Public Schools Can’t Deliver Science Education Alone : College scientists must reach out, and their institutions must facilitate that

In two previous editorials we have documented the deplorable state of science education in the nation’s public schools and pointed out some promising efforts at improvement. But further progress will depend on clearing away major impediments to quality teaching and learning. These impediments are as much attitudinal as economic. They range from poor family support to a reluctance by top universities like Caltech to reward research faculties for helping bring scientific literacy to the lower schools.

Clearly school authorities everywhere must invest more in science teaching. The average annual amount spent for high school science class supplies is only $5 per student. Youngsters in the crucial formative elementary grades four through six spent only 3.1 hours a week on science on average in the United States, and only 2.6 hours here in California, which consistently ranks near the bottom in nearly all statistical indicators of science education. The fault lies not only with local schools but also with a decline in science requirements for entrance to major colleges and universities.

Obviously more money is needed. But much can be done with existing resources. Partly the problem is that science is widely considered, particularly among minority youngsters, as irrelevant or too hard. Failure to master technological concepts ensures failure in the job market. “We have to address family attitudes toward science, otherwise the 30 minutes a day of science in school can be undone by a remark that implies that it is unimportant,” says Shirley Malcom, who directs science education programs at the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.

Past attempts to improve science teaching have faltered because they did not address the scientific insecurities of teachers. Primary-grade teachers tend not to have been science majors. Therefore efforts to involve them and upgrade their science-teaching abilities are to be encouraged. Local school officials are not without resources in this endeavor. Oftentimes the main impediment is not so much money as ignorance of available help. Here in the West, for example, there is Education West, an arm of the National Research Council, in Irvine. It is dedicated to disseminating the latest in curricular innovations from the National Science Resources Center, the Mathematical Science Education Board and other sources.

In all this, a key element is the willingness of working scientists in academia and private industry to make time to help local public school teachers. That occurs in many localities nationwide, but is impeded by traditional criteria for winning tenure and salary raises at universities, which give little or no credit for such public-spirited activities. The University of Arizona is to be commended for amending its tenure rules to recognize the contributions of professors who reach out to the public schools.

If only that were the national model. The leaders of America’s best scientific institutions often publicly deplore the paradox of the huge gulf between the American scientific “elite” and the vast crowd of “scientific illiterates” in the public. But they are ambivalent when it comes to actually doing something about it.

Many research institutions, notably Caltech, have encouraged their faculties to participate in outreach to the community and in public science education. But they maintain that basic research, publication and the training of new scientists are their top priorities. Helping local primary schools to bolster teaching is a noble endeavor, they say, but it will not help much when it comes to winning tenure, promotions or raises.

With such mixed signals, few scientists have thus far ventured into the schools. If our best institutions take the position that teaching local youngsters about the wonders of science is peripheral, an optional extracurricular activity, then the future of American science is in very grave jeopardy indeed.

Diluting Science Percentage of science classes with over 30 students: California: 27.4% New York: 21.3% Texas: 5.2% Ohio: 4.9% Mass.: 3.2% Connecticut: 2.9% New Jersey: 1.1% Source: Council of Chief State School Officers