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Re: The End of Hands-On Science Activities in California's K-8 Classrooms?



Posting line limitations have once again mercifully shielded
subscribers to Chemed-L and Phys-l from my encyclopedic posts - this
time a 500 liner:

Hake, R.R.2004a. "Re: The End of Hands-On Science Activities in California's
K-8 Classrooms?, online at
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0401&L=physhare&O=D&P=14493>.
Post to AERA-K, AP-Physics, BIOPI-L, CHEMED-L, Math-Learn, Math-Teach, Phys-L,
PHYSLRNR, Physhare, & POD.

If your interest is:

(a) zero or less, then please hit the delete button,

(b) only slightly greater than zero, then please scan the abridged
version in the APPENDIX.

(c) somewhat greater than zero, then please access the entire post by
clicking on the above URL
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0401&L=physhare&O=D&P=12469>.

Regards,

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
APPENDIX [Abridged Version of Hake (2004)]

I. RED-FLAG WORDS
In response to Woolf's (2004) rebuttal of Wurman's (2004) attempted
counter to Hake (2004a), Jerry Epstein (2004) wrote on 29 Jan 2004
[bracketed by lines "EEEEEEEEEE. . . . .":

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The word "Constructivism" and variants, such as "discovery-based" . .
. [and "hands-on"]. . . have become a red flag in front of a bull.
Part of this is because the terms have been really abused by people
who set up programs based on these ideas (in response to current
fashion) but who do not really know what they are doing . . . [and
don't realize]. . . that the activities [must be] connected [in the
case, e.g., of mathematics instruction]. . . with the actual
mathematics . . . . . . Ze'ev really should look much more deeply
into the research that has led to this movement. . . [minds- and
hand-on instruction]. . . , look carefully at the programs developed
under NSF sponsorship, see what rigorous testing they have been
through, and see what the research really shows about outcomes. . .
.[see, e.g., Shymansky et al. (1983, 1990); Hake (1998a,b); Lopez &
Schultz (2001)]. . . . . . . . . .
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

II. THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Wurman (2004), in his response to Hake (2004a) first quoted my statement:
"The California anti-hands-on movement has been spearheaded by
biologist Stan Metzenberg (1998a,b; undated)] with the backing of a
politically appointed and educationally naive State Board of
Education [<http://www.cde.ca.gov/board/>, see members' bios at
<http://www.cde.ca.gov/board/bio.htm>]." Wurman ripostes:

"I particularly liked the 'educationally naive State Board of Education
line. I guess that the so-called 'naivete' can be clearly seen from SBE's
rejection of "Whole Language" and of "Fuzzy Math" in California, a
rejection by which SBE finally began to pull California out of the
educational morass inflicted by that fuzzy foolishness of the 90's. . ."

"Whole Language" and "Fuzzy Math" are of course the RED-FLAG devils
of the Mathematically Correct <http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/>
and HOLD <http://www.dehnbase.org/hold/> crowds. Their untempered
disparagements are, of course, not taken seriously by sane observers.

For a good depiction of the role of the SBE in the California Math
Standards fiasco see, e.g., Schultz (1998).


III. MATH EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA
Wurman (2004), in his response to Hake (2004a) first quoted my
statement: "Unless positive action is taken very soon it seems likely
that:. . . .
b. science education in California will follow the downward path of
math education [Becker & Jacob (2000), Sowder (1998)]." Wurman then sneers:

"This my favorite line in Hake's post. Why should he care about the
documented large improvement in the mathematical performance of California
students over the last 5 years, complete data of which are widely available
at <http://star.cde.ca.gov>? Hake prefers an early (and data-less) opinion
piece by doom-sayers. A hallmark of true science. . ."

In Hake (2003d), I wrote:

"Regarding the STAR [CDE 2003] results I suspect that the gains are
primarily in low cognitive level skills that are emphasized in the
California math standards and can be elevated by the drill and
practice so revered by the Mathematically Correct contingent. But
then, as Sowder says, this is primarily a question of values."

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>