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Media Services Science education is about to become a lot more important to elementary school students in Arkansas. The state Department of Education will add science to the state's Benchmark Examinations for fifth, sixth and seventh graders, beginning with a pilot test this spring and regular testing in 2007. It's all part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that requires states to test students annually in science in three grades by 2008. In response to the increased emphasis on science education, the University of Arkansas at Monticello has received a $67,826 grant from the National Science Foundation and the Arkansas EPSCoR Research Infrastructure's Elementary Science Specialist Program. The grant will be used to hire an elementary science specialist and purchase equipment and supplies to help improve science education in southeast Arkansas's elementary schools. UAM is one of 12 Centers for Mathematics and Science Education in Arkansas, which serve as repositories of teaching products for math, science and technology. Jim Edson, professor of geology, directs the UAM center. "The level of science literacy in the United States is pretty low," Edson said. "A lot of people don't understand what science is all about. We see it everyday in the news on topics like stem cell research and teaching evolution. The number of students in the U.S. who are majoring in science is declining and a lot of that goes back to a lack of science education at an early age." In addition to hiring an elementary science specialist, the grant will help fund teacher workshops on campus and model lessons for classrooms.
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