When and where are our kids learning science?

Over the past few years, I have been realizing that not all kids are receiving a quality science education like I did when I was in school. I have memories of conducting science experiments both at home and in school as early as elementary school. However, I am realizing that kids today don't have the same opportunities that I did which seems like yesterday, when I was a child.

I have been spending time in schools and realizing that kids aren't engaged in enough hands on science or science that is relevant to them that makes them interested in science. I was having a conversation with a 5th grader and he was talking about what he learned in science class that day. What they learned bored me to death, they were talking about a scientist that is dead and technology that is obsolete. I know that science history is an important part of science, but kids should be learning something that is relevant and current and about scientists that are alive today. But thing that I was grateful was that at least this student was learning science.

In most state curriculum the core subjects are language arts, math, social studies and science. However,there are studies that show that elementary students don't always get an adequate amount of science as a part of their curriculum. There are various reasons for this, the main reason is that not enough resources are put into science education because science is rarely on the standardized test that have become a critical part of education. Another reason is not all elementary teachers feel comfortable enough to teach their students science. With elementary school being the foundation for learning in all subject areas, if there is no strong foundation for science how will kids excel when they go to middle and high school. This doesn't create an environment for our kids to excel in science, let alone pursue careers in these fields.

What we are a community have to do is hold the educational systems accountable for ensuring that science has an equal importance as the subjects that are on standardized test. When students academically achieve in science not only do they learn great skill set, but we create a pipeline for the future STEM workforce.