Written By Dr. Lee Hood

I have always believed that academics have four major responsibilities: scholarship, education, transfer of knowledge to society and community leadership. Playing a major role in K-12 science education in Washington state speaks to the latter two responsibilities.

As a member of the scientific community, I recognize that science education cannot be siloed as the responsibility of schools and school districts – the scientific community, as well as other community stakeholders, must come together to support quality science education. The purpose of contemporary science education should not only be to prepare and inspire a science and engineering workforce capable of tackling the scientific quests of the 21st Century, but also to prepare a society that is scientifically literate, one that is able to make informed decisions about the many challenging scientific and technical issues facing humanity. Our experience and educational research have taught us that inquiry-based teaching and learning are experiences that allow all types of learners to truly learn science.

That said, Valerie Logan, my partner in all of these efforts, and I share a vision for science education in Washington state as one in which all students are provided with inquiry-based learning experiences via appropriate resources and well-trained teachers. To enhance learning for all students, effective science education programming must be:

• Strategic: the thorough preparation of future teachers, together with enhanced effectiveness of practicing teachers, are key factors to improving science education. Working with teachers provides enormous leverage because each teacher will teach dozens to hundreds of students each year.
• Systemic: for educational innovations to be institutionalized effectively, entire units (e.g. all elementary teachers in a school district) of the educational system must go through the transformation process together. In this way, they learn jointly and reinforce each other. This is a systems approach to education for all teachers and all students!
• Sustainable: successful long-term educational renewal requires a deep community commitment to continuous improvement. School districts, universities and other community partners must provide a coherent, coordinated range of intellectual, technical and financial resources over the long term.
• Sequential: improving elementary-school education can help students become powerful advocates for change as they advance to middle and high school. Hence it must cover K-12 science education (and even beyond!). Reform efforts at higher levels can be guided by and adjusted to the improvements at earlier grades.
• Societal: the social, political and economic contexts in which schools operate, and the knowledge and beliefs of education’s stakeholders all impact the success and sustainability of improvement. All key stakeholder groups must come to share a vision of effective approaches that ensure the equity of opportunity for high-quality instruction from master teachers. It is essential that K-12 science education be democratized and made available to all children—for education is the most power approach to addressing society’s inequities.

Leadership is essential in this process—providing a coherent vision, catalyzing the organization of and resources required for the teaching of inquiry science, bringing together community partners, stimulating significant fundraising, and most important of all enabling the vision.

When Valerie Logan and I moved from Pasadena, California to Seattle in 1992 to establish the University of Washington’s (UW) Department of Molecular Biotechnology, most of the Seattle elementary schools provided little or no science education. We partnered with other UW scientists and Seattle Public School’s district leadership, and in 1995 we were able to obtain a $4.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Local Systemic Change (LSC) in Science Initiative.

The Partnership for Inquiry-based Science provided means for the district to adopt inquiry-based curriculum, train lead teachers who in turn partnered with scientists to train classroom teachers across the entire district. At its conclusion, the program was serving more than 1100 teachers and approximately 23,000 students in Seattle’s 72 elementary schools. And this program continues effective science teaching today!

As the elementary program grew, we recognized the need to expand the program to the middle school level. We forged partnerships with Seattle, Bellevue, Highline, Northshore and Shoreline school districts, and in 1998 received a $1.6 million LSC grant from NSF.The Middle School Science Systemic Change Partnership provided inquiry-based science training and support to 350 teachers who served approximately 20,000 students. Once again this program is still being carried out.

As these programs took form within the school districts, we soon realized that for the community members to support the reform efforts, they needed to understand the contemporary philosophies and strategies for teaching and learning science. The Family Science program was founded in 1995 with funding from NSF. With the mission to empower families to learn science together and to build community support for science learning, this program builds on and supplements the work of the regional systemic initiatives. The program has engaged K-8 schools, community centers, universities, and research institutes in engaging parents and other caregivers in their children’s science learning.

In 2000, Valerie and I left the UW and started the independent, nonprofit, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB). Continuing our commitment to K-12 education, we brought not only several faculty members from UW, but also the education staff. The education group at ISB, known as the Center for Inquiry Science, is unique to a research institution as its core mission is not to do outreach work or ‘showcase’ the science and technologies of ISB, but rather to support the education and workforce pipelines – working across the K-12 grade levels and across all of the sciences.

The Center for Inquiry Science continues the work described above and has expanded their repertoire to include a Teacher Professional Continuum project, Observing Evidence for Learning, funded by the NSF; development of a professional development provider Leadership Academy, with funding from Boeing and the National Institutes for Health (NIH); and as directors of the North Sound LASER Alliance.

As was done during the work of the systemic initiatives, we continue to lead fundraising efforts to support K-12 science education. In addition to championing grants for federal funding (NSF and NIH), Valerie and I have worked with our education staff to raise several million dollars from 17 corporations and foundations including AMGEN, Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, the Boeing Company, Bullitt Foundation, Discuren Charitable Trust, The Lucky 7 Foundation, Medtronic Foundation, The Nesholm Foundation, Preston, Gates and Ellis, LLP, The Rathmann Foundation, The Seattle Foundation, The Seaver Foundation, Seaver Institute for Medical Research, Turner Construction Company, and Washington Mutual Foundation.

As the data emerging from inquiry-based science education programs are showing positive gains in student achievement, I am proud to be a key contributor to the success. I continually share our successes through lectures given across the country (and world) in hopes to inspire others in the scientific community to do the same.

Within ISB, we encourage our faculty members to engage in advocacy and programmatic activities related to K-12 science education. For example, Professor Nitin Baliga has very successfully partnered with the Bellevue School District to bring systems biology to high school biology. Moreover, as I share my scientific endeavors with colleagues external to ISB, I always dedicate a portion of my presentations to highlighting the science education endeavors that Valerie and I have led. Many scientists in other states have been encouraged to begin programs of their own—with help, materials and inspiration from our Center for Inquiry Science.

Click here to read a letter from Governor Gregoire congratulating Lee Hood and Valerie Logan on their Science Education Advocate Award.