Are out and as the St Pete Times says...there's A lot of good and a little bad.
We have analyzed the scores school by school, grade by grade, and subject by subject. The common factor is the science scores. The schools that did not fare as well all had low science scores that brought down their overall school grade.
We are not going to make excuses for the bad scores. We are going to focus on science and improve their overall grade.
What are some suggestions teachers, students, and parents have to engage students and get them to love science?
I have been talking to kids, starting with my sons, who both LOVE science. My oldest son who would watch Mythbusters over playing video games any day said "watch Mythbusters...they make science fun". He also said labs are always something he looks forward to. My youngest son echoed his sentiments. Other students I have talked to say reading science fiction books piqued their interest in science.
We are going to get more non-fiction science reading materials in the schools and do some cross curriculum study. After talking with kids I think more science fiction books would also be good.
What do you think we could do to get students interested in science?
Tell me what you think
10 comments:
Well lucky for us we are moving to science teachers teaching 6 out or 7 periods next year. Science is such a hard subject to teach because the only way to get kids interested is by using a hands on approach. Well... guess what.... that takes hours of prep work and its must more difficult to grade! My guess is that these types of activities will go down in many high schools next year because the teachers won't have the time for the extra prepwork and clean up which will further hurt the schools
Mythbusters is great! I watch it myself.
As a former FM radio DJ in the early 70's it took about one hour of prep for every minute of radio "special program" that was taped for broadcast. Commercial production (counting copy writing, editing and production) was about the same. TV requires substantially more.
Cross curricular teaching demands adequate development time and training to do the type of job that will capture and maintain the student's interest.
I just don't believe Ms. Elia's schedule allows teachers or the district the time to address science improvements and innovation.
We could work on getting a laptop for every student to use routinely in classes. Today a laptop is cheaper than the textbooks students rarely bring to classes.
Finally, we would have an answer to students not bringing a pencil and paper to class.
The science FCAT is not a test of science knowledge, it is a test of reading. Students in the failing schools are poor readers. We need to help improve their reading levels, particularly as their is little support at home. Or FCAT allows teachers to read the test to students to test thier scientific knowledge, not their reading levels.
I think the science scores were low in those failing schools but that is not the main issue...has anyone looked into the fact that the four elementary failing schools are all high poverty/minority renaissance schools...they need more than just science help.
Science does not "count" to pass or is a graduation requirement yet. The students do not try their best because of this. It is a shame the state uses it for grading schools and not hold the students accountable, too. Just compare the students' reading scores and science. As anonymous said it is a reading test.
I am in total agreement with Goader about technology and giving out textbooks being a thing of the past. The lack of prep time for high school teachers will have a huge impact, as mentioned.
High school science FCAT pesents its greatest challenge in the fact that the test does not count for the student. When I administered the science FCAT to juniors this year, I watched as many of them finished the test sections within 30-35 minutes. Some of them even put their heads down and did not take the test.
What can we do to create personal buy-in? Some schools gave incentives, as was documented by newspapers around the state and nation. Not every school has the dollars to offer those incentives.
Start requiring the science FCAT for graduation, and fund science education properly. As for laptops for students, hah. Can you imagine how many of those will get "lost", or wind up broken and full of spyware because some bozo in purchasing gets a bulk deal on Windows and has to take it because they're given a mandate to cut costs without regard to quality?
It would be cheaper to just print our own textbooks from CD-ROMs and bind them in AccoPress binders. You might wind up with textbooks that are actually textbooks instead of those paper bricks chock-full of cutesy illustrations (to the point where they look like Las Vegas on paper).
Getting students to love science requires teachers who have time to prepare really cool lesson plans. Unfortunately, this district is cutting teachers and the time they have to prepare for those lessons.
Challenge your fellow board members to clear a week of their time and spend it with a high school science teacher. Not a day. Not a few periods. A whole week.
Then they'll finally realize that Mrs. Elia's scheduling change is a huge mistake.
I predict FCAT scores will decrease next year based on everything that's being done on her watch. I hope I'm wrong, but teachers who are burned out in October won't be of much help in trying to raise FCAT scores.
On another note, Sisyphus got it right. The kids absolutely know the test has no meaning to them personally, and many take the test with that in mind. This is why our educational leaders are clueless. Any teacher will tell you that if there's no consequence, the kids will simply bubble in anything just to get through it quickly.
echo to Jim's comment:
High stakes testing has further removed the student from any since of self gratification. It is now about the school grade, the Principal's job, the bonus for the school's teachers, ,money to the District that is skimmed from the top, the money for the Superintendent's bonus, etc.
Student's are being prostituted - "get a good night's rest, eat a good breakfast and do well on the test".... for who?
Why not face the reality that "high stakes testing" is more about "high stakes finances" than a means to end of improved education.
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