Baxter on cutting edge of science
Published 7:00 pm Friday, November 19, 2004
Whether the topic is fungi or tubeworms, Louise Baxter strives to impart her love and fascination with science to her students at Bainbridge High School every day.
Growing up in then-rural Bellevue in the 1950s, “I was the first kid in the neighborhood to have a treehouse and a microscope,” Baxter said. “I loved critters and the outdoors and playing in the woods. I wanted to be a scientist my whole life.”
Now the scientist and biology teacher is also one of the authors of new statewide standards in science for grades K-10, which will influence how Washington students learn the subject for decades to come.
“These (standards) should give every school district a roadmap for sequencing science instruction from kindergarten through 10th grade,” Baxter said. “What was missing was a good balance between the physical sciences, life sciences, earth/space sciences and science technology and society.”
Principal Brent Peterson said Baxter’s work at the state level helped the district sharpen its own programs during a two-year review of its science curriculum.
“Louise has been a tremendous asset to our school and our science department,” Peterson said. “Her background and her commitment to staying on top of the state standards have helped us reassess and realign our own at the local level.”
The “Essential Academic Learning Requirements” in science that Baxter helped write for the state Department of Education are likely to have the greatest impact on elementary schools, which did not have clear grade-level expectations in the area of science, she said. The previous guidelines were considered thorough, but “unwieldy” for use in the classroom.
The state two years ago established a committee to revamp the standards. Baxter was among the core group of six who volunteered on the document from start to finish, although some 50 educators took part in the process.
Guided by the new standards, teachers should be able to produce students who can pass the science WASL given to fifth, eighth, and 10th grades, as well as meeting educational benchmarks set at the federal level, Baxter said.
Baxter, who earned a Ph.D. in biology education from the University of Northern Colorado and has been teaching for 33 years, said science instruction has changed dramatically in that time.
“Today it’s far more chemistry- oriented – you really can’t do science in the real world anymore without being a chemist, even if you’re an animal behaviorist,” she said. “You have to look at things on the cellular level, to explain things from the chemistry within the cell, through DNA and related labs.”
As a result, she said, “We don’t do as much natural history as we used to, dissecting and listing the parts of plants and animals.”
In today’s world, with new developments in science and technology announced on a daily basis, solid instruction in the sciences is more important than ever, said Faith Chapel, superintendent of instruction for the Bainbridge Island School District.
“Louise and this group of educators have brought greater definition to science instruction, with regard to how students should apply scientific knowledge and skills,” she said.
The district recently concluded a two-year review of science offerings, and adopted a new science curriculum this year, called Foss, which aims to boost science in the lower grades through a more hands-on approach to learning.
The program also is more closely aligned with new state and national standards for instruction.
Baxter said the background Bainbridge students have received in science is apparent when they arrive at the high school, ready to investigate more advanced scientific inquiry methods.
She’s also found that most students value a culture of learning, and they are excited about exploring life by analyzing the cells of critters and plants.
“The kids who come to us have been well-versed in science,” she said, “and – thank you, thank you to the language arts teachers – they know how to read and write and that’s one of the biggest blessings of all.”
