LASER Method of Teaching Lets Kids Learn

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LASER Method at the Yakima Herald-Republic

11/9/03
1,377 words

LASER Method of Teaching Lets Kids Learn the Hands-On Way

DORI HARRELL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

California blackworms look gross, say four girls at Franklin Middle School.

Nonetheless, they prod and poke at the tiny, thread-like science
experiment with enthusiasm, logging details into their notebooks along
with the 22 others in their seventh-grade class.

With handheld magnifying glasses, they note that the 11/2-inch
brown-and-red creatures appear like they're made of microbeads.

"The bead-like things are called segments," says Suli Zuniga, 12, a
student in Mike Nettleton's classroom.

The kids are engaged in an experiment that's part of the Leadership and
Assistance for Science Education Reform, or LASER.

It's called inquiry-based learning, a strategy of trading traditional
textbook teaching in favor of hands-on experiments and letting kids find
the answers themselves.

Yakima County school districts and others across the state and nation have
eagerly adopted this system for learning science.

Administrators and teachers hope it will help kids learn to like science,
and learn the subject in a way that will aid them in passing tough state
assessment tests.

Some educators, though, warn the program may not involve enough textbook
learning, which they say builds basic knowledge needed to properly do
experiments and question results.

The Washington, D.C.-based National Science Resources Center officially
launched LASER five years ago to support school districts planning to
switch to inquiry-based science courses. The center provides districts
with curriculum aids, teacher training and technical assistance.

Preliminary results show state schools that have practiced LASER for
several years outperform others.

In Yakima County, 10 school districts apply LASER in various stages.

The Grandview and Yakima school districts lead the pack, having introduced
it into their elementary schools about four years ago. Yakima has now
expanded the program into its middle schools.

The Highland School District began LASER last year in its elementary
grades, and this year placed it in its intermediate school.

Also involved are East Valley, Mabton, Mt. Adams, Selah, Sunnyside, Union
Gap and West Valley. Private schools St. Joseph/Marquette and St. Paul
Cathedral School signed on, too.

Statewide, one-third of school districts, or about 95, participate in
LASER. Nationwide, more than 700 school districts apply it.

For two years, Educational Service District 105 has been coordinating
LASER for Yakima County. The organization provides teacher training and
other assistance.

ESD 105 budgets $178,000 toward LASER annually, with the state
Legislature, businesses and nonprofit organizations providing the funds.

The budget covers the costs of an ESD staff person to head the program,
materials and teacher training.

"It's the first time the state Legislature put money into curriculum for
schools," said Louise Fayette, science coordinator for ESD 105 and
co-director of the South Central Washington LASER Alliance.

Districts wanting to switch to the inquiry-based science can apply to the
ESD for support. They may also choose to develop their own system, as the
Selah School District has done.

Most of the Valley's districts use curriculum that calls for teachers to
work with "kits," experiments packaged for groups of students that include
manuals and science notebooks.

Kit topics include the life cycles of butterflies, land and water, motion
and design, magnets and motors, and organisms from macro to micro, the
one Nettleton's students are now digging into.

Nettleton, a Franklin science teacher, says he's seen students' excitement
for science grow since he started the system in his classroom last year.

"They have to write more, but the kids thoroughly enjoy it," Nettleton says.

When teaching from textbooks, he says, he gives out more information. With
the new approach, kids receive less instruction up front and discover
answers on their own.

Which is what they're doing with the blackworms.

Using microscopes and magnifying glasses, they're figuring on their own
what other animals the squiggly things resemble. And how to tell its front
end from its hind end. And how it's different from other worms.

"I find they remember it better if they do hands-on and observe for
themselves," Nettleton says.

Suli and her tablemates, Laura Caulfield, 12, Paola Verjan, 13, and Mayra
Izazaga, 12, agree.

"We learn more stuff than by looking at things in a textbook," Paola says
as she jabs a blackworm with a thin plastic pipe.

"We see things more clearly when we use a microscope," Suli adds.

Nettleton now conducts experiments three days weekly. Previously, he held
them once a week.

He and other teachers, though, weren't just handed a kit and expected to
know what to do. They took several training courses that not only included
how to teach inquiry-based science, but also how to manage their materials
and time ? a monumental task, Nettleton concedes.

"I have to work three times harder," he says. "You have to order this,
plant these ? I'm going 90 miles an hour."

He says he prepares lessons three to four hours nightly, and even comes in
weekends to make sure animals stay alive and plants are watered.

In March, the state compared Washington Assessment of Student Learning
scores in schools that have used LASER for years to those that just
started inquiry-based science classes. The state also matched schools with
similar demographics.

Preliminary results show the high-level LASER schools outperformed others
in reading, writing, math and listening, the four WASL categories.

Directors of Washington's LASER project were concerned that teaching
science this way might negatively affect other subjects, says Jeff Estes,
manager of science education programs for Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Richland.

"The initial look is, no," says Estes, who serves as co-director of
Washington State LASER. "Kids in quality science programs read better, do
math better and write better."

This school year, the state will require schools to also administer
science WASLs. Estes says the expectation is that as schools increase
LASER programs, scores will rise.

"In the spirit of true science, that's what we'll find out," he says.

And while many say they're hooked on inquiry-based teaching, others
express reservations.

Martin Kozloff, a professor and educational consultant at the University
of North Carolina, says inquiry-based instruction should be better mixed
with traditional textbook learning.

"The error made by people who advocate strict inquiry methods," Kozloff
says, "is that ... kids are involved in relatively unstructured inquiry
projects and do not yet have the skills needed to inquire."

Tieton Intermediate School teacher Sharon Hill agrees.

She trained in the new methods this summer and introduced the kit
curriculum to her sixth-graders this year - and found them unprepared.

"If you just go, 'here you go,' what do you think will happen?" Hill says.
"I think it's a great thing, but you need both (textbooks and inquiry)."

Hill says she turns to the Internet for information to support the kits
and gives handouts to her students.

"My initial reaction is, it's just not well-rounded," she says.

Estes counters such reservations by saying that research shows kids learn
better through direct experience.

"It's not a question of good or bad," he says. "It's more powerful versus
less powerful."

The kids, he says, do hands-on exploration that involves investigation and
problem solving, skills needed in real life.

Edie Graf, a fourth-grade teacher at McClure Elementary School in
Grandview, is currently teaching about streams. She supports the science
reforms and has been using kits for about four years. She serves as an
aide to other teachers who are initiating inquiry-based science lessons.

She's been with McClure seven years.

"My first year of teaching, we had science books, where the kids read and
answered questions," Graf said. "The whole idea of LASER is, we go in
depth with a few topics rather than spend a little time on a lot of
topics."

Like Nettleton, she said she's found kids are generally more excited about
science and doesn't believe they'll fall behind without using textbooks.

In addition, most of the districts use the same curriculum, so when
students transfer schools, they're familiar with the system, Graf adds.

"It takes more time to set up than a textbook," she said, "but the things
the students gain from it are worth it. I think it will turn kids onto
science at a lot earlier age."

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