Atoms, Strings, Applies, and Gravity: What the Average American Science Teacher Does Not Teach CLAIR BERUBE Abstract: American science teachers in elementary and middle school face a dilemma as they prepare students for high school physics and advanced placement classes. The dilemma lies in ensuring that these students are equipped with the high-level science content they need to thrive in such classes. Aside from life sciences and chemistry sciences, how are our students learning phys- ics at a young age? Do our elementary and middle school teachers know the current content in physics required to prepare our students for the top levels of science education? The author argues that many lower-school teachers are either shying away from such content or are unaware of the latest developments in the field. Keywords: elementary school science, high school physics, middle school science, science content s a professor teaching science methods to preservice teachers, I confronted the realization that the aver- age student does not have appropriate content knowledge in certain science basics. This realization came after listen- ing to the students' definitions of various scientific terms and concepts everyone preparing to teach science should know. I asked science methods students two questions on the first day of class: What is your definition of gravity? And what is your understanding of atoms? The answers were offered up cheerfully but were incomplete at best or incorrect at worst. With this exercise, I welcomed them to the ever-changing world of science. I did not perform this question-and-answer session to dampen their spirits. I did it as a powerful demonstration that the3y as future care- takers of scientific knowledge who will pass the science gauntlet on to their students, must know their content. I first noticed lower-school science teachers' short- comings in content knowledge as a middle school science teacher. I studied science in my spare time and read the latest discoveries in physics, my passion and favorite topic in the field, so I could pass on the latest scientific knowledge to my students. After all, science is characterized by its ever-changing aspect. My middle school students' knowledge of scientific top- ics was extremely behind where it should have been, so I did some investigating. My findings disheartened me. Most of the lower-school teachers taught science only once or twice per week, both because they were not proficient in it and becase they considered other content areas more important. I spent a large part of my fall semester bringing my students up-to-date. I also devoted a good portion of the year to teaching for the first time concepts they should have already learned. Science is now taught more frequently-one of the few positive results of No Child Left Behind-but quantity does not necessarily address content issues. Science requires the teaching and learning of skills and dispositions not found in any other subject. The American Association for the Advancement of Science's The Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy (1993) lists skills and dispositions necessary not only for learning but also for teaching science. They indude science pro- cess skills such as observing, classifying, working with data, and experimenting; critical-thinking skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating; and most important, scientific-reasoning skills, including ques- tioning scientific assumptions, searching for data and Clair Berube, PhD, is an assistant professor of education at Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, where she teachers science education and general education classes. Copyright © 2008 Heldref Publications 223