Effective Science Teaching, Professional Development and No Child Left Behind: Barriers, Dilemmas, and Reality

Excerpt

For more than 40 years, science educators have argued for the need to engage students in doing science, rather than reading about science. However, very few teachers of science have been empowered to teach science as it is conducted in the real world and, instead, settle for teaching science as isolated facts that are to be memorized and recalled for assessment purposes. Inquiry is a luxury, rather than a necessity; many teachers who use it periodically consider it to be in addition to the regular teaching of science, and oftentimes it is used as a reward for students after covering the required material. In fact, inquiry is used very rarely, as most of what teachers consider inquiry is merely no more than having students following discrete directions and using manipulatives to perform a task. Excuses that teachers provide for not using inquiry range from lack of time to prepare and implement inquiry, classroom management issues with allowing students to work together, and the “mess” of having students “do” science (Johnson, 2006). In fact, many teachers in a recent study of a middle school teachers in an urban school district complained that the curriculum modules (Premier Science, Frey Scientific) they had received to use in teaching science were “not user friendly” and were “not completely aligned with our grade-level standards” and, instead, chose to use a lecture and worksheets to teach science (Johnson & Marx, 2006). According to the National Science Education Standards (NSES; National Research Council [NRC], 1996), it is clear that teachers require a great amount of support in order to teach science effectively, including the use of inquiry, cooperative groups, and classroom discourse. …