Across the country, lawmakers and educators are ratcheting up secondary and post-secondary science programs in an effort to keep America competitive in the global economy.
But in a recent Education Week Commentary, Harold Pratt argues that these reforms will not work unless elementary school science offerings are improved as well. Students should not—and cannot—be expected to catch up on science once they reach middle school, he says, and science educators should take advantage of reaching students when they are “most open, most curious, and most naturally disposed to asking questions about the world around them.”
What do you think? Is too little thought being given to science instruction in elementary school? How should science education be restructured?