Florida Citizens for Science

Thanks to all those who attended the Florida Citizens for Science informal “get together” in Lakeland this afternoon (July 10th) and in particular to Pete Dunkelberg and Kathy Savage who both travelled from Orlando.

Joe Wolf (President of FCS) led the meeting in what turned out to be primarily concerned with the Academic Freedom issue and how best to be prepared if (and when) this canard raises it’s ugly head again in Florida.

It was also decided that the Florida Citizens for Science would be represented at the “Florida Association of Science Teachers” Annual Conference in Orlando this coming October with two lectures.One featuring Debra Walker and the second, a Breakout meeting with myself (Jonathan Smith) and two other members.

In all, a worth while meeting and nice to get together with great people who really care about science education in our State. 

The environmental protection program administrator for Jacksonville, Christi Veleta, is heading to Mexico to dig up fossils. She then wants to bring her experiences back to Florida to show the state’s students how fun and interesting science can be.

It’s a project to better understand prehistoric migration between North America and South America.

Veleta hopes it will provide insights about everything from continental drift to global warming, lessons she can include in the 30 to 50 annual speeches she gives to students and community groups.

And let’s not forget about Amanda Yongue, a student who will be heading to the Svalbard archipelago in a few days.

Meanwhile, Florida teacher Elizabeth Eubanks is already on her Polar Trec trip. You can read her trip journal here.

The Palm Beach Post reports on a study that looked at what influence failing schools’ focus on high-stakes test improvement has on other low-stakes tests. When a school is deemed failing (such as getting an F here in Florida) due to reading and math test results, the staff focuses on those subjects in an effort to bring the school grade up. With so much focus on those all-important tested subjects, do other subjects suffer from neglect? The study says no.

The Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute took a look at Florida fifth graders’ FCAT scores in the 2002-2003 school year. Reading and math FCAT results counted toward schools’ grades whereas science didn’t at that time. (Science scores do count now, though.) The study tracked failing schools’ attempts to improve. Since science didn’t really matter, was that subject brushed aside? The study found that science scores actually improved. As a matter of fact, those failed schools wound up making better gains in science than passed schools. Why?

David Figlio, a professor at the University of Florida, said the focus on reading and math might have spilled over to other subjects as well. If a student can read and do math well, they have a better chance at correctly solving a science problem.

Another possible reason is that after receiving a failing grade a school might institute school-wide reforms, which in turn could have helped science scores, researchers said.

The study can be found here.