Science education faces resource shortage

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is an excerpt from The Yomiuri Shimbun's Gakuryoku-ko series, which examines the changing school environment as new teaching guidelines are to be implemented in primary schools in 2011 and in middle schools in 2012. This installment, the third of four parts, focuses on science education at primary schools.

Nishi-Kosuge Primary School teacher Kazutaka Ikegami, 29, recently spent a day off building an insect cage for one of his third-grade science classes. His school, run by Katsushika Ward, Tokyo, could allocate only 40,000 yen for supplies for the entire school's science classes.

"As money is limited, we need to win with creative ideas," he said.

But science experiments do cost money. For example, it cost 6,800 yen to purchase 20 Japanese killifish for a fifth-grade science class in which students observed fish ecology.

So Ikegami took matters into his own hands. It was necessary to buy netting for the insect cage, but he used cardboard procured for free. As a cage usually retails for about 2,500 yen, the 900 yen he spent represented a significant savings.

The cage was used in one science class to raise swallowtail butterflies from eggs. Students submitted an observation diary after the activity, all of them scoring full marks later on a test reviewing the observation process.

"After this, I was reassured that children like science. I now feel experiments and observation activities help children boost their academic abilities in science classes," Ikegami said.

Science teaching skills lacking

Despite the efforts of teachers like Ikegami, the environment surrounding science teaching in public primary schools is deteriorating.

A lack of funding means it is now commonplace for public primary schools to face difficulties in securing class materials.

To make matters worse, the ability of science teachers is now under question.

In a survey of primary school teachers conducted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency in 2008, about half of the respondents said they lacked the confidence to teach science.

Primary school teachers must teach all subjects, but many are humanities graduates with little specific scientific training.

Moreover, such teachers now have fewer opportunities to brush up on their science teaching skills.

In the 1960s, prefectural and municipal governments ran facilities where science education specialists could teach their methods to general teachers. But many of these facilities have closed due to financial difficulties. The Hokkaido prefectural government is alone in its efforts to continue with this service. Facilities run at the municipal level are also on the wane.

The effects of such cutbacks are now becoming apparent. Because the number of specialized science teachers has declined, students are becoming less interested in the subject and their academic ability is waning.

In a survey conducted by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, 74 percent of fifth-grade students said they like science. However, the ratio of students who like science at higher grade levels began declining up until the second-year of middle school.

In 2006, first-year high school students from Japan ranked sixth out of 57 nations and territories' 15-year old students in the scientific literacy category of the Program for International Student Assessment, dropping from second place in the previous test in 2003.

Recognizing the problem, in fiscal 2007, the education ministry launched a state-funded project in which retired teachers assist fifth- and sixth-grade science classes at primary schools. In fiscal 2009, these assistants were dispatched to about 6,100 public primary schools, or 30 percent of such schools nationwide.

About 85 percent of the students in these classes said they began to develop an interest in science. However, the project came under scrutiny in the government's recent budget screening process, and will be abolished at the end of the 2012 school year.

Takeo Samaki, a professor at Hosei University and a science education specialist, said: "It is important for children to learn, through experiments and observation, that science is intellectually interesting. These activities form the foundation of academic ability in the subject.

"There aren't many things we can do to quickly enhance the science-teaching skills of primary school teachers. Instead we need to develop a new framework that supports science classes."

Internationally competitive

However, the national state of science education is not all gloom and doom.

The number of students excelling at international science competitions has increased in recent years.

In the 2009 school year, 8,567 students participated in national science and mathematics competitions, more than triple the number from five years ago.

The government has allocated 125 million yen from this year's budget to support students participating in international meets through measures such as hosting lectures and training camps for participants.

In June, one such lecture was held at the Science Museum in Tokyo for those participating in the International Biology Olympiad, a competition in which high school students from all over the world test their scientific knowledge and skills.

One of the attendees, Saori Kurihara, 17, became the second Japanese to win a gold medal at the International Biological Olympiad's final when it was held in South Korea in July.

The second-year student at Hokkaido Prefectural Sapporo-Nishi High School said she went through a 1,500-page special textbook--about five centimeters thick--several times in preparation for the Biological Olympics.

However, it is important to note the reason why she became interested in biology.

"I first became attracted to biology at primary school, through experiences such as observing a swallowtail butterfly develop from a caterpillar and dissecting fish. The teacher in charge of my class was the only one who let students dissect fish--no other class did it," Kurihara said.