Schools Cultivating Next Generation of Scientists
Published Apr 16, 2005
Kelli Martin is an education associate for science and environment education at the Delaware Department of Education, which is updating its standards for science classes.
With its nucleus of scientists and engineers, Delaware has taken a strong and lasting interest in nurturing the next generation of science professionals through a public school curriculum that brings learning to life.
A decade ago, the 45-member Science Curriculum Framework Commission developed statewide standards for science education, spearheaded by Delmar Senior High School science teacher Rachel Wood and two DuPont Co. executives. Those standards are being updated to keep pace with rapid developments in the scientific world.
“We’re in the process [in 2005] of revising the science standards,” says Kelli Martin, education associate for science and environment education at the Delaware Department of Education. “So much has happened in the past 10 years. Science is just such an ever-changing field.”
The review team consists of classroom teachers, science specialists from school districts, DOE staff, higher education representatives, legislators, corporate executives and community organizations, Martin says.
“As the standards are revised, so will the curriculum be,” she says. Curriculum based on the new standards could be in place by summer 2007 for Delaware’s 115,000 public school students.
Although the timely update is welcome, the team is enhancing standards that have been a documented success.
Following the standards’ implementation in 1995, the Delaware Science Coalition was formed, with representatives from DOE, 15 state school districts and the business community. The coalition annually conducts more than 200 professional development courses required for science teachers. Instructors also have access to a four-story professional development and materials center in the capital of Dover, Martin says.
Companies in the scientific community, such as DuPont, Agilent Technologies and Verizon, “provide a wonderful support system for us,” Martin says. “Not only are they helping with the standards revision, but Agilent and DuPont made it possible for a team of teachers to go to a national workshop to develop an 11th-grade science curriculum.”
With the standards in place, science learning has become not only “hands-on, but minds-on,” she says.
“Ten years ago, science was taught mainly through a literature-based approach in elementary school,” Martin says. “With the advent of the standards, they tell us not only how science should be taught and how students should be learning science, but the content around that.
“The [achievement testing] scores at the elementary level started to steadily increase. The program slowly grew into the middle school grade levels. Our students were coming out of elementary school with a background of knowledge and skills they had never had before.”
Story by Anne Gillem
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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