To the Editor:
I was thrilled to read in “Schools Integrate Dance Into Core Academics” (Education Week, Nov. 17, 2010) that the arts, and dance in particular, are returning to elementary classrooms. However, I question the wisdom of the study of photosynthesis in 2nd grade, when such an abstract concept is not understood but memorized.
When there is so much place-based science that can be experienced directly, why go to the molecular level?
Louise Shive
Assistant Professor of Education
Muhlenberg College
Allentown, Pa.
