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Schools to teach planetary change without updated textbooks Tuesday, Aug 29, 2006 By Betsy Turner Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas schools will rely on teachers or small correction inserts to explain the elimination of the ninth planet until new textbooks can reflect the change in the future. The International Astronomical Union voted Thursday to remove Pluto's designation as a planet, and officials at Arkansas school districts said Monday the revised solar system model would be noted immediately. Correction sheets likely will be inserted in science textbooks at Little Rock schools, according to Dennis Glasgow, the Little Rock School District's senior director of curriculum. Glasgow said the vote to declassify Pluto as a planet was an opportunity for teachers to educate students on the fluid nature of the science field. "Science is a living subject," he said. "We expect for teachers to teach it that way." Barry Owen, the director of secondary education for the Fort Smith School District, said the change would be noted by teachers and on supplemental materials, such as maps. "Their plans will be modified when they teach that," Owen said. "They will make those corrections in the lesson plans and refer to that in books, saying 'Students, instead of nine planets there are eight and if you make a model, leave Pluto off because it is no longer considered a planet.'" Julie Thompson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said the change comes while the department is considering textbook recommendations for the 2007-2008 school year. She said a science specialist for the department was waiting to see if the findings by the IAU were widely accepted in the scientific community before making recommendations on its use. When the department releases the textbook recommendations, Thompson said, each school district will be free to choose its educational materials from the list. Until textbooks could be changed, teachers could update classroom lessons with other sources of information on Pluto's planetary status removal, she said. "This year, teachers will need to incorporate other articles and use scientific journal articles that are well respected," Thompson said. The Springdale School District plans to use those types of alternative news sources to adjust lesson plans, Superintendent Jim Rollins said. He said the district attempts to stay abreast of significant developments in the scientific community. "What we try to do is, when the scientific community comes to a position, we try to share that positions with them." Rollins said. |
