Close to Home: A hands-on approach to learning science

The Santa Rosa school board recently revisited the college prep prerequisite course requirements for earning a high school diploma. The main argument cited in favor of keeping what are commonly called the A-G requirements is to avoid prematurely tracking students onto a non-college path. This reflects the reality that most ninth grade students have not fully developed the maturity and self-knowledge to make decisions that could adversely affect the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately, one result of enrolling everyone in pre-college courses is that too many students do poorly. They then need waivers to qualify for high school graduation.

At Sonoma State University, with significant funding from the U.S. Department of Education, we have spent the past decade developing a new approach to ninth grade education: an integrated CSTEM — coding, science, technology, engineering and mathematics — laboratory-based physical science course branded as Learning by Making. This approach differs significantly from traditional ninth grade science classes in that it emphasizes hands-on learning to teach coding, electronics and circuit building.

In addition to developing hands-on skills, students are asked to initiate their own experiments by further exploring phenomena they have likely pondered before, such as evaporation and absorption of water and sunlight, and ways to harness solar energy. Students learn to measure and understand data from three different kinds of sensors — soil moisture, temperature and light — to answer questions of personal interest about how energy and matter change when interacting within local environments.

They participate in the entire scientific process as defined by the Next Generation Science Standards: posing questions, designing experiments, acquiring and analyzing data, interpreting results and communicating them in ways their peers will understand.

The beauty of Next Generation’s emphasis on science and engineering design practices is that it replaces rote memorization of facts with engagement and wonder. The work students do in Learning by Making classes more closely resembles what scientists do day-to-day, thus providing students with more realistic expectations that doing science can be exciting and is not out of their reach.

What further sets Learning by Making apart from standard ninth grade science classes is its approval as a science course for college-bound students and its potential use in a career technical education curriculum. CTE programs teach practical skills, often leading directly into the workforce after high school graduation. Personnel from Sonoma County's CTE Foundation have frequently presented information to Learning by Making teachers regarding technical careers that can result from the skills learned.

While Learning by Making was developed for use in rural high-need classrooms, it also works incredibly well in urban settings. During the past five years all ninth grade students at Roseland University Prep High School in Santa Rosa have taken the Learning by Making course. Its proven success in improving student learning, as demonstrated by hundreds of students in Mendocino County schools, has led to adoption by high schools in Southern California as well as locally at Roseland Collegiate Prep.

To encourage innovative science education for collegebound and CTE students, we will be freely providing the Learning by Making curriculum in its entirety nationwide through an open educational resource service, and we are willing to help school districts implement the program. We believe the Santa Rosa school district should seriously consider this proven approach to help improve A-G course completion rates while providing an alternate path to technical careers that are in high demand nationwide. Adopting a curriculum like Learning by Making would provide flexibility and engagement that is critical to our workforce, our country and our planet.

Lynn Cominsky is a professor of physics and astronomy and director of EdEon STEM Learning at Sonoma State University.

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