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I have one comment and one question about this discussion:
1) (Comment): I agree with Alexis's statement that informal educators should
be involved in education policy. I would also add that we should be involved
with educational research (at least reading it) to inform our involvement
with policy. Alexis noted that teachers might be "dropping the fun, hands-on
stuff to focus more time on test materials and test-taking skills". Although
some of the readers of this list might scoff, I think that one of the best
things we might be able to do, vis-a-vis policy, is to help argue that the
"fun, hands-on stuff" actually helps kids to learn what they "need to"
learn. I haven't seen any empirical evidence to suggest that
inquiry-centered activity (in the classroom or elsewhere) helps kids to
perform better on standardized tests. That might be nice to have. Being
comfortable with such research would require, of course, that the tests
actually assess what the readers of this list would probably say qualifies
as "important". Therein lies another possible policy challenge for us as
informal educators: to provide evidence (or at least use other people's
evidence) to support curriculum and testing decisions that come as close as
possible to supporting a definition of "science literacy" that we can
accept.
2) (Question): For Beryl (and others who have noted that "teachers now have
to justify
the trip and pretty much guarantee that the visit will result in
substantially higher grades"). Do you know of any empirical evidence to
support this idea, or are your data based upon what you hear "informally"
from teachers?
Thanks,
Bill
Bill Watson
Research Assistant, SCALE-uP
The George Washington University
Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Department of Teacher Preparation and Special Education
2134 G St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: (202) 994-1171
Fax: (202) 994-0692
[log in to unmask]
www.gwu.edu/~scale-up
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Alexis Abramo
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 1:25 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: school program numbers
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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I have been doing some informal polling among teachers I know and have
found that in addition to the high cost of transportation, many schools
are also experiencing a reduction in the overall budget, and therefore
have less money to spend on "extras."
Additionally, I believe there are two reasons to blame the No Child Left
Behind legislation.
First, because of NCLB's focus on testing, many teachers are dropping
the fun, hands-on stuff to focus more time on test materials and
test-taking skills.
Second, and maybe more importantly: the focus on testing and meeting a
minimum academic level means that schools must spend more of their
budgets getting every kid up to speed. I wholeheartedly agree that we
need to make sure all students reach a minimum level but there is an
unintended result. Creating academic requirements without providing
financial resources to help reach them means that schools are
transferring their limited resources away from enriching activities for
all students and focusing them on students who need to catch up.
(Witness: the drop off in arts programs, field trips, etc.)
Another good reason why even informal educators should get involved with
educational policy!
Alexis Abramo
Education Program Coordinator
Sciencenter
601 First St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
[log in to unmask]
607-272-0600 ext. 20
[log in to unmask]
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