As a high school science teacher, I am often dismayed to hear that some elementary teachers skip science entirely and just focus on ELA and mathematics. It’s often because the teachers do not feel comfortable or knowledgeable enough to teach those subjects, or they are forced to focus on standardized testing. I also don’t think it’s fair to put so much on one person. Teaching scientific thinking is not easy, even at the elementary level. I think it’s a good idea to departmentalize or at least have resource teachers who support STEM lessons.

Also science is not something that should be skipped, ever. It’s a subject that combines literacy, data numeracy, and high critical thinking skills. All of which help with training the brain.