GraniteGrok

I'm going to disagree here. Hands on science is the only REAL kind of science there is. Science in the proper sense of the word is EMPIRICAL and then CRITICAL/ANALYTICAL in that order. Maybe the test is measuring the wrong thing. I think if we just teach kids the scientific METHOD and the scientific MINDSET then they can research for themselves at their leisure whatever scientific facts they may happen to need in their various chosen walks of life. But here's the real payoff: they'll be qualified to judge for themselves what's real science and what's pseudoscience. This way they'll never be taken in by scams such as man made global warming or Marxist economic theory. The trouble with people today is they don't know what science IS.

Hands on science leaves too many gaps. (I should know) The kids have a ball but do they learn anything? They need some direct instruction as well. I think the objection is, they are teaching the politics of science and not the substance of it, that's the objection. Also one of the things not discussed but was in my notes was the ONE Campaign. I was recently appalled to see this on a poster in a high school I recently visited. Why? suggest sending money to Africa? Senator Obama has his Global Poverty Act which would remove $850 BILLION for this purpose. I think this is just redistribution of the wealth across nations. In any case it's POLITICAL, because it depends on legislation. They round up the kids and get them all hepped up about this. And now they are doing it in our schools? How can we allow this type of thing to be promoted in our PUBLIC SCHOOLS? For one thing, our kids don't deserve to be used as political pawns for leftist causes and secondly, where is the OPPOSING VIEW? How about I put up a campaign poster to get us out of the UN? Think it would fly? I'd like to see them let us in to promote that.... you bet it would not be allowed. It's disgusting and the sooner parents realize this is what is going on in the schools, they will see why academics are suffering.

I think one lab a week is best. Students educated in this fashion-- heavy classroom backed up with a lab-- grew up and won the cold war. In the new era, what will our students grow up to do? All become gays? Learn proper surrender etiquette? Learn how to have sex before first grade? Learn the Koran? Chinese? Learn to love public transportation and some "dear leader"?

Even if you do a scientific experiment, you need SOME basic knowledge that should be taught directly with demonstrative support. Small kids don't have that knowledge yet. That is the problem -- everything is the constructivist methodology -- a kid is supposed to sit around in collaborative groups with manipulatives and materials, and "construct" his own knowledge (math, science, reading) and if he doesn't get it, he's out of luck. This is what I was talking about Sat AM. It's the shot gun approach and it has failed. I prefer the bullseye approach and to hit the target! Then test it to see if it stuck! And that poster in the high school -- really haunts me. WHAT RIGHT DO THEY HAVE TO DO THIS???? I feel like calling up and asking if I can put up an opposing political view but I don't live in that town.

Some well intentioned people over the years have tried to improve on education, only to find out after years of academic suffering, that their theories didn't work. Unfortunately the kids always suffer in these circumstances. In reading, kids start out by learning the sounds the letters make. Eventually they put those letters and sounds together to form a word that they can read. Some words, kids had to learn by simply memorizing because the word couldn't be deciphered through phonetic awareness. Somewhere along the way, someone decided to throw out phonics and replace it with whole language. This proved to be a huge failure and of course the kids suffered. In science, kids, years ago, learned science out of a text book along with direct instruction from their teacher. As they got into high school, some of the classes required lab work, but the majority of the learning was done from the instruction from the teacher and from the old fashioned text book. Sure kids would sometimes do science experiments or projects or maybe the teacher had a "model" of the planets that kids could see to help them better understand what they were learning, but this was the standard classroom setting. There was a nice balance of instruction and additional materials to make it easier to understand and allow for participation from the student in the learning process. The question is, what IS "Hands on Science" and what does that mean? In theory it doesn't sound so bad. Get the kids involved and they will learn along the way. Unfortunately again, in practice it's not working out that way. Many classrooms that have embraced this "Hands on Science" approach have eliminated text books all together. When there is no textbook and structured reading with instruction from the teacher and a lack of memorizing basics and the core knowledge of science is missing. Scientists will tell you that reading is critical for scientists and kids are better prepared through traditional textbooks along with direct instruction from the teacher. An Assistant Prof. from Calif. State Univ. testified to this fact during a congressional investigation. In a March 2000 issue of School Reform News, Prof. Metzenberg said..."Reading for understanding is the core process skill of science, and there is no substitute for practice at an early age. A student who has not developed the skill of learning through reading has no professional future in science."Heartland Institute - Article Often times the hands on curriculum covers far fewer topics that would be covered in a traditional text book. The Hands on Curriculum focuses little on kids absorbing scientific facts and attempts to get them to "think" like scientists by coming up with theories, observing and forming questions. However, elementary science tends to be the teacher's weakest subject. There is also a "cost" factor. The science kits tend to be less expensive than replacing textbooks. It also takes double the time to do lab work required in the kit compared to reading a chapter in the text and answering questions. Over time the students can fall further and further behind. You will find some teachers and kids who like this approach to learning science, however it seems to me the most logical approach isn't to completely abandon what we know worked decades ago, but to hold tight to those proven practices and ONLY improve upon them by adding material that we know for a known fact, improves a child's knowledge. It doesn't do kids a lot of good, to continually use them as guinea pigs in these kinds of experiments.

Hands on science was developed in the early 1990's in response to big businesses who took over our public school system about that time by infiltrating state legislatures in every state. Their expressed concern was that they felt like "people couldn't get along in teams and they needed to be taught how in public schools." Of course the agenda of big business is the same as our government's agenda: dumb down 85% of our students so that they will become malleable worker bees who will do as they are told, be able to stick Part A to Part B and not complain about low wages. Once you understand the agenda, then all this nonsense that goes on in public schools makes perfect sense--even though it is nonsense. Read my articles on the Business Roundtable and Outcome Based Education on Mary's Corner at www.katycitizens.org if you don't understand the deal. Here is an article I wrote specifically about the science program in my local school district: Wondering Why Your Child Cannot Excel In Math & Science? By Mary McGarr Our President’s recent call to improve math and science education rings hollow. He suggests that more students need to meet high standards in those subject areas. Of course we would all like for students to meet “high standards” and “high expectations” in math and science. Therein lies the problem. Standards that have been set for math and science by national professional teachers' organizations are not really that high. In fact they have been deliberately dumbed down in an effort to be inclusive of all children’s abilities, obfuscated so that they are truly unclear, and then set out in a public way to give them credibility. Such maneuvers smack of fascism. The “standards” that the President alludes to are not benchmarks of any quality at all. In fact, these standards cause students to slip through their learning years without substantive science and math educations. John Saxon was an educator who recognized the “standards movement” for what it was. Mr. Saxon was a retired military officer who, when he resigned from the service, went to work as a teacher of algebra. What he saw in the school room were corrupted texts, phony curricula, and students not learning true algebra. He set out to correct the situation by creating his own texts founding the Saxon Publishing Company. His signal article, “The Coming Disaster in Science Education in America,” set forth his predictions of the dire consequences portended by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards. He could see that the country was sliding into the precipice of stupid math practices. Mr. Saxon saw it coming and tried to warn us. No one paid attention. Of note is that fact that at the invitation of George Scott, editor of The Katy News, Mr. Saxon, came to the Katy ISD (Texas) on his own nickel and appeared before the School Board. He offered at his own expense to provide Saxon math textbooks for one high school and one junior high, if the district would accept them on a trial basis and use them for a year. The school board treated him very rudely at the meeting. I was appalled at their behavior, but it was typical. None of them at the time were willing to listen to factual information about what was transpiring right under their noses. Mr. Saxon warned them of the poor math practices, but they chose to ignore him. Mr. Saxon passed away before his predictions became widely accepted and realized, but his legacy remains. He was a man who stood up to the education establishment and pointed out their flawed thinking. If you want to know why your child cannot excel in science or math, please read his article, “The Coming Disaster in Science Education in America.” (www.katycitizens.com) The Katy ISD adopted many years ago “hands on science and math curricula” for its students. The failure of such curricula should tell parents that change needs to occur. Footnote: Katy ISD received a merely Acceptable TAKS rating last year because that was the first year that testing on science occurred, and for the first time, there was empirical evidence that the "hand's on" science program had failed miserably. Parents need to know that the translation for "hand's on science" is that the teacher and the students get to play like they are scientists by performing "experiments." Every parent usually needs two hands to count the number of times their child has created a popsicle stick crate for a raw egg and dropped it safely (or not) out of the second floor school window, or perhaps built a boat out of cardboard that may (or may not) get them across the school swimming pool. The absurdity of it all is overwhelming. Parents need to pay attention and start demanding true academic course work and a return to ability grouping. Seventy-five percent of our students are wasting their minds and their time in public schools.

I highly recommend this website and Mary's writings. www.katycitizens.com It is very rare that you find teachers trained in this sort of teaching who will go against it, unless like myself, they have done their homework politically to understand WHY they are being made to do it.