DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220527

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   97 lines

BASICS OF SCIENCE STILL A MYSTERY TO MANY U.S. STUDENTS

American students live in a world teeming with Saturn moon explorations, animal cloning, disease research and other scientific developments. The youngsters are preparing for careers in a job market increasingly driven by technology - more science.

But an update of a national study released Tuesday shows that the basics of science remain a mystery to at least one of three students from fourth grade on up, and to more than four out of 10 Virginia eighth-graders.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress - known as ``the nation's report card'' - added descriptions to numbers it released in May from a 1996 science test.

Four out of 10 high school seniors don't know basic science that should be taught at their grade level, according to the test that for the first time required students to do small-scale experiments and give written, reasoned answers, not just fill in multiple-choice bubbles.

Fourth-graders and eighth-graders performed somewhat better at their grade level. But only 3 percent of the youngsters in all three grades scored at an advanced level.

A third or more of all students, depending on the grade, showed just partial mastery of the subject. That was defined as basic knowledge. Less than a third were ranked as proficient, or being able to deal with challenging subject matter.

Being a sampling only, no city breakdowns were available, and state numbers were available only for eighth-graders.

In Virginia, 59 percent of those middle-school students had at least a basic understanding of science, compared to 60 percent of eighth-graders nationwide; conversely, 41 percent of the Virginians did not have even a basic grade-level grasp, compared to 40 percent nationally.

Two percent of the Virginians were considered advanced, compared to three percent nationally. And 27 percent were at or above the proficient level, the same as the rest of the United States.

``I think children, when they are young, have a natural curiosity,'' said Judy Gulledge, a nationally recognized science teacher at Northside Middle School in Norfolk. ``But by the time they're in the fourth or fifth grade, it's become too much a matter of textbooks and defining terms . . . so I think science programs need to allow for that time of exploration.''

Gulledge's students play pool to study Newton's laws of motion and sail on the Chesapeake Bay to study the environment up close.

``Science has always been fun for me and it should be for kids,'' Gulledge said. ``When it isn't, that's when we see this lack of interest.''

Mark D. Musick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board that established the standards, said the science test results reflected a pattern appearing in other national subject tests.

``Most students have a grasp of basic factual knowledge and procedures,'' he said. ``But a disturbing proportion are below that basic level. And the proportion who are proficient for their grade, which requires clear evidence of being able to analyze, apply and write, is fairly small.''

The board was created by Congress to monitor the progress of American students in five major subjects: science, math, reading, U. S. history and geography. The 1996 science test for the first time said what children ought to know in different grades. Previous tests judged progress against a norm - a moving target based on average performances.

The results announced Tuesday were based on science tests administered last year to 130,000 fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders in 40 states, the District of Columbia, the territory of Guam and Defense Department schools. Included were 2,552 Virginia eighth-graders. Numerical results were released earlier this year, but the traditional NAEP grades of ``basic,'' ``proficient'' and ``advanced'' achievement hadn't been determined for the new test.

In raw scoring, Virginia eighth-graders averaged 149 out of a possible 300 points, one point higher than the national average. Maine scored the highest with 163; Washington, D. C., was low at 113.

Mel Milton, an eighth-grade science teacher at Churchland Middle School in Portsmouth, didn't believe how many students failed to have basic science knowledge.

``If that statement is true then we have to improve our present curriculum,'' he said. ``Educators must stay involved, and there would have to be more strategies to meet the specific needs of children.''

In May, the NAEP provided a rough idea of where students stood: Some 90 percent of American eighth-graders could find yearly rainfall from a graph, about half could identify the source of acid rain, and just 10 percent could explain why lightning is seen before thunder is heard.

Teachers in Virginia Beach regularly train and research in science, with high-school teachers more expert in content instructing middle- and elementary-school teachers, said Barbara S. Davis, high-school science coordinator for the Virginia Beach Public Schools.

``Our science programs are all activity lab-based. And our elementary science program is definitely what we call a `hands-on' approach,'' Davis said.

``Research tells us that's when people learn the best. . . . And science is based on investigation. That is a basic component. That's what we try to do - we want them to learn to be problem-solvers.''

Students in the Northeast and Central states outperformed those in the West and Southeast. Whites outperformed blacks and Hispanics. The poor did poorly.

Boys slightly outperformed girls in the 12th grade, but not in the earlier grades, suggesting as other tests have done that the gender gap on science achievement is narrowing. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by staff writers Denise

Watson, Kia Morgan Allen and Matthew Bowers, and the Associated Press.

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