By Kirsten Daehler
Think back to learning about science in your early school years. What experiences stand out? What excited you or shut you down? What inspired you to learn more?
I often use these questions to launch professional learning with administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers. Some have exceptionally vivid memories of engaging science at school, from experimenting with pill bugs to blowing something up. But just as many remember reading uninspiring textbooks and answering end-of-chapter questions.
The takeaway from such anecdotes is clear: Good teaching matters, and it’s tough to teach science well. An effective science lesson requires planning engaging activities, navigating tricky science concepts, anticipating and working with students’ preconceptions and misconceptions, and making difficult decisions on the fly. Good teaching is an art-one performed by those with specialized knowledge and skills.
The adoption of new standards in many states-such as the Next Generation Science Standards-adds greater complexities for teachers. These standards shift expectations for how students learn science and often bring significant changes in curriculum and classroom practices. Many science teachers already lack “sufficiently rich experiences” with content in the science discipline they currently teach, according to a 2015 National Academy of Sciences report. This problem is especially significant both at the elementary level and in schools serving predominantly low-income student populations. But the problem is by no means limited to the elementary grades. Currently, two out of every five high schools aren’t offering physics because they don’t have qualified teachers.
The new Every Student Succeeds Act calls for top-notch science teachers for all students. But how can we get there? The key is continuous learning. And the quality of that continuing education matters every bit as much as the duration…
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