U.S. Science Lessons Focus More on Activities, Less on Content, Study Shows

The National Center for Educational Statistics, part of the Department of Education just released a the video study Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in which they report that U.S. Science Lessons Focus More on Activities, Less on Content, Study Shows. In part the Department of Education states:

In the United States, lessons kept students busy on a variety of activities such as hands-on work, small group discussions, and other "motivational" activities such as games, role-playing, physical movement, and puzzles. The various activities, however, were not typically connected to the development of science content ideas. More than a quarter of the U.S. lessons were focused almost completely on carrying out the activity as opposed to learning a specific idea.

My question is simply this, if teachers are focusing on hands-on scientific activities why are the 8th grade students not learning specific ideas. If an activity is authentic then it focuses on value to the student, academic rigor, and has an audience beyond that of the teacher. Perhaps the activities viewed by the Department of Education researchers were not rigorous, or lacked value to the student, or had the teacher as the sole audience, and if they were not that is something that needs to be addressed. But, the 2003 TIMSS findings state clearly that:

In 2003, U.S. eighth-graders exceeded the international average in mathematics and science. U.S. eighth-graders outperformed their peers in 25 countries in mathematics and 32 countries in science.

According to the table below, the international average score of 473 is far lower than the US average science score in 8th Grade of 527. The fact that only 8 countries scored higher than the US on average score with the highest score only 51 points greater than the US average score is significant but not for the reasons you might think. There are many explanations for such a differential including the basic fact that the US tests a more diverse population than do any of the other nations listed on this survey. This means that the US mean score should be slightly lower than the scores of other countries that test a less diverse population. The US also tests far more of its population per 100 students than the other nations listed so that the universe of testing populations are not comparable. It is as if apples are being compared to oranges.

The problem I have with the way the government reports these data is that it is made to appear as if there is a crisis in American education that simply does not exist. See David Berliner's book, The Manufactured Crisis for a detailed account of how the statistics of studies like the TIMSS are made to appear as if a crisis mode exists when, in fact, there is a great deal to be pleased about in the American educational system. It is easy to lie with statistics, to mislead the public. I am not suprised that the Department of Education misrepresents their findings in headline grabbing fashion.

Zoundry

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