“8+1” is not the name of Kate Gosselin’s new TLC reality show that will continue chronicling her life with her eight children: a pair of twins and a set of sextuplets. “8 +1” is a concept that could change the way the Gosselin kids or any Kindergarten through 12th grade student might  leanr about science and correlating subjects.  Current methods, in which science courses are taught serially with no connection to one other, and an emphasis on fact memorization (to pass standardized tests) don’t seem to be working.

A statistic presented in 2009 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress is startling: “only 34 percent of fourth-graders and 21 percent of 12th-graders were proficient in their science knowledge.” That’s less than half of fourth graders and let’s acknowledge that science is still a whole lot of fun at the elementary school level: field trips, assemblies, and snacks. Sadly, the percentage drops even more at the high school level. The Program for International Student Assessment ranks American students 23rd when compared to other countries for their science knowledge.

These findings and others like them have been echoed in the news, conferences, and recently at Republican presidential candidate debate: American children are falling behind especially when it comes to math and science. The fear is that today’s schoolchildren will not graduate to be tomorrow’s engineers, doctors, or biologists.  There won’t be a moon colony in Newt Gingrich’s future because there won’t be any NASA scientists to help develop the program.

A team of scientists and educators led by William Schmidt a professor of statistics and education at Michigan State University has been meeting for six years to discuss the way science is currently taught in schools and why there needs to be a “radical overhaul.” 

"Now is the time to rethink how we teach science," said Schmidt. "What we are proposing through 8+1 Science is a new way of thinking about and teaching science, not merely a new set of science standards. It supports basic concepts included in most sets of state standards currently in use and complements standards-based education reform efforts."

The eight is for eight fundamental science concepts: atoms, cells, radiation, systems-change, forces, energy, conservation of mass and energy, and variation.  These concepts act as building blocks and provide focus. As students advance they connect the concepts together into a broader understanding of science that goes beyond memorizing independent disconnected constructs. The “+ 1” refers to “the importance of inquiry: asking “Why does (fill in the blank) happen?”

What might happen if a program like 8+1 Science is rejected by schools and their governing districts? Educators would presumably explore other solutions, but what if nothing seems to work? Could we be looking at a future where Americans no longer seek jobs in the science and math fields and what does that future hold for our economy?