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The Status of Science Education in K‐6 Illinois Schools
Author(s) -
Finson Kevin D.,
Lisowski Marilyn,
Fitch Tom,
Foster Gerald
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.1996.tb15824.x
Subject(s) - checklist , science education , legislature , state (computer science) , scientific literacy , medical education , psychology , mathematics education , quality (philosophy) , survey data collection , political science , pedagogy , medicine , mathematics , philosophy , statistics , epistemology , algorithm , law , cognitive psychology
Over the past decade, Illinois science education has experienced major reform efforts mandated by the state legislature. The end results of many of these mandates are not yet determined, although questions have arisen which bring some focus to the impact of these mandates on teachers within the state. During the 1992–93 school year, in an effort to address some of these questions, a statewide survey was developed and administered to 1,200 randomly selected K‐6 teachers. Survey items were designed to examine science instructional processes; teacher (preservice and in service) preparation in science; school science leadership; teachers' perceived needs; implementation of the Illinois State Goals of Learning in Science; support of science by administrators, parents, and the community; obstacles to delivering quality science instruction; and student assessment in science instruction. Survey validation included cross‐comparisons of data collected from site visitors, representing ten universities across the state, who used an observation checklist correlated with written survey items. Six percent of surveyed schools were visited. This paper presents the results of the survey and discusses the present state of the health and vigor of current and past funding support for scientific literacy.