AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > October > 15
Monday, October 15, 2007
Science Education: Another ‘Inconvenient Truth’?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After Al Gore Jr. won part of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, I decided to rent the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which features the former vice president.
Watching Gore’s presentation on the possible causes and effects of global warming took me right back to seventh-grade science class — not a happy place.
Science was absolutely my worst subject as a student; I never had a science teacher who was good at teaching — which is why I learned nada in seventh-grade science.
In Georgia last spring, 22 percent of high school juniors failed to pass the science portion of the state-mandated graduation test — far more than the failure rates on the other subject exams, including math, which only 5 percent flubbed on their first attempt.
Ironically, performance on the high school End of Course Tests — which, as the title implies, are taken immediately after a course is taught — was even worse.
In biology, 42 percent of students flunked the test last spring. In physical science, 38 percent failed.
Read that again. Then ask yourself: How is that possible? Fewer than two-thirds of public school students are able to pass tests in science courses they’ve just completed.
What is wrong with science education today anyway? And is anybody ever going to do anything to fix it?
