Help is denied those in Need

s&c mar 1975

MARY BUDD ROWE Professor of Education Institute for Development of Human Resources College of Education U-Florida Gainesville, Florida

Leyden note:

if you want the numerous references she cites in this article, see the original article. Dr. leyden's alma mater; he left in august 1970 for eiu when mary budd rowe arrived at UFlorida. Ships passing in the nite.

SUPPOSE you bad a child who needed a long, moderately expensive treatment --- and nobody would give it to him. Maybe the doctors said they didn't have the time and other things were more important. How would you feel? Angry, frustrated, and mad, I suspect.

That is the way I would feel.

Something like that is happening to thousands of kids right now. They are not getting a treatment they need . . . only there is no one to get mad on their behalf.

Research shows that the very group which would benefit most from early exposure to an activity-based inquiry-oriented science program of some kind is least likely to get it.

The poor, the handicapped, the low socio-economic status children in kindergarten through primary schools show substantial gains in verbal fluency, language complexity, and logic as well as in attitudes, when they are treated to a regular diet of science Yet, it is the poor, the reluctant readers, the handicapped who are most often kept from science on the grounds that they need other things more. But the research described below suggests that science may be the best remedial treatment. The other things which are put in its way are more likely to follow with less trauma when the children have progressed to a more acceptable condition through early extensive exposure to integrated science programs.

In Illinois, Janice Johnson found that only one month of lessons selected from SAPA and ESS, produced improvement in the IQ scores of third graders beyond that of the control group. We can speculate that if the difference in aptitude was noticeable after one month, what would be the case after a whole year of science instruction?

Mary Budd Rowe found that the amount of student-initiated, content-relevant speech in 10 Harlem classrooms was 200 to 500 percent higher during science than during language arts sessions. In a similar vein Glenn McGlathery of Colorado showed that preschool and first grade children from economically deprived families made considerable knowledge and language gains from September to May compared with the controls when they took part in a science program that was activity-based and inquiry centered. Five- and six-year-olds did equally well in his study.

There is some indication that even mathematical thinking may be influenced by some kinds of science experience. In Oklahoma, Don Stafford

Leyden note: stafford was leyden's teacher one summer in oklahoma

found that number and length concepts were more developed among children who had an activity based science program SCIS than among those who got just texts to read. Walbesser and Carter tried out Science A Process Approach materials (SAPA) with children of different socioeconomic levels. Their work suggests that low socio-economic groups need more science than do other socio-economic levels since their deficit is so large. Ayers and Mason

Leyden note:Ă Ayers and leyden were classmates one summer

and Mason studied two kindergarten classes in Atlanta, Georgia to determine whether SAPA helped or hurt their scores on the Metropolitan Readiness Test, a measure of reading readiness. SAPA children's scores on Number, Listening. and Copying were significantly higher than were the scores of children who had no science.ç Similarly, Ritz and Raven

Leyden note: Bill Ritz hired leyden to teach a week of classes at U-Calif-Long Beach

found that the inclusion of science programs in 24 classrooms in New York and Pennsylvania improved the attainment of visual perceptual and science process skills. Since the science group performed as well on the reading readiness test as did the non-science group, the inclusion of science did no damage to the reading readiness.

Reading teachers have learned something by becoming involved in science. D. R. Porterfield found that reading teachers who had received training in SCIS asked a wider variety of questions, questions that provoked more thought: i.e., children received more encouragement to think.

Children who come from environments which fail to supply consistent experiences that encourage mental growth of the kind required in schools seem to he especially helped to recover through science programs. The evidence suggests that a science program which involves many demonstrations and some laboratory work will accomplish more than no science program or than learning exclusively from a textbook. Apparently the science programs which involve labs and/or frequent demonstrations also raise curiosity levels, influence attitudes and. in one study by T. W. Brown figural creative thinking.

Among the handicapped who profit from science instruction are the deaf. Twenty-six deaf children aged 10-13 years got ten weeks of science made up of an amalgam of SCIS and SAPA activities. They learned skills which are normally in the repertoire of 8-9 year olds. This study by Boyd and George firms up the deficit notion and the part that science should be allowed to play in the recovery process. Linn and Peterson showed that both visually and culturally impaired children make marked gains on exposure to science. Nancy Thurston found that 14 blind students in Washington, D.C.. learned to con-strict histograms and grasped the concepts in the Systems and Inter-action units of SCIS.

It appears that direct experience with science phenomena given much earlier and in larger doses may help to reduce the deficits from which different kinds of handicapped children suffer.

Kral, for example. found that Indian students performed better on standard achievement tests when they received supplemental doses of ESS units.

If deaf children can learn science and their language and attitudes show improvement then why should not the same he true for ghetto children? Rowe suggests that some ghetto children chiIdren may be thought of as functionally deaf. Words without meaning fall on ears that may as well be deaf. The highly manipulative nature of science ma- terials plus the quandaries which they can provoke supply the means for bridging the comminication gap between students and teachers.

In a neatly designed investigation, Huff and Languis showed that exposure to SAPA. part A. improved the oral communication skills of disadvantaged kindergartners.

Using a demonstration interview technique. Donaldson (5) examined 64 Headstart kindergartners and nursery school children to find out what they knew about rockets, seeds, human growth, evaporation, and electricity. She found no differences between blacks and whites but marked differences according to socio-economic status.

The poor simply know less-and failure to give them science experiences implies that we mean to keep them ignorant.

Based on their study of 20 kindergartners in Appalachia, Mary and Jerry Ayers

Leyden note: yup - the same mary and jerry that went to school with me in oklahoma

concluded that early science experiences such as those in the SAPA program help logical thinking to develop. The childreii in their study who got science achieved conservation of numbers. liquid, volume, solids, lengths, weight, and area. The 20 controls did not develop nearly as exten- sively. This work suggests that where deficits exist, they probably can be remedied.

Without science experiences, disadvantaged children tend to be easily frightened and frustrated by simple problems. Their problem-coping skills simply do not develop satisfactorily (Rowe; Gilbert. With it, they usually learn strategies for attacking problems.

A Special Handicap

Girls at all socio-economic levels act with respect to science as though they are handicapped. They know less, do less, explore less, and are prone to be more superstitious than boys. It is tempting to speculate that one reason so little science is being given to the groups who most need it may be related to the feelings of low confidence so many women have e when it comes to sci-ence. Wouldn't it be too bad if our children were kept in a deficit condition because many of their teachers do not know or understand what the treatment could accomplish for them?

We are the doctors who must fight for help while it can still do some good for the handicapped. The research suggests what we must do why don't we?

6/10st/95