Overhauling the H.S. Science Lab

University of Massachusetts > STEM > Overhauling the H.S. Science Lab

UMass Boston Professor Urges Congressional Panel to Support Overhauling the American High School Science Lab

Arthur Eisenkraft, the University of Massachusetts Boston's Distinguished Professor of Science Education, testified before a congressional panel today in support of improving America's high school science laboratories to ensure all high school students can learn through similar hands-on science education experiences. Speaking to members of the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Research and Science Education, Eisenkraft said laboratory experiences remain the most important means by which the sciences can be taught. But disparity exists for different student groups.

"Students in some classrooms investigate the processes of science by performing experiments, making measurements and drawing conclusions from this data," said Eisenkraft, who directs the Center of Science and Math in Context <http://www.cosmic.umb.edu/> (COSMIC) at the university. "Students in other classrooms read about the processes of science, listen to stories about how experiments are conducted, and watch videotapes. If we want our children to be good scientists, which classrooms should we put them in?"

The subcommittee, conducting a hearing entitled "Improving the Laboratory Experience for America's High School Students", listened to Eisenkraft speak in response to H.R. 524: To Establish a Laboratory Science Pilot Program at the National Science Foundation. The professor recently served on the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which released the study America's Lab Report: Investigations in High School Science," at the request of the National Science Foundation.

Eisenkraft's has edited Active Physics: Core Select, a text used by more than 100,000 students across the country as the backbone of a movement to revise the traditional order of science education - biology, then chemistry, then physics - to place physics at the forefront for students be they in rural, suburban or inner-city districts. Eisenkraft is also a member of a team of professors and educators awarded a $12.5 million National Science Foundation Math and Science Partnership grant to re-shape science education in the Boston Public Schools.

He concluded his remarks to lawmakers by saying, "We must provide labs to high school students in order to give them experience with the processes of science .... We have to provide labs to students so that they have a common experience with which to explore science content. And we must insure that all students have equal access to labs regardless of their socio-economic status or whether they are enrolled in an honors class or a remedial class. These labs should reflect what we know about effective, high quality lab instruction as well as what we know about student learning."

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