Science education requires longers school day?

It’s certainly tough to fit all of the mandated academic subjects into the usual elementary school day. Unfortunately, that means that some important subjects are cast aside to make room. Science is one of those unfortunate victims. In order to expose kids to science, the school day has to be extended.

The report from the National Center on Time & Learning in Boston presents case studies of five schools that serve large numbers of children from low-income families, including the two in Volusia. All of them have carved out extra time for science instruction by offering longer school days.

That’s a promising approach, the report concludes, at a time when science instruction time has been reduced in many of the nation’s elementary schools because of the need to emphasize the reading and math achievement that’s measured under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

A 2008 national survey found elementary schools had decreased science instructional time by an average of 75 minutes a week, a 33 percent decline since the federal law took effect in 2002, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the report points to American students’ relatively low proficiency rates on national and international tests of science achievement.

You can read the full report this article was based on here.

About Brandon Haught

Communications Director for Florida Citizens for Science.
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