Science Evolves in Classrooms

Fourth-graders Lora Metrey, left, and Kayla Wood check an ecosystem experiment at Cashell Elementary School in Rockville. The school scored well on a national science test. (Bill O'Leary - The Washington Post)
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Montgomery and Prince George's counties have issued new science textbooks in elementary grades. Many schools lacked elementary science texts, resulting in lessons that were heavy on hands-on experimentation and lighter on academic content, according to teachers.

"You have to make sure you're doing the content with the experiences; they're both important," said Tina Holmes, a fifth-grade science teacher at Tulip Grove Elementary School in Bowie. "Three to four years ago, I would have been really worried if the students had taken this test."

Not surprisingly, schools that fare well on the Maryland test tend to offer relatively large chunks of daily science class work.

With the new textbooks and 60 minutes of daily, uninterrupted science instruction, Tulip Grove attained among the highest results in the state on the new test. Forty-six of 47 fifth-graders passed.

Cashell Elementary School in Rockville offers three hours of science instruction weekly in the upper grades, as well as blocks of language arts instruction devoted to scientific topics.

"We didn't back off from it, as a lot of schools did," said Principal Maureen Ahern-Stamoulis.

One morning this month, fourth-graders at Cashell peered into their latest projects: terrariums encased in plastic soda bottles.

"We're going to try to identify who are the producers in our terrarium. Who are our consumers? And who are our scavengers?" asked teacher Lucy Vigil.

Fifty-five of 58 fifth-graders at Cashell passed the test this year, one of the best results in Maryland.