Teachers Feel Unqualified And Unprepared To Teach Science

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than two-thirds of the nation's elementary school teachers feel that schools should increase their current emphasis on science education, with a particular push toward hands-on education methods, according to results of a recent survey assessing science education by Bayer.

However, according to the survey, most of our nation's elementary school teachers do not consider themselves to be scientifically literate -- and most ranked science as the subject they felt least qualified to teach.

"The Bayer Facts of Science Education," survey undertaken in 1995 in cooperation with the National Science Foundation's National Science and Technology Week, gauged the views of 1,000 parents and 1,000 elementary school teachers on how well they believe science is being taught in the nation's elementary schools.

Teachers Feel Least Qualified Teaching Science
According to the survey, only 36 percent of teachers and 32 percent of parents consider themselves "science literate," meaning they can "understand stories about science on TV and magazines." And while 86 percent of teachers felt very qualified to teach English, only 56 percent said they felt qualified to teach science.

This supports findings from similar surveys undertaken over the last several years. The most recent, completed in March of this year by Horizon Research and funded by the National Science Foundation, showed that only 28 percent of elementary school teachers considered themselves to be "qualified" to teach science.

Kids Losing Interest In Science
In the Bayer Facts survey, nearly 70 percent of parents say they strongly believe that science education is important. But only 21 percent say the way it is presently taught -- through textbooks and memorization -- is "interesting, creative and exciting."

"No wonder 50 percent of all children get turned off to science by third grade," said Dr. Richard L. White, Executive Vice President, Bayer. "And unless we reach out to these kids now, while they are ripe for reaching out to, then we may never get them back again."

He said that this stands to undermine our future ability to be a scientifically literate nation, pointing out that American high school students recently ranked 13 out of 15 against other countries, with American teens judged as having the "poorest attitude" toward science of all the students.

Parents & Teachers Differ in Perception, Attitudes
The Bayer Facts of Science Education survey showed deep disparities between the way parents and teachers perceive the state of science education today.

For instance, 96 percent of parents said they would like to help their children more with science education in the home, but only 11 percent of teachers see parents as being very involved in their children's education.

"What we're seeing here is a huge gap between parental expectations and teacher perceptions," White said. "It's obvious that everyone wants the same things for our children. They just have to agree on how to go about it."

Hands-On Activities Should Be Stepped Up
Teachers overwhelmingly agree (77 percent) that hands-on activities should be stepped up in the classroom. Yet, half say that they are not effectively trained in using the materials. Other obstacles to utilizing hands-on methods in the curriculum include lack of materials and lack of time.

"Given that the vast majority of teachers do indeed recognize the need to increase and improve the level of science education, we must do what we can to improve their comfort level with the subject," White said.

"And given that nearly every one of the parents surveyed wants to help their kids learn science in the home, then we must begin to show them how."

"After all," he said, "a child's first exposure to science education is in the home."

Parents Can Help Kids At Home With Science
White said that Bayer is making available to parents across the country a Making Science Make Sense Parent's Experiment Guide, containing fun and instructional chemistry and biology experiments. Parents and children will also learn the basics of good nutrition through a growth chart that allows kids to monitor changes in their development, while providing practical information on healthy eating habits. To receive a free copy of the guide, parents may send a 64-cent stamped, self-addressed envelope to:

Bayer is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences, chemicals and imaging technologies. The company had 1995 sales of $8 billion with a net income of $227.5 million and employs 23,500 people. Capital expenditures for 1995 totaled $570 million, and $526 million was spent for research and development. Bayer, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $31 billion chemical and pharmaceutical company based in Leverkusen, Germany.

The Bayer Facts of Science Education survey was conducted by Research Communications, Ltd., Dedham, Massachusetts.


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