Early Science Education Should Be Innovative And Hands-On

For two decades, I taught chemistry and physics to high school students. My goal was to have students learn how to learn. To quote Sir Alec Clegg: "The object of teaching is not so much to convey knowledge as it is to excite a determination in the child to acquire it for himself, and to teach him how to go about acquiring it." Even so, it became very evident that a majority of students entered high school with a negative attitude toward science. They might be willing to do the assigned work and, due to an exerted effort on my part, many even enjoyed being in my classroom. However, it was rare that their interest in science was rekindled. I came to realize that the problem existed in elementary education. This had a direct influence on me and how I directed my effort.1 Young children are inquisitive--curious about the world around them. They have open, creative minds, searching for ways to make sense of all that they perceive. Children are innate scientists, probing, puttering, experimenting with the possible and impossible in a confused local universe. Children and scientists share an outlook on life. "If I do this, what will happen?" That is both the motto of the child at play and the defining refrain of the physical scientist. Every child is observer, analyst, and taxonomist, building a mental life through a sequence of influential revolutions, constructing theories and promptly shedding them when they no longer fit.2 These natural philosophers intently study plants and animals and marvel at clouds and rainbows. In addition, they find true pleasure in simple experimentation. Snowflakes, pebbles, and mud are wondrous materials, both in their own right and in what can be done with them. Magic encompasses many fascinating things that we do not understand. We do not know how or why they are happening. Science differs in that it also includes many fascinating things, but we at least have an idea as to how or why they occur. The important point is what they have in common: fascination. If something is not fascinating, it is not really science. Unfortunately, our young children are exposed to many things that are not fascinating but are nonetheless called science. In this regard, something is wrong with our elementary school education. The youths that enter our schools have a positive attitude toward science, but it is gone when they leave the same institutions. It's not as if the schools are failing to create budding scientists. No one could fault them for that. The scandal is much worse. Educators take children who demand "Why?" and "How?"--who poke and drop and squeeze like the most exuberant experimenters--and turn them off from science completely and irreversibly. By third grade, half of all students don't like science; by eighth grade, 80 percent dislike it.3 It is no surprise that "most students have no confidence that they themselves can make sense of a subject like chemistry."4 A survey, carried out by Bayer Corp. and reported in the newsletter of the National Science Teachers Association, found that nearly three-fourths of the nation's elementary school teachers felt that there should be an increase in the "emphasis on science education, especially in hands-on teaching methods," yet two-thirds of the teachers did not consider themselves to be scientifically literate. They also felt that science was the subject they were least qualified to teach.5 Far too much elementary science education consists of reading, doing worksheets, and memorizing facts. As Jules Henri Poincare said: "Just as houses are made of stone, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science." The problems in science education extend through all levels. The boring memorization of facts increases as students move to higher grades. For example, "... more new terms are introduced in a typical high school biology text than in the first two years of a foreign language ...."6 Several factors are necessary for proper science education. Clearly, the content must be valid, but that alone does not suffice. It must spark interest and encourage curiosity, which requires sincere interest on the part of the teacher. Science education should relate to the students' everyday environment, and it should develop and hone a set of specific skills. These skills--such as observation, measurement, and classification--can, in turn, be applied to all school subjects. Science includes a level of skepticism. "Stated facts" should not be simply accepted--they should, whenever possible, be confirmed by experimentation. Students therefore need to learn science through a hands-on approach--doing an organized, selected set of activities that allow them to conceptualize ideas by observation and by recognizing patterns. They need to develop an interest in and curiosity about the world that surrounds them. These are the objectives of the Little Scientists® program. Children are far more eager to learn when they are having fun. As Claudia Shuster, a professor of education at Central Connecticut State University, said: "...children learn best by doing."7 Little Scientists is a hands-on approach to teaching science to children as young as three years old. Every lesson includes a hands-on, take-home project and a course booklet, plus a series of experiments on a specific topic performed by the young children. More than 60 such lesson plans exist. Heidi Gold-Dworkin has developed the curriculum, in collaboration with science and early childhood educators. Gold-Dworkin holds a doctorate in molecular biology from Yale University, where she worked with Sidney Altman, winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Gold-Dworkin left Yale to raise a family. She sought science education programs for young children when her elder daughter began asking questions such as, "Why is the sky blue?" and, "Why do leaves change color in the fall?" Finding none, she informally began instructing her daughter and several other young children, referring to them as "Little Scientists." This went on for a few years, until she and a childhood friend, also a mother of young children, shared a vision to bring this hands-on concept to a larger audience. Little Scientists was born in January 1995 and has been meeting this need, creating a strong, positive foundation in elementary science education. Scientists, reflecting on their childhoods, know that the key to building the desired skills [to think, reason, and analyze problems and find solutions] is the children's natural curiosity about the world around them. That curiosity leads children to experiment and find out how things work. Students love the opportunity to perform experiments, not just read about science in a book. Of course, that means getting their hands wet, or even dirty, during school time. It means needing some materials, such as eyedroppers, magnets, and magnifying glasses. To get going with this hands-on approach to science, educators must grapple with how to organize classrooms and train teachers so that even the youngest schoolchildren get a chance to experience science.8 I wholeheartedly agree with this, based on first-hand experience. As an undergraduate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I found myself participating in a four-year experiment in science education. During that period, physics was taught in a purely theoretical manner--there were lectures, problem sets, and recitation classes, but there were no labs. Ignoring the school motto ("Mens et Manus"--"mind and hand"), everything had to be envisioned solely within our minds. The deletion of working with our hands proved to be a disaster! Hands-on experimentation is necessary if students are to correctly conceptualize ideas. This is equally true in teaching science in college, high school, elementary school, and preschool. The educational budget must include funds for lab equipment and supplies. It is also necessary for the teachers to be competent in and comfortable with science. On the elementary level, this is all too often lacking. Educators agree on the fundamental goal of elementary school science: to develop the ability to think scientifically, to theorize, test, and draw conclusions. Educators are also saying there is only one sure way to teach this: through a hands-on approach .... One of the obstacles to hands-on science, however, is teachers themselves. Elementary school teachers usually spend their college years learning the art of teaching, not the subject of science .... "A lot of teachers are resisting the idea of hands-on science because they are used to textbooks," said Marietta Benedetto, a science coordinator for School District 6 in Manhattan. "It's hard for them to realize that science is not static ...."9 Little Scientists uses a variety of approaches to reach young children. One method is to set up enrichment classes. These classes are 45 minutes in length and usually run for eight consecutive weeks. Every week, a trained Little Scientists instructor teaches a different lesson to small groups of students. The results are dramatic. These children look forward to their science classes. They repeat experiments at home, teaching their siblings and parents. The same classes are also carried out in schools, often funded by corporate giving. Efforts are also directed at modifying how science is taught in elementary schools. Little Scientists lessons are available for incorporation into schools in kindergarten though second grade. Each unit consists of four lessons on a basic concept. Little Scientists supplies the material and provides a teacher for the first lesson; staff development workshops are then held in the schools, teaching the elementary school teachers how to teach the successive three lessons. It is important to remember that teachers need the same level of interest and curiosity as children if the program is to be successful. Therefore, the staff development must also be carried out in the same hands-on manner--not only to train the teachers how to teach the students, but to spark their interest so that they will enjoy incorporating hands-on science into their curriculum. Since this company started operating programs in Connecticut almost four years ago, the demand for this change has increased, and now Little Scientists is franchising its concept. Franchises now operate in nine other states. We live in a scientific and technological world. There is a need for everyone to understand and be comfortable with what is going on around them. Science should be a natural, rewarding part of elementary education. "...[S]cience is one of the few subjects that every child can succeed at. A hands-on science approach ... allows all students, regardless of ability, the opportunity to participate and be a vital part of the science [program]."10 Avi Ornstein is educational director of Little Scientists. Web site: www.little-scientists.com. J. Gleick, Genius--The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, New York, Vintage Books, 1992. A. Ornstein, Avi, "Elementary Education Ambassadors," Journal of Chemical Education, 71:500-1, June 1994. S. Begley, Sharon, "Rx for Learning," Newsweek, April 9, 1990, pp. 55-64. G.M. Barrow, "An Essential Recognition: Two Valid Introductory Chemistries," Journal of Chemical Education, 74:11545. Oct. 1997. NSTA Reports, July 1995. K.C. Cole, "Science Under Scrutiny," New York Times, Jan. 7, 1990. The Herald, New Britain, Conn., July 28, 1995. M. McArthur, Hartford Courant, Op-ed article, July 25, 1995. J. Elder, "Hands On," New York Times, Jan. 7, 1990. Science Education, Nov. 1992.

Early Science Education Should Be Innovative And Hands-On

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