Is science more difficult to understand today because of the method teachers use to teach it?

Question

Today I read an interesting article on capitalism.org (very biased I know) about why many high school students will graduate without a clear understanding of physics. The author suggested that students don't learn the principles in the correct order and spend more time giving their opinion than learning the true basics. Do you think this is true and what could someone do to learn the subject despite a well-meaning but misguided teacher?

Answer 1

First, that is an absolutely accurate assessment.  Second, I would add that the lack of reading ability of most students today also inhibits science learning, since you need to understand the language (vocabulary) of science before you can learn the concepts.

Nevertheless, with a good reading ability and some outside help, like the Internet, students can learn despite their teachers is pretty much any subject.

Answer 2

SOrry for the pun but for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Do not rely on everything a teacher has to teach: you are responsible for your education as much if not more so than your teachers. Check out every aspect on your subject that you can find and do not expect to be guided by the knowledge of one teacher alone. Good luck with your studies.

Answer 3

I read the article you were talking about and future readers can read it in my sources below.  

Most science teachers are required by law to follow some type of state standard in which certain concepts must be taught.  You can find many of these state standards online.  I added a link to Indiana's state standards since I am most familiar with this set and this set was at one time boasted as being one of the best set of science standards in the USA. Most of these standards are the basis of 'standardized testing' required from the No Child Left Behind Act.  These questions only test the basic fundamental memorization types of questions.  Very few require comprehensive understanding due to the lack of essay questions on most standardize tests (usually multiple choice and true/false).  

Unfortunately this requires most science teachers to focus on  memorizing facts over comprehension of scientific principles in order to improve their students' standardized test scores.   I still think most science teachers do their best to help students understand the principles of science, but I am slightly biased.      The debate then focuses on should legislators mandate what should be taught in schools? Or should alternative monitoring methods be adopted to emphasize comprehension over memorization in state testing.

Answer 4

I tracked down the article you mentioned in order to better answer your question.  I teach physics, but it's only my second year so I'm not yet an "expert".  While the article makes a good point, teachers really have their hands tied when it comes to what order things are taught.  For instance, the article mentions that circular acceleration should be taught before universal gravitation.  Nice thought, and makes sense...  but the curriculum I was given tells me to teach 9th graders about universal gravitation, but they won't learn about circular acceleration until 11th grade.  

So while it WOULD make more sense to teach science in chronological order to better understand where the laws are coming from, it's not always the teacher's fault that it's not taught in that order.  Grade level standards are made at the state level.