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Experts Urge Earlier Start to Teaching Science
Ohanian Comment: "Messing around in science" (David Hawkins) is one thing--and quite wonderful; testing preschoolers on their science skills is entirely another--and quite terrible.
Don't you love the headline: Experts Urge. Plenty of experts urge the opposite.
Passage of the LEARN (sic) Act, which encompassed children's development 0-12, opens the door to administering a battery of skill tests to pregnant women and for those deemed deficient begin baby skill training can begin in the delivery room. The next step will be to institutionalize the baby in a place where skills can be delivered optimally by robots.
Stephen Krashen Comment: Why the frantic push for pre-school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education)?
One rationale is the claim that the US needs to improve STEM education to compete with other countries. In reality, the US is already very competitive, ranking second in the world (out of 133 countries) in "global competitiveness," outranked only by tiny Switzerland (World Competitiveness Report, World Economic Forum), and we have been number one for many years. Also the US ranks 5th out of 133 in "availability of scientists & engineers," second in "quality of scientific research institutions" and first in "university-industry research collaboration."
A second rationale is the claim that there is a shortage of experts in science and technology. But a number of recent studies conclude that there is a surplus. According to Gerald Bracey, "… the impending shortage of scientists and engineers is one of the longest running hoaxes in the country."
Some STEM education supporters acknowledge our leadership in science and technology, but note that American children do not do well on international tests in math and science. But studies have shown that American children in low-poverty schools outscore nearly all other countries on these tests.
U.S. children only fall below the international average when 75 percent or more of the students in a school live in poverty. Studies confirm that hunger, poor diet, a toxic environment, and a lack of reading material seriously affect academic performance. We have so many children who live in poverty that it profoundly affects the average test score: The US has the highest level of childhood poverty of all industrialized countries (25%, compared to Denmark's, 2%). The problem is poverty, not a lack of high-powered science and math instruction.
I'm all for STEM education, but not as a means of conquering the world and dealing with a non-existent crisis. And let's let pre-school be pre-school.
Some sources:
Berliner, D. 2009. Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. http://epicpolicy.org/publication/poverty-and-potential
Bracey, G. 2009. Education Hell: Rhetoric Vs. Reality. Alexandra, VA: Educational Research Service.
Martin, M. 2004. A strange ignorance: The role of lead poisoning in “failing schools.” http://www.azsba.org/lead.htm.
Teitelbaum, M. 2007. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation. Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, November 6, 2007
Payne, K. and Biddle, B. 1999. Poor school funding, child poverty, and mathematics achievement. Educational Researcher 28 (6): 4-13.
Toppo, G. and Vergano, D. 2009. Scientist shortage? Maybe not. USA Today, August 9, 2009
by Debra Viadero
The sand-and-water table in Barry Hoff’s classroom in the Southampton Head Start program on New York’s Long Island, used to be filled with sand on two sides.
But water was restored to the table last month as 16 preschoolers stood around it, dipping and pouring water through tubes and funnels, squeezing it through turkey basters, and learning, in the process, something of what it’s like to think like scientists.
The change in Mr. Hoff’s room, and in a handful of other classrooms like it around the country, stems from growing interest among academic experts and educators in teaching science to preschoolers. . . .
Education Week does not allow posting of articles. Maybe you can read this one by going to url below.
— Debra Viadero, with comment by Stephen Krashen
Education Week
2010-01-13
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/13/18preschool.h29.html?tkn=ZMPFByx8CwQfsU0K3Fzl180lq5MOilgwcka9
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