"School is not where most Americans learn most of their science"

[NanceXToo]

Interesting article....

 

http://caise.insci.org/uploads/docs/FalkandDierking95perc.pdf

 

(A reprint from American Scientist, the magazine of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society)

[Xuzi]

I have Bill Nye the Science Guy to thank for most of my science education. :tongue_smilie:

[treestarfae]

Thanks!

[mcconnellboys]

Thanks, this is very interesting!

[Beth S]

I have Bill Nye the Science Guy to thank for most of my science education. :tongue_smilie:

 

My kids give all the credit to Magic School Bus. Despite YEARS of my custom-made living-books, classical-education-based science unit studies!!!

[jenL]

Great article! I've shared it with one of my local homeschool e-loops. Thanks for shaing with us here!

[chiguirre]

Wow! That makes me feel a lot better about my (lack of a formal) science curriculum. Even though my kids tend to be curious and remember a lot of science information they've picked up informally, I didn't think it was enough. We've tried several different formal science approaches but none of them stuck. We do watch a lot of Mythbusters, NOVA, David Attenborough, MSB and Bill Nye as well as lots of visits to the zoo, nature center and museums. Maybe this is not such a bad approach for now.

[LibraryLover]

My hubola is a scientist, and he says that he learned science around scientists, but he first got excited by science when he took AP Chemistry. Prior to this high school class, he was going to major in journalism.

Edited December 9, 2010 by LibraryLover

[stripe]

Having just read this article, wherein an actor in x-rated movies with a girlfriend in the same line of work expressed what seemed like surprise at having contracted various diseases including HIV, I am even more puzzled by the general level of confusion in our society and lack of understanding communicated by schools or general contact with reality.

 

That being said, there is a lot to be said for the formerly popular pursuits of scientific activities at home. I wonder how I can inspire my kids?

[LaissezFaire]

Bill Nye, Mythbusters, Magic School Bus...my kids know SO much from these shows. Way more than anything in our science studies.

[CLHCO]

I'm going to print it out and finish reading it tomorrow over coffee. It's too long, but looks very good.

 

My son is obsessed with most things science, so I don't bother to even teach it to him at his age, for fear of ruining him. :tongue_smilie: I think he knows more basic science than I do, despite my putting in the hours for college prep high school classes and college. It was learned enough to pass tests, but it was all surface.

[FaithManor]

Though we are a very science oriented household and the kids have rigorous science studies, I'd say that 40 % of what the know has been learned from books and the rest has been learned from following their interests, MYBUSTERS/similar shows, and 4-H. Dh and I co-run the science education section of our county 4-H and we also have a club. The kids have been learning metal casting, all kinds of chemistry, model rocketry and along with it physics and aviation, astronomy, electronics including circuitry and principles of electricity, and engineering/hydraulics.

 

Honestly, there just isn't anything better than learning some science while watching Jamie and Adam blow up a house with an overheated hot water tank!

 

Faith

[Starr]

My kids give all the credit to Magic School Bus. Despite YEARS of my custom-made living-books, classical-education-based science unit studies!!!

 

:iagree: :D

[justamouse]

That was an awesome article. And sooo something I needed to hear. Thank you. Again, I ask a question and the universe answers me.

[Jamee]

I can completely see this with my kids. In addition to Magic School Bus and Mythbusters, they're always watching Animal Planet, Discovery, heck even Good Eats has a ton of science and you can't forget Here Comes Science by TMBG. I am amazed at what the boys know in the field of science. At the beginning of fall, the gifted teacher came into my son's first grade class to discuss the changes in leaves. DS proceeded to explain to the class the process of photosynthesis which he learned through the TMBG song and video. I think there is a lot to be said for these "informal" resources.

[jld]

Though we are a very science oriented household and the kids have rigorous science studies, I'd say that 40 % of what the know has been learned from books and the rest has been learned from following their interests, MYBUSTERS/similar shows, and 4-H. Dh and I co-run the science education section of our county 4-H and we also have a club. The kids have been learning metal casting, all kinds of chemistry, model rocketry and along with it physics and aviation, astronomy, electronics including circuitry and principles of electricity, and engineering/hydraulics.

 

Honestly, there just isn't anything better than learning some science while watching Jamie and Adam blow up a house with an overheated hot water tank!

 

Faith

 

You use Apologia, right? And your dd is doing very well. Do you have any reservations about Apologia?

[stripe]

I think there is a lot to be said for these "informal" resources.

I wonder if they feel that the "own" the knowledge more because they have discovered it themselves? My son reads science stuff on his own and reports back and quizzes me often on what he's read (ack). I recently took him to a space-themed activity for kids at a museum and he seemed to know more than the (non-science major) college student-aged people who were working the event. (I'm not trying to imply he was the sole genius; the mother of one girl corrected one guy's "I don't know how to pronounce this" for Ganymede.) However, the "punchline" / secret solution for several of the activities were things my kids already knew. I hope in the future to keep them stretching through activities like this.

[FaithManor]

JLD,

 

We use Apologia from 7th grade on. But, because dh and I teach science formally beginning in 1st grade and we are a VERY SCIENCE oriented household, the experiments are always things they've always done and they are already several degrees of difficulty past his kitchen experiments so we skip them. My ten year old is currently distilling ethanol from a yeast mixture; there are tubes, beakers, flasks, the distiller, bunsen burners, you name it everywhere (so much for eating dinner at the dining room table), the 14 year old is using rocketry software to design a new engine burn for his team's competitive rocket, and the 11 year old is currently doing research on the digestive track of and best nutrition for sheep because if he has a chance to bottle feed lambs this year, he'd like to make his own homemade formula instead of purchase commercial brands. DD made a working boat lock system inside a large rubbermaid tub when she was in third grade and the stuff she was involved with in high school - near space weather balloons - made apologia experiments look like nothing but fluff to fill time.

 

But, in terms of teaching the academic material, it is good. Some students do not like it's conversational style and I can't recommend the chemistry or physics for any students that do not have very, very solid algebra and geometry skills. He does not teach the math. He will show the formula but he assumes the student knows the operations and is very comfortable with algebraic equations. It may be very frustrating for a non-math oriented student. However, that said, physics and chemistry are math based sciences and any curriculum that tries to teach the concepts without the math, should not be considered high school. So, one would want to look for a curriculum that explained each step of the formula and the basic math functions along with the science.

 

DD's apologia chemistry and advanced chemistry books are currently residing in her pharmacology classroom. She uses them to tutor her classmates and the instructor allows them to be checked out (with a big refundable deposit) for reference. She is currently carrying a 114% in paramedic school and 98-100% in pre-med classes. I don't think her professors grade as hard as I do because she graduated from our homeschool with a 3.89. So, either they are too lenient, she has gotten even smarter since becoming an adult, or I was too tough. According to the patho-physiology prof....I'm too tough! I've heard that before. I once asked a history professor friend of mine to grade one of her 10th grade history exams (we used the Human Odyssesy by Spielvogel that year and I made my own chapter tests). There were three essays, ten civilization paragraph summaries to write, twenty-five vocabulary words to define, and a map to complete. I had already graded it myself and gave her 85% (she scored 100 on everything but her essays which I had a few bones to pick about) and she gave her a 96%. So, I averaged the two grades and awarded that.

 

Sorry about the rambling. Yes, we used apologia and she has done phenomenally well. My 7th grader is in the General Science and was explaining principles of dendrochronology to his grandmother the other day. There was a ridiculous grin of satisfaction on my face!

 

Faith

[Jamee]

I wonder if they feel that the "own" the knowledge more because they have discovered it themselves? My son reads science stuff on his own and reports back and quizzes me often on what he's read (ack). I recently took him to a space-themed activity for kids at a museum and he seemed to know more than the (non-science major) college student-aged people who were working the event. (I'm not trying to imply he was the sole genius; the mother of one girl corrected one guy's "I don't know how to pronounce this" for Ganymede.) However, the "punchline" / secret solution for several of the activities were things my kids already knew. I hope in the future to keep them stretching through activities like this.

 

My boys are the same and that makes sense, owning the knowledge. Dh and I have learned that we don't really question them any more on animal facts, for they're usually right.

[LibraryLover]

Woot! Some of you are sounding a little like unschoolers. :D

[stripe]

I found the "experiment" section of a program I recently attended at a museum, reminded me of that famous horse who supposedly knew arithmetic, when it was finally shown that what the horse knew was when to stop tapping its foot (by the cues of the onlookers, who knew arithmetic). The first thing was done; nothing happened. Off we were rushed to the second item, which had a minor reaction, which was quickly dismissed as insignificant (although exactly ZERO of the children seemed to think so). The last item, which everyone was hushed in anticipation of, was done, and of course, ta da! it obediently performed dramatically.

 

It seemed so staged to me. And I assure you, none of the children seemed to understand OR care what had just happened. In fact, one girl raised her hand to argue something about one of the previous items. I found it to be a very interesting educational moment.

[Cedarmom]

I agreed with many of the article's points. But I don't think it explained the drop in knowledge between elementary and middle school. I think science centers/ science shows/ and museums are fantastic. But we need how to apply science to real life. I love all the explainations that aithmanor said her family was doing. Helping students apply knowledge they've learned to things they want to know in real life is one of the keys.

 

Susan Wise Bauer suggested having a student think up their own project(something they have a hypothesis about) and do they experiment on their own . I think this would be super. If your kid is interested without a formal schol requirement(learning to make sheep formula example) great I would give them the time to do it.

[jld]

Faith, thanks so much! It sounds like your daughter is doing great! And your kids are awash in science! Wonderful!

[plansrme]

Honestly, there just isn't anything better than learning some science while watching Jamie and Adam blow up a house with an overheated hot water tank!

 

Faith

 

Truer words were never spoken.

 

Now if only someone would figure out a way to use exploding houses to teach literature and math, I could just sit back and let Mythbusters do my homeschooling for me.

 

Terri