What students have taught me about grade school science.

The Survey

I teach high school science in Chippewa Valley Schools, on the Dakota campus.  I had six discussions with my students this week, one in each section, and I'd like to share what these discussions have taught me about 1.) How students understand science to work, 2.) How students feel about science, and 3.) How most grade school teachers seem to be teaching science.

I am utterly stunned at what they told me.

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I greased the gears of discussion with an anonymous student survey using SmartResponse clickers, which allow me to instantly collect and display student input.  I asked students a dozen questions about how they think science works and what they think about science, let them respond, then went back through and used their input to have a discussion about each question.  I let them respond either "agree," "somewhat agree," "somewhat disagree," and "disagree;" that way they had to choose a non-neutral response.  Along the way I was inclined to ask them about their previous science teachers.  The questions I asked are below.

1. Science is complete.
2. There is a single scientific method that all scientists use.
3. Science is boring.
4. Not all scientific questions must be answered by experiment.
5. Science is important in my life.
6. I'm no good at science.
7. An experiment is any time you do something without knowing what the result will be.
8. Scientific conclusions don't really change over time.
9. Science is a collection of facts.
10. If a study does not reach a firm conclusion, it was not a good study.
11. A theory is a vague scientific idea that doesn't have any strong evidence.
12. Creativity is important in science.

I'll point out a few of the most important things I learned with this exercise.  As an educator, I think some are encouraging, but others are, well, disturbing.

The Results

1.) Very few students consider science to be complete, because "then there would be no questions left," and "there would be no point to science," and "every time we learn something, it opens new questions."  This are all, I think, common-sense responses.

2.) Disappointingly, about 75% of students agreed that there is only one scientific method, and here is why: Science educators teach "the scientific method," and that little article "the" causes a lot of misunderstandings.  Although scientists have common habits of mind, ways of thinking and asking questions, ways of investigating, and ways of analyzing, they really use a wide array of methods.  For instance, an experiment is not always necessary to do science.  Scientists also frequently backtrack and start over at an earlier point in the scientific sequence when they encounter problems.  Science educators should be teaching "scientific methods," not "the scientific method."

3.) About 20% of my freshman agreed that science is boring, and I asked why.  Here is what they said: "The only science I've ever done was in worksheets and from the book," and "I never learned how to do science."  When I asked how many students have mostly experienced science through worksheets, nearly every single student raised their hand.  I was at first so appalled at this that I almost lost my place in the lesson.

4.) and 5.) Most students agreed with these.

6.) This one really struck me to the heart, because about a third of students agreed that they are no good at science.  Whether or not it is true (it may be), I used this to make an important point.  Musicians: The first time you played the guitar, or the piano, or the oboe, or harp, or harmonium, were you "good at it"?  It took me months and months of work and some degree of persistent discipline just to be able to honestly say "I play guitar."  It is much the same with science.  I told my students, "When you walk out of here in June, you will be able to do things that you never imagined you could do.  You will feel so powerful because of what you can do.  That's what science is: Power."  The moment of reflective silence that followed almost made the air tingle.

7.) Most students agreed with this, but we just discussed the definition of an experiment: A way to test an explanation about the world.

8.), 9.), and 10.) These ones are common misconceptions, but most students disagreed with them.

11.) I was shocked when 70% of my fifth hour agreed that a theory is an idea without any strong evidence.  I pointed out that, strictly speaking, the existence of atoms is a theoretical conjecture.  

"Do you believe in atoms?"  

"Of course."  

"But atoms are only a theory."  

"But they definitely exist!"  

"So a theory is more than just a vague guess."

12.) Some students suggested that in order to do science, you have to be able to use your imagination to come up with experiments or ways to analyze data.  I was happy to see that most students recognized that not only artists, musicians, poets, and dancers need to be creative in their jobs.  "Creativity" can become manifest in other areas.

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What does this mean for young people?

The most disturbing and appalling thing I learned here is that many students had no idea that it was possible for them to "do science."  When I discussed the RAIL Project with them, one of them honestly said, "Wait, you mean that we are actually going outside to do work?  I didn't know that you could do science outside."

What does this say about grade school science teachers?  It means that their students are not doing science.  Their students are doing worksheets and memorizing definitions instead of creating knowledge.  It means that educators in the lower grades are failing their students by cramming science into a tiny, dry box instead of opening students to the world.  It means that American teachers have efficiently produced a generation of young people who have negative emotional associations with science and a feeling of helplessness in the face of scientific challenges.  It means that millions and millions of young, bright people are falsely convinced that they are no good at science, that science is boring, and that theories are only guesses.*

On a bright note, there are positives for my classroom.

It means that students are walking into my class exposed to a brand-new outlook on science.  It means that the veil is falling from their eyes, and they are experiencing an open-mindedness toward physical reality that was once closed by the narrow halls of elementary and middle school science wings.  It means that they will start reading books like Survival of the Sickest and Why Evolution is True, Your Inner Fish and A Sand County Almanac, The Hot Zone, Silent Spring, Sibley's Field Guide to Birds.  It means that some of them will choose to be scientists.  It means they will do science instead of having me do it for them.  It means they will ask their own questions, not just answer mine.

Give them the rules and they will play the game.  Give them a blank board and they will create their own.

*Of course, not all grade school teachers are responsible for this, and I don't mean to paint with too broad a brush.  My cooperating teacher at Allendale, Keith Piccard, is doing incredible things with his sixth-graders and his own RAIL Project.  I consider him the ideal and model of exactly what a grade school science teacher should be.