Science is not taught, or at least not taught effectively, in many elementary schools. This deficiency robs children of a part of the curriculum that can open a whole new world. It also deprives them of chances to explore, create, hypothesize, manipulate materials, and predict. In visiting elementary teachers from a three-state area, I found that one of the factors preventing the teaching of science is that many teachers are frightened by science; they feel they have an insufficient background for teaching science. The teachers are aware of the tremendous advances in both science content and process in recent years, and they feel inadequately prepared in both areas. Thus, they concentrate on other curriculum areas that they know best. Certainly, other factors, too, preclude effective science teaching in the elementary school; these include lack of money and equipment, inadequate space, administrative and public appeals to stick to the basics and time constraints. However, fear of science is a significant factor in keeping of science out of the elementary school curriculum. To help teachers in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming overcome such fears, the Science and Math Division at Black Hills State College offered a series of 13 minicourses during the summers of 1978 and 1979. The classes were designed for elementary teachers, but others were welcome. The courses offered during the summer of 1978, which I taught, included the following: Aquatic Biology, Population Biology, Human Genetics, Environmental Education, and Science Tools andTechniques. A follow-up study indicated that teachers were interested in more physical science courses. So, in the summer of 1978 my colleague, Everett Follette, taught Basic Geology, Beginning Electricity, and Using Astronomy in the Elementary Classroom. In addition, I taught new minicourses in Basic Botany, Basic Anatomy and Physiology, and How to Know the Insects, as well as Aquatic Biology and Environmental Education. Each of the minicourses required three consecutive afternoons or evenings for five hours-the equivalent of one semester-hour of lecture time. Each week we offered a different minicourse; the sessions lasted five weeks the first summer and eight weeks the second summer. The classes featured lectures by the instructors, handson laboratory activities, and field studies. Content was emphasized in the courses. However, we included activities appropriate for grade school children in each course, and devoted some time to the processes of science-observing, inferring, classifying, and predicting-as well. A short quiz was given the last day of each course. To give readers a clearer idea of the design of the minicourses, I will briefly describe two. In the Aquatic Biology minicourse we sampled aquatic insects in Spearfish Creek at sites above and below the town. The teachers classified the insects, weighed and counted each order, and compared the numbers of pollution sensitive insects collected at the two sites. They also identified insects, studied algae, and compared aquatic life in a stream with life in a pond. (Two area elementary teachers have repeated these activities with their fifth grade students.) The Environmental Education class frequently met outdoors. Participants used dichotomous keys for trees and wild flowers. We discussed concepts such as producers, consumers, scavengers, food chains, food webs, and food pyramids and then applied this knowledge to studying aquatic and wooded environments. Later, the teachers visited a campus orchard and developed activities appropriate for elementary students. The teachers also toured a local nature trail developed by the Youth Conservation Corps as a model for establishing a nature trail near their respective schools. The minicourses followed the same general format, but they each varied according to content. For example, the Astronomy minicourse met at night, the Botany and Geology courses involved field trips into the Black Hills for the observation and study of flowers and rocks; the Anatomy and Physiology course featured the dissection of freshly pithed frogs, the microscopic observation of blood moving in the capillaries, arterioles and venuoles of a goldfish tail and the study of the effects of various chemicals on a beating daphnia heart; and the Human Genetics course included discussions and problem-solving activities in-
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Jan 1, 1981
J E Lloyd + 2
Open Access
