Science Carries Over to Other Subjects
It is no surprise that “U.S. Students Flunk Science Assessment” (Nov 21). With many school districts not teaching a curriculum called science, the students lose. But even those districts that have a program called “science” do not teach the formal requirements of science.
When students are exposed to a true science curriculum that meets the dictionary definition of science, their grades go up in every subject area, including reading, writing and math in standardized testing (Ohio).
Larry Severson
Fountain Valley
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Why is everyone surprised about low science test scores in California? Schools are teaching only to the reading test. The rest of the curriculum is irrelevant. We will pay the piper, however, and not only with respect to science test scores. Much of the vocabulary that children learn to support reading comprehension comes from instruction in science, social science, art, music and other areas of the curriculum that are now considered frills.
Reading scores will suffer in the middle and upper grades as a result of the shortsighted practice of teaching only reading and mathematics.
Alan Crawford
Arcadia
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