Science in the Triangle

Originally published: 2/3/11

Kelly Allen teaches biology and chemistry at East Chapel Hill High School. She runs the Science Olympiad program and brings her Science Days seniors’ club to perform live demonstrations at local elementary schools to spark an interest in young minds. But, she recognizes, most students in North Carolina do not get the science opportunities hers do.

“In some instances,” Allen said. “Teachers are told, ‘DO NOT waste your time teaching science. Only teach math and reading.’ It’s really disheartening.”

Allen said this has been an unintentional consequence of No Child Left Behind, the controversial 2002 federal education overhaul which places a heavy emphasis on teaching to standardized K-12 math and reading tests. Other classes, some say, fall by the wayside.

It has long been Allen’s hypothesis that this would take its toll on science test scores. Now, she’s found the data to support her claim. The U.S. Department of Education published this week the results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science test, finding less than half the nation’s youth have a ‘proficient’ understanding of science. North Carolina’s percentages were lower than the national average.

According to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, 30 percent of state students who performed at or above the NAEP proficiency level in 2009. The national percentage was 32. The state had 69 percent at or above a basic level of understanding, compared to 71 percent nationally.

Nick Cabot taught high school physics in Seattle for 15 years. Now he’s at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, teaching how to teach science. Cabot said he recognizes the state is not where it needs to be with regards to science education.

The way he sees it, students aren’t learning scientific thinking or reasoning skills.

“There’s too much emphasis on memorizing factoids,” he said. “But facts are no more science than a bunch of stones are a house. You need a conceptual framework to go with it.”

Cabot suggests more time spent teaching how to form a hypothesis, how to construct an experiment to test it, and how to reach a logical conclusion. Science is relevant to every student’s daily life, he said, and classroom lessons should reflect that.

This is a task DPI is actively undertaking, said Beverly Vance, section chief for K-12 science, curriculum and instruction. She said to expect more hands-on, interactive approaches to science in the future, inside and outside the classroom.

“One thing I’m really excited about is partnering informal education communities such as museums or Cub Scouts with the classrooms,” Vance said. “In class, you learn about ecosystems. In Cub Scouts, you’re out there seeing how an ecosystem works.”

Vance acknowledges the upward hike for science education in North Carolina, but holds high aspirations for the future. She thinks the best way to solve the big problem is to start with the small.

“Our goal is to be number one in the country,” she said. “However, to set a statewide goal, we really need to look at the data and make some target goals based on where they are, region by region.”

To Cabot, it’s more important to use new tactics to activate the students’ motivation. Foremost for him is an embrace of technology, even if the kids are literally playing games.

“I think we could use more video games to teach,” Cabot said. “They put us in that cognitive middle zone between what we can do now and what we can do with a little push. They also provide instant feedback.”

Cabot said he was one of the first science teachers to use technology in the classroom after he talked his school board into giving him $50,000 for Macintosh computers in 1994.

Cabot supports abolishing all standardized tests or at least significantly improving them. Tests, he says, are no good to students if they don’t teach what really matters.

“It’s not important to me that they don’t know a lithium ion has three protons and four neutrons,” Cabot said. “It’s that they don’t know what a legitimate argument is. What evidence is. How to get through their daily lives.”

Allen said she is not opposed to standardized testing, as long as it’s helpful and focuses on more than just math and reading. She even thinks math and science ought to be taught in concert.

“To be competitive in the world,” she said. “We need to have good scientists.”

North Carolina’s NAEP scores came in below 24 other states, better than nine other states, and on par with 13 more. Five states did not participate.

The test was given to fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade students around the country. Unlike many standardized tests, questions were both multiple choice and short-answer explanation boxes. Students were tested on physical, life, and space sciences.