Most U.S. fourth-graders spend less than three hours a week in science

Change the Equation dug into survey data from the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for fourth-grade science and, as detailed in a new report, found that many of the nation’s elementary school children were on a starvation diet of thin and infrequent science instruction. Elementary teachers received precious little professional development in the kinds of science instruction favored by new science standards adopted by dozens of states, including the Next Generation Science Standards.

Hands-on, inquiry-based science is scarce in elementary school

Only about half of the nation’s fourth-graders do hands-on science activities at least once a week, and only one in four have teachers who focus on inquiry skills:

Few 4th-graders engage in hands-on or learn inquiry skills

To put it bluntly, most fourth-graders don’t experience very good science instruction.  Decades of research support the value of hands-on science experiences that develop students’ ability to engage in sustained scientific inquiry. In fact, that research informs the animating vision behind the Next Generation Science Standards, which aim to transform science education in states across the country. That vision is still far from reality.

Few elementary students spend much time on science

One major constraint on elementary science is time. Students who spend little time on science will have less exposure to hands-on, inquiry-based science.

Unfortunately, time for science is a scarce commodity for most U.S. fourth-graders:

Many fourth-graders in in the United States spend little time on science

Most U.S. fourth-graders spend less than three hours a week in science—and one in five don’t even get two hours. A mere 14 percent spend at least five hours a week, or one hour a day, on science. In 12 states, at least two thirds of students fall below the three-hour threshold


When and why did elementary science become a forgotten stepchild?

States used to recommend more time for science. As far back as 1986, states commonly counseled schools and elementary teachers to devote a minimum of 175 to 225 minutes per week to the subject. Teacher surveys at the time suggested that the average teacher cleared the lower bar, spending roughly 190 minutes on science.

How times have changed. The few states that still make recommendations set the minimum bar higher than three hours, but these days those recommendations are about as binding as a New Year’s resolution:

State recommendations on instruction for elementary science have little effect

Beginning in the late 1980s, states ramped up pressure on schools to lift students’ performance in reading and math, while science tumbled down the priority list. The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act codified accountability for reading and math results in federal law, before The Every Student Succeeds Act replaced it in 2015.

One national teacher survey found that, between 1994 and 2008, the average time for science in grades one through four fell from 3.0 to 2.3 hours, before rebounding somewhat to 2.6 hours by 2012.5 Early in the new millennium, school and district leaders attributed similar trends to No Child Left Behind.

Another reason for the elementary science drought: scant support for teachers

Teachers who aren’t confident in science are probably not inclined to spend much time on it. Many elementary teachers would be among the first to admit self-doubt when it comes to science. In a 2012 survey, only 39 percent said they felt “very well prepared” to teach science.

Small wonder. Few receive much professional development:

Fourth-grade teachers receive little or no good professional development in science

Such lack of support for elementary teachers compounds another problem: few have a strong background in science to begin with. In 2012, only 36 percent of K-5 teachers said they had taken courses in all three of the areas the National Science Teachers Association recommends for every elementary teacher: life, earth, and physical science.