself controversial among educators), is the preferred method. It is an approach in which students are encouraged to learn through a "hands-on" environment to explore a concept and then draw their own conclusions from the data they collect, as opposed to the older rote memorization or expository method in which students memorize the material straight from textbooks, teaching materials, and lecture notes without much direct application of the material. Science as content versus method has been debated for nearly a century and it appears that the inquiry method has been judged by its peers over the years and has been found the superior (Furtak, 2005).

Textbook-Based Learning

Despite the predominance of inquiry based learning and a consensus among most teachers against simply handing a student a textbook and expecting them to fully absorb or understand the material, there are those in the educational community who strongly feel that expository learning indeed has its place in the classroom. They argue that textbook-based learning can be an equally important part of science education if it is properly mediated by the teacher and fully integrated into the overall learning experience (Ulerick, n.d.). For example, if the class first takes part in a hands-on experiment, then, after collecting the data generated by that experiment and reaching their conclusions, the students can use assigned textbook reading to fully understand the conclusions they reached in the course of that experiment and learn how the collected data supports their conclusions. Supporters of expository learning argue that by providing integrated interaction through inquiry based activities and textbook based study, the synergy of the whole experience will prove much more meaningful and effective for the student's overall learning experience than either method by itself.

Viewpoints

Creationism versus Evolution

Along with the debate over optimal teaching methods, there is also the question of what material should be presented to students under the classification of science. The foremost example of this in recent years has been the issue of Creationism in the classroom. Creationism, which is also called creation science and the theory of intelligent design, is a religious-based explanation for the origins of mankind and the physical world. Its supporters have attempted to introduce it into the classroom to be taught as science, and these efforts have been the catalyst for a firestorm of controversy that has reached all of the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Supporters of creationism argue that the theory of evolution taught in classrooms is unproven science and is not the only possible explanation for the origins of life and the world. They believe that a divine being created the universe and mankind, and they adhere to the general concept of the creation as described in the Bible.

Creationism also attempts to disprove the theory of evolution by offering alternative explanations for the scientific data the theory is based on and highlighting inconsistent areas in the theory to attempt to discredit the concept. Intelligent design, while not absolutely based on the Bible, also argues that a supernatural or divine being had a hand in the creation of all things (Teaching Science, 2000).

Supporters have had some success in introducing creationism into science classrooms either as an alternative to evolution, by having evolution labeled as "unproven science," or by attempting to ban the teaching of evolution completely. Recent cases in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Georgia, and Oklahoma have all resulted in controversy at both the local and national levels resulting in court challenges to school district's policies either over the teaching of creationism as science or a formal school policy of restricting the teaching or questioning the legitimacy of evolution. In the case of the school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, one member of the board who supported the official mandate of the discussion of intelligent design in the science program stated that while he was not attempting to impose his own views on anybody, he also felt that it was a disservice to the community not to discuss alternatives to evolution in the classroom (Teaching Science, 2000).

Opponents of creation science and intelligent design have fought back against these successes. Supporters of evolution based science point out that no scientific theory has ever been fully proven and that there is no hard scientific evidence or proof to support Creationism. Opponents also argue that proponents of creation science require a much higher standard of proof for the theory of evolution than for other commonly accepted but less controversial scientific theories and that teaching religion based concepts degrades the teaching of all sciences, since the religious explanations for ideas such as intelligent design directly undermine the scientific method of inquiry, research, and conclusion.

Evolutionary theory supporters also believe that teaching religious-based concepts as science violates the requirement for separation of church and state and the First Amendment's ban on the government endorsement of any religion. While many are not opposed to the teaching of religion or religious beliefs in schools as part of a curriculum on world religions and history, they believe that Creationism should not be taught as science. They point to the fact that there are thousands of religions in the world and even in Christianity there are many sub-divisions of theological beliefs. How, they ask, can there not be even more confusion over which of these beliefs will or will not be taught and who will decide?

Citing US Supreme Court rulings in 1962 and 1968 (Teaching Science, 2000), opponents have successfully challenged school boards in all of these cases in federal court and have won rulings that supported their argument that Creationism was not science. Also, most members of those school boards who supported such measure were subsequently voted out of office in the next elections. However, the battle is far from over as both sides vow to continue their campaigns either for or against the issue, and the subject remains a hotly contested issue in many parts of the country.

Conclusion

Science is the driving force behind much of our way of life. Whether it is advances in medicine, research, manufacturing, agriculture, or ways to improve our standard of living at home, science is an integral and absolutely vital component in all of these. It has only been a hundred years since science education was considered an exotic subject in our public schools, and few were required to have any background in it. Today, an educational curriculum without it would be unthinkable.

Terms & Concepts

Creationism: The religious belief that life and the planet Earth were created by a deity.

Evolution: The modification in the inherited traits in a species from one generation to the next

National Defense Education Act: An act of Congress that was passed in 1958 to provide aid to public and private education in the United States at all levels. It was spurred by Soviet success in the space race.

National Science Education Standards: A set of science education rules for science education in primary and secondary schools in America. They were created in 1996 by the National Research Council and set goals for instructors to provide for their students and for administrators to professionally develop.

No Child Left Behind: A federal law passed in 2001 that reauthorizes federal programs that aim to improve performance in US primary and secondary schools.

Pedagogy: The strategies of instruction.

Scientific Inquiry: The variety of methods that scientists use to examine the world, collect evidence, and apply tested explanations.

Bibliography

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Suggested Reading

Basken, P. (2013). Crusader for science teaching finds colleges slow to change. Chronicle of Higher Education, 59, A6–A7. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88333320

Gallagher, J. (2006). Teaching science for understanding: a practical guide for middle and high school teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Keeley, P. (2013). Is it a solid? Claim cards and argumentation. Science & Children, 59, 26–28. Retrieved December 20, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88216247

King, K. (2006). Integrating the National Science Education Standards into classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Krajcik, J., Czerniak, C., Berger, C.F. & C. Berger. (2002). Teaching science in elementary and middle school classrooms: a project-based approach. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Llewellyn, D. (2004). Teaching high school science through inquiry: a case study approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Moyer, R. (2006). Teaching science as investigations: modeling inquiry through learning cycle lessons. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Osborne, M. (1999). Examining science teaching in elementary school from the perspective of a teacher and learner. London: RoutledgeFalmer Publishers.

Raizen, S. (1996). Bold ventures-volume 2: Case studies of U.S. Innovations in science education. New York, NY: Spring Publishing.