SILVERDALE – To thrive in a world increasingly dependent upon technology, students today will benefit from a solid understanding of science and also know how to apply that knowledge to solve problems.

That’s what Doug Dowell, a curriculum specialist with Central Kitsap School District, and Jeff Friers, an Elementary science, technology, engineering and math coordinator, told the CKSD school board Jan. 27.

Dowell noted that science and technology were a big part of what drove society today. A typical cell phone, Dowell said as an example, had more technology in it than was available to astronauts in the 1961-1972 Apollo space program. Thus careers and opportunities were going to involve knowledge of science.

A STEM background was projected to be necessary for both white collar and blue collar jobs in the future, and to also make sure the populace had a strong enough understanding of science to make good decisions at the ballot booth.

Students who didn’t have that background could risk finding themselves “reading want ads because they don’t know science,” Friers said.

Friers said the new Next Generation Science Standards was the guide for their work. Washington state was the no. 1 STEM state, he said. Not all of Washington, he noted, but specifically, western Washington state.

NGSS aims to make students problem solvers, instead of only memorizing science facts. So, for example, NGSS students don’t only learn about the water cycle (also known as the hydrologic cycle) – where water cycles from the oceans into the atmosphere and then falls as rain – but they’ll apply knowledge of that cycle to solve problems related to drought, dams, salmon and water pollution.

Friers said it could take 15 years to fully transition to NGSS, in part because teachers are swamped with so many tasks that are coming at them from all directions.

NGSS should be viewed not as a challenging “perfect storm” but instead as an opportunity, because of the way NGSS can be tied-in with common core math and English language arts, science and engineering.

Dowell said the secondary schools mostly still offer traditional science courses, but some new additions have been made, including: introduction to engineering design; principles of engineering; civil engineering and architecture; computer science and software engineering; Aviation Classroom Experience; and robotics.

CKSD also has several STEM related after-school clubs and activities, such as clubs for bridge-building, Lego robotics and 3-D printing. Training is also available for staff.

Future goals include having curriculum become more aligned with NGSS, ensuring every student is science literate, making science classes engaging and relevant, and to develop students to become innovative thinkers and problem solvers.

Dowell said it was important to ensure the student demographic that typically does not do as well in science – including girls, children raised in poverty, and racial minorities – had an equitable opportunity to become involved in STEM early on.

Federal grants from the Department of Defense Education and Office of Naval Research worth $4.9 million have helped provide CKSD with the resources and training for some of its science programs. The money also pays for the work that Dowell and Friers do. Ideally, Dowell and Friers will work themselves out of their jobs after they teach others to carry on their work.

Board member Eric Greene said part of the problem CKSD had with science was an inertial reluctance to change from the traditional method of teaching science, especially at the earlier grade levels.

Greene said it was important to make foundational changes at the lower grades, rather than spending more time doing intervention later on so students could catch up.

Board President Bruce Richards said of NGSS, “We’re supporting this and we’ve been supporting this for quite a few years.”

[LINK: The state of science in CKSD (pdf) ]

[LINK: The state of science in CKSD – slides (pdf) ]