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Lights Off for Hands On Science
Hannah Fresquez, left, gives rock samples to Nicole Spiezio for their last Hands On Science after-school project at Woodlin Elementary in Silver Spring.
(By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
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"It really grew out of my enthusiasm for what's called informal science education," said Katz, who retired from the organization in 2005 but still lives in the county. "I was really keen to see kids have science as a choice, like music or dance or sports. It's really your way of finding out about the world you live in."
By the mid-1980s, Hands On Science was running in 66 Montgomery elementary schools.
A National Science Foundation grant made further expansion possible. At its peak in the early 1990s, the program reached about 40,000 children a year through about 4,000 eight-week sessions conducted in more than 40 states. In Montgomery, 7,000 children, from preschool through grade 6, were taking part.
Participation has eroded to about half that peak, with about 21,000 children nationwide this year, including 3,500 in Montgomery, said spokeswoman Beth Hess. Part of the problem, Hess and Katz said, was the lack of evidence that Hands On Science raised test scores. Hands On Science vied with programs that could help schools make progress in statewide reading and math tests required by No Child Left Behind.
Katz, who has a doctorate in science education, said she conducted research that demonstrated the effectiveness of Hands On Science. Children showed a broader view of science at the end of the program than at the beginning, she said, and they seemed to be assimilating the collaborative nature of the activities.
But because the lessons were informal, "we didn't test the children," Hess said. "So we couldn't tell you at the end of an eight-week session, 'The kids learned X amount.' "
Katz said some schools probably will continue to offer the after-school science lessons; each Hands On Science program is more or less self-sustaining.
"Everybody's made the point," she said. "We've had a 27-year run, and we've impacted hundreds of thousands of kids and tens of thousands of adults. We had an impact."
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