Long-Neglected Science On Rise at Prep Schools

By David J. Hoff

Andover, Mass.

The red brick that will cover the new science building here will blend in with the Georgian Revival architecture that dominates the heart of the verdant Phillips Academy campus.

But the lessons and experiments that will happen inside the building's classrooms will be a symbol that this 224-year-old prep school, and others like it, are entering a new era in which science will be a higher priority in the curriculum, private school educators and observers say.

One prominent historian has called the subject "the most neglected" part of...