Hinsdale Science Changes Defended

HINSDALE, IL — For months, Hinsdale Central High School parents have protested the plan to reverse the traditional sequence of science classes. This reversal has been the case at Hinsdale South for some years. At last week's school board meeting, South parents, students and graduates expressed support for the system.

Under such a curriculum, students take physics as freshmen, chemistry as sophomores and biology as juniors, with each class including earth science concepts.

Alec Carpenter, a 2015 South graduate and a recent mechanical engineering graduate from Purdue University, said the reversed sequence helps students better understand scientific concepts.

"The difference is between memorizing and having a deeper understanding about how things are related to each other," he told the board.

A number of residents, including Darien Alderman Mary Sullivan, read letters from South graduates who said the reversed sequence is beneficial. The letter writers have gone on to medical school and prestigious universities pursuing science, technical, engineering or mathematics degrees.

David Fetty, a recently retired South chemistry teacher, said he was a skeptic at first about the changed curriculum. But he said he became convinced when he saw that it increased both student learning and achievement.

"Learning is more effectual," he said. "There's better long-term retention."

Kaitlyn Hurka, a South senior and class president, also praised her school's science curriculum, saying she never felt unprepared.

"The science program at South is absolutely amazing and has brought me a great deal of success, not only in terms of AP credit, but in fostering my passion for science," she said. "When I graduate from South, I will have taken seven science classes, all of which I truly enjoyed."

Hurka wants to become an orthopedic surgeon.

After many of the comments in favor of the reversed sequence, Hinsdale resident Linda Burke, who has questioned changing the curriculum at Central, suggested the district set up a pilot program to see how it will work, as other schools have done.

By changing the sequence at Central, the school district says it not only seeks to align offerings between the two schools, but also to increase student exposure to core sciences and enroll them in more than the required two years of science. Many colleges suggest three years of science.

Opponents said the curriculum's goal of alignment meant removing classes from Central.

The district, they said, should add classes, instead of taking them away from Central's nationally recognized science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, program.