Reading: The Most Important Science Process Skill                                                Dr. Stan Metzenberg, CSU Northridge                                                            Special to The Antenna   It has become fashionable in science education to mold K-12 students around an idee fixe [obsession] of a modern scientist; formulating hypotheses, observing measuring, and discovering through hands-on investigations.  What has been left unsaid is that real scientists don't actually spend very much of their day "observing" and "measuring."  They read!  Reading for understanding of content is the core process skill of science, and there is no substitute for practice at an early age. Consider the changing emphasis that California has placed on reading skills in the past 20 years.  In the 1978 California Science Framework, the issue of reading in science instruction was discussed in depth in an appendix, and the promotion of specific science vocabulary was a key point.  In the 1990 California Science Framework, which mercifully is being rewritten this year, the importance of science vocabulary was discounted and analyses of the type included in the 1978 framework were denounced.  Many of the popular hands-on kits in current use provide no reading materials for students at all, and this is the fulfillment of the constructivists' dream.  For everyone else it is a nightmare.   A student who has not developed the skill of learning through reading has no professional future in science.  Without a foundation in scientific vocabulary and with minimal knowledge of scientific fact, their words bear an accent of ignorance that is impossible to conceal and nearly impossible to remediate.  While young people should be encouraged to enter science, they must also be given the education that will permit them to succeed.   Hands-on investigative activities ought to be sprinkled into a science program like a "spice"; they cannot substitute for a "main dish".  The best "hands-on" program would be one in which students can get their "hands on" an informative textbook! Stan Metzenberg (stanmetzenberg@csun.edu) was a consultant for the Academics Standards Commission, and is an Assistant Professor of Biology at California, State University Northridge.  The California Content Standards are available at: http:.//www.k12standards.org.