[IP] Science Labs Don't Measure Up
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From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 10, 2005 12:29:26 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Science Labs Don't Measure Up
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Science Labs Don't Measure Up
Associated Press
Story location: <http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,68469,00.html>
01:51 PM Aug. 08, 2005 PT
While sleek crime-scene TV shows have turned students on to forensic
science, an investigation of today's high school laboratories shows
that reality isn't so flattering.
The typical high school lab is an isolated add-on that lacks clear
goals, does not engage students in discussion and fails to illustrate
how scientific methods lead to knowledge, says a report by the
National Research Council.
Most of the labs are of such poor quality that they don't follow
basic principles of effective science teaching, says the council, a
private adviser to government leaders on matters of science and
engineering.
Contributing to the problem: teachers who aren't prepared to run
labs, state exams that don't measure lab skills, wide disparities in
the quality of equipment, and a simple lack of consensus over what
"laboratory" means in the school environment. Even the way class time
and space are organized in high schools may be limiting progress, the
study found.
"It's on target," said Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the
National Science Teachers Association and a former high school
physics teacher. "There's a lack of clarity about why we're doing
things. And we can't measure how useful labs are unless we have that
clarity."
At the high school and college levels, teachers are reporting higher
interest in chemistry labs and forensics courses, driven largely by
the popularity of television's CSI shows, in which investigators
solve crimes by examining evidence with high-tech lab work.
In school, successful lab time is critical because it bolsters
students' science literacy and, more broadly, can help inspire the
next wave of scientists, the report's authors found.
The review amounts to the latest warning over the state of U.S.
science. Business groups representing tens of millions of workers
recently announced a campaign to prod the nation into improving its
math and science education, wary of slipping U.S. competitiveness.
Criticisms of science labs are not new, but teachers say the report,
coming with the imprimatur of the National Research Council, could
give the matter a boost of urgency.
"For literally 150 years, laboratories have been the sacred cows of
science education," said Susan Singer, chairwoman of the committee
that wrote the report and professor of biology at Carleton College.
"Nobody has stopped to question what the value added is, or how we
should go about using labs to improve learning. We haven't asked the
right questions."
Most students take science classes during three of the four high
school years, participating in labs about once a week in biology,
chemistry and physics courses.
During lab time, students are supposed to be mastering subject
matter, developing scientific reasoning and understanding the
complexity of empirical work, the report says. Students also should
be developing teamwork abilities and cultivating an interest in science.
[snip]
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