Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Students in Linda Snider's fourth-grade class at Argonaut School in Saratoga perform an experiment about density. Schools in the Saratoga Union School District have established programs to help students meet new state science standards.
Students are starting early with scientific questioning
By Rebecca Ray
Next year, students in the Saratoga Union School District may learn about the periodic table of elements in third grade. But the district won't expect third-graders to memorize the table and perform levels of abstraction for which their brains aren't yet wired--students will simply learn about the concepts of atoms, molecules and the table, and will then learn more about them when they reach fifth grade and then middle school, district differentiation specialist Nancy Coleman said.
Saratoga Union School District has an inquiry-based science program that district officials hope will help students meet the new science standards that the state adopted this year. The state expects students in all grade levels, starting in kindergarten, to meet standards in investigation and experimentation in earth, physical and life sciences: while kindergartners are expected to master the skill of observation, fifth-graders are expected to understand the entire scientific process.
"I think [the inquiry-based curriculum] is fantastic. It really feeds into the way students learn best," said Helen Sullivan, principal of Foothill Elementary School.
Children love to inquire about the way the world works, and an inquiry-based curriculum provides direction for their inquiry, Coleman said. District officials hope that through hands-on manipulation and experimentation, students will not only construct a deep understanding of important concepts, but will develop a love for science. SUSD superintendent Mary Gardner would like to see students devise ways to answer their own questions while meeting state standards, Coleman said.
This year, the district is piloting a book series from Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt Brace and McGraw-Hill, which the state board of education has approved, in grades K-8. Each publisher provides kits that contain materials for performing experiments with the books. Although the book series is new, the inquiry-based methodology has been in effect in all four of the district schools.
The district science committee consists of Coleman, who chairs the committee, Assistant District Superintendent Louise Levy, Saratoga School Principal Marybarbara Zorio, Argonaut Science Aide Vicki DeMartini, District Science Specialist Garth Bacon, Redwood Vice Principal Brian Zobel, Redwood science department teacher Jason Robertson, one parent representative from each elementary school and one teacher from each elementary grade who pilots the book series. It hopes to finish piloting the book series by the end of March and recommend to the district board of directors which publisher or publishers to use by the end of April.
Curriculum materials, as well as Bacon's position and the differentiation specialist position shared by Coleman and GATE coordinator Kathryn Picanco, are funded by the Saratoga Education Foundation and state school improvement plan money.
Not only do district officials hope to develop a love of science in students, but they also hope to develop a love of science in teachers, Levy said. This may seem like a challenge, since, according to Coleman, science isn't the first love of many kindergarten-through-fifth-grade teachers.
But Coleman hopes that through the staff development sessions the district has held, science-shy teachers will become more comfortable teaching science. At one session, constructivist Jacqueline Grennon Brooks, who shares the district's philosophy that children construct their own learning experiences rather than acting as vessels for knowledge to fill, spoke about what inquiry-based science is.
Coleman also hopes that the inquiry-based curriculum will "nurture the scientist in all of them," she said.
The district invites parents to give feedback on the new materials, which will be on display in the district office March. 6-8.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
