Explaining phenomena, not memorising vocabulary

Science class changed, and a lot of parents are helping with the old version

Science instruction in many US classrooms has moved away from memorizing vocabulary and toward explaining phenomena: students are asked to analyze data, build and revise models, argue from evidence and account for why something happened. A number of states adopted a shared set of standards built on that approach; others wrote their own. The result is uneven, but the direction is consistent enough that parents notice it.

The practical effect at the kitchen table is a mismatch. A parent who studied science as a list of definitions offers to quiz the definitions, and the assignment is asking the child to explain a graph. The help is sincere and aimed at the wrong target.

Most lost science points are not science

This is why a science section sits alongside the math pages. When a child says physical science is impossible, the fastest thing to check is whether the algebra underneath it is solid. If it is not, a science tutor will spend the hour teaching math.

The science fair, and what it is really assessing

The independent project is a distinctly American feature of middle school science, and it is where families most often take over. It is worth resisting, because the assessment is mostly about the reasoning: what is being changed, what is being measured, what is held constant, and whether the conclusion follows from the data collected rather than from what the student expected.

Three questions cover most of the parental help that is genuinely useful. What are you changing? What are you measuring? What are you keeping the same? A student who can answer all three has a sound design, and one who cannot has found the thing to work on.

Pages in this section

• Middle school science tutor alternatives
• Online science tutor alternatives
• Math support — for the number skills science depends on

What Pobbi can and cannot help with

Pobbi's science coverage is narrower than its math coverage and this page will not pretend otherwise. It is genuinely useful for the quantitative and reasoning skills science leans on: the check can show whether a problem is failing on the science or on the algebra, and guided practice works that underlying skill with hints rather than answers.

It cannot provide lab work, equipment, a specific state's standards or a district's curriculum. Those are the school's, and no home tool substitutes for them.

Questions parents ask about science

My child loves science but the grades are low.

Interest sustains attention on content; grades depend on answering the question in the form it was asked. Look at a returned assessment and sort the lost points into knowledge and expression. In middle school it is usually expression.

Should we get a tutor for physical science?

Check the math first. If rearranging a simple equation or converting units is shaky, fixing that often fixes the science grade by itself and costs far less.

How much should I help with the science project?

Help with the design questions and the schedule, not with the work. A project that is visibly a parent's costs the student the one thing the assignment was for.

Is memorizing vocabulary still worth it?

Some terminology has to be known. But a definition recalled without meaning tends to show up in the wrong place, so a better check than reciting the definition is asking for an example.