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I understand why it is popular. Certainly, many parents send their students to public or private school during the high school years primarily because they are afraid of teaching science. Also, science probably takes more time to teach than any other subject, especially at the high school level. It is easy to see, therefore, why some parents might be happy to embrace such a misguided philosophy. If they choose to do so, however, it is the student who will suffer the consequences.
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What consequences? First of all, if a student puts off learning the sciences until college, he or she will, most likely, never learn them. You see, the main difference between a college class and a high school class is the volume of information covered. In the introductory chemistry and physics courses I taught at Indiana University and Ball State University, I covered, on average, one chapter each week. These classes met only three hours per week; thus, we covered an entire chapter in three hours of class time! Because of this excruciating pace, few students were able to pass my courses unless they had taken the relevant high school class. The next consequence I have already written about in a previous issue of the Informer. If a student is not allowed to sample the three basic disciplines of science (biology, chemistry, and physics) in high school, the student will never know if he or she has a talent for the sciences. Thus, the student will have lost some valuable career exploration and, as a result, might miss the very career for which he or she is most suited! |
Finally, the whole misguided notion of putting off science until college simply ignores those students who choose to go straight into the work force after high school. Can anyone reasonably assert that a person entering the work force today does not need to know science? The Nation Safety Council doesn't think so. In a recent article, they stated that many workplace accidents could be avoided if the workers had even a rudimentary knowledge of the science behind their jobs. Clearly, high school students need to learn science.
But can we effectively teach science
at home? The answer is an overwhelming "YES!" Study after study indicates
that even with "inadequate" laboratory facilities, homeschoolers educate
their students at high school science better than public or private schools.
For example, a nationwide study concluded that homeschooled students who took
the ACT (a college-entrance exam) consistently scored higher than their peers
in science. Other studies on a state-by-state basis come to the same conclusion.
Despite the notion that high school science education requires sophisticated
laboratories and "expert" teachers, homeschoolers still get the job
done, and they do it better than anyone else!
About the Author:
Dr. Jay L. Wile holds an earned Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in
nuclear chemistry and a B.S. in chemistry from the same institution. He has
won several awards for excellence in teaching and has presented numerous lectures
on the topics of Nuclear Chemistry, Christian Apologetics, Homeschooling, and
Creation vs. Evolution. In addition, he has published 30 articles on these subjects
in nationally-recognized journals. His teaching credentials include:
The University of Rochester
IndianaUniversity
BallState University
The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities (a high school for
gifted and talented students)
Currently, Dr. Wile writes curriculum for homeschoolers as well as Christian apologetics material. He has written 5 high school science textbooks designed specifically for homeschooled students as well as one Christian apologetics book.
You can visit Dr. Wile's Apologia Educational Ministries Web site at: http://www.highschoolscience.com
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