Paul Cottle, a professor of physics at Florida State University and a member of the committee that drafted Florida’s new science standards, has been busy writing articles in defense of science education. Here is his latest one: Two bills put high-school physics at risk in Florida.
However, the legislation that would end the 11th-grade science FCAT calls only for an end-of-course exam in biology. Students would be required to pass this biology test to graduate from high school. Physics is on a long list of subjects (both in science and otherwise) that would be addressed in the end-of-course testing program when resources are available — a bad bet in the present environment.
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During the meetings of the science standards committee, it became clear that subjects that are not on the accountability agenda — that is, those that are not on the FCAT or required for graduation — are de-emphasized because of tight budgets.
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Staff at the Florida Department of Education — the same folks who hosted the science standards process — tell me that there is not enough money to develop end-of-course tests in all science subjects in the short term. Biology is the highest priority because it is the most popular science course in Florida’s high schools.
Having gone through school in Seminole County, I seem to recall that Biology was a required course in high school. That might explain why it “is the most popular science course in Florida’s high schools.”
Personally, I also took Chemistry but then opted for Anatomy & Physiology. I was scared off because I thought that physics had too much math. I wish I had taken both.
I graduated from Lake Mary High School and we had Earth Space science in the 9th grade (Mr. Santora), Biology in the 10th grade (Mr Schiffer), and Chemistry in the 11th (can’t remember her name). Anatomy & Physiology was available my senior year but my schedule was too full. Plus fetal pigs are icky. I had to wait until college to take Zoology and Astronomy. Loved them both.