The Nation - News from Jan. 30, 1987

The National Science Foundation, alarmed by what it calls the absence of real science instruction in elementary schools, awarded $6.6 million in grants to spur the development of science curricula for kindergarten through the sixth grade. The federal money will be matched by funds from private publishing houses, including the National Geographic Society, that will publish the books and other course materials that grow out of the projects. George Tressell, a foundation official, said elementary schools now devote less than 1 hours a week to science education in any form.