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Too Much Book Work Turns Kids Off Science

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

TOO much book work and not enough experiments could be turning budding scientists off, researchers say.

Associate Professor Terry Crooks, head of the National Education Monitoring Assessment project, said its latest science survey showed year 4 and year 8 pupils rated experiments and field trips as their favourite activities but only a third regularly got to do them.

Instead teachers relied on book and project work, with the result that older children showed less enthusiasm for the subject than they did in the previous survey in 1999.

"That would seem to be threatening the quality of science learning," Dr Crooks said.

Massey University senior science education lecturer Bill MacIntyre said teachers were under pressure to cover a lot of material and keep up with a heavy emphasis on literacy and numeracy.

"We are concerned about a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of interest. The bright kids will continue to excel but there will be other kids that may be creative or innovative who won't have the opportunity to show that."

Education Ministry spokesman Steve Benson said the curriculum was being fine-tuned. "We are aware of the pressure that teachers feel they are under to cover everything. We know (science) is not the strongest area in primary schools . . . but we are supporting teachers with a range of good curriculum material."

The project, commissioned by the ministry, involved 2878 eight and nine-year-olds and 12 and 13-year-olds at 252 schools, from which 120 schools were chosen at random.

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