As you know, there are new science standards coming your way, and they are being developed by Achieve, Inc., with funds from the Carnegie Corporation, and other large corporations and foundations. According to Achieve, 20 states are leading the effort, and about 40 teachers have been selected to write the new standards. The teachers have been drawn from Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. The new standards are based on the National Research Council publication, A Framework for K-12 Science Education.
The current standards (National Science Education Standards) were developed late in the 20th Century (1996), and now a new generation of science standards is in the works and will be published in 2012. The content standards are statements of what a group of experts think students should know about science and are often written in the form of performance (behavioral) objectives. Here is an example from the NSES:
There are hundreds of these statements in the NSES organized by content areas (Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth Space Science), and grouped by grade level clusters: K-4; Grades 5 -8; Grades 9 -12. You can read the entire NSES document here.
Why do we need new standards? The fundamental reason that new standards are coming along is embodied in the following statement written by the Carnegie Foundation’s commission or committee who formulated A Framework for K-12 Science Education.
According to Achieve, Inc., the U.S. system of science and mathematics education is performing below par, and if left unattended, will leave millions of young Americans unprepared to succeed in a global economy.
The Reasons for the New Standards
Achieve then identifies four reasons for the need for new standards:
- Reduction of the United States’ Competitive Economic Edge
- Lagging Achievement of U.S. students
- Need for Essential Preparation for all Careers in the Modern Workforce
- Scientific and Technical Literacy for an Educated Society
Most of these reasons are based on the pipeline ideology that suggests that science education is in the service of the preparation of future scientists, and for those pursuing careers in science, and science related fields. This rationale served us well in developing science curriculum for some students, but it surely has not been effective with a lot of students. Some science education researchers have reported in refereed journals that the content of science approach has not worked for many students, and a new approach is needed.
The world has changed in the past 50 years, especially in the past twenty with the rise of China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Chile and other nations, yet many of the leaders directing the development of these new standards are stuck in the last century in terms of why we teach science (primarily for economic and competitive reasons), and are unable to free themselves of the traditional disciplines of science, and to look at science in the context of communities, societies, and the globe.
Questioning the Rationale
Most of the reasons that are used to rationalize the science standards can be argued. Over the next several days, we will explore these reasons, and provide data to show that we might look to other reasons to teach science, and that standards might take on a different form.
0 Comments