The National Research Council has received funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to develop a framework for a new generation of science standards (K-12) based on the idea of disciplinary and cross-disciplinary core ideas. A committee of experts has already met (January 28-29) to begin the process of developing the conceptual framework. The 16 member committee is comprised of 13 university science and science education professors, a NASA scientist, an official from a state department of education, and the director of a science teaching professional development collaborative.

Much of the rationale for this new NRC project can be found in the 2006 report (follow the link to read the report online) by the NRC entitled “Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8.” One of the goals of the “new standards” committee is to develop a rationale that will focus on a few “core concepts” in each of the major science disciplines, as well as those ideas that cut across disciplines.

In the Carnegie Corporation announcement of the NRC project, the focus of the new framework is as follows:

Given the proliferation of knowledge in the sciences, particularly knowledge that blurs the lines between traditional science disciplines (e.g., chemistry or biology), the identification of core ideas has greater importance for organizing curriculum, teaching and learning. The core ideas in science around which the education framework may be developed include physical sciences, life sciences, earth sciences and applied sciences, as well as cross-cutting ideas such as mathematization*, causal reasoning, evaluating and using evidence, argumentation, and model development. The framework will look at student learning in at least 4th, 8th, and 12th grade.

As stated in documents that I’ve read, the committee will be influenced by three science education efforts over the past thirty years:

• Project 2061 of the AAAS
• The National Science Education Standards
• NRC report: Taking Science to School

The effort will involve first the development of the rationale, and then the actual writing and publication of a new standards. The Carnegie Corporation puts it this way:

As the National Research Council committee works toward completing a final report, design teams from Achieve, Inc.,National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will begin the process of developing science standards. The National Research Council’s framework will be central to this process.

Underpinning this effort is a set of recommendations for fewer, clearer, higher standards drawn from Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy the June 2009 report by the Carnegie Corporation of New York – Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education.

Although not part of the Common Standards movement of the Council of Chief State School Offices and the National Governors Association, the new generation of science standards will be very tempting to those who wish to have a singular set of standards for America’s 15,000 school districts.

If you examine the 2006 report, Taking Science to School, recommendations are made for new standards, and it seems clear that this new effort by the National Research Council will be based on these statements found in the report:

• Recommendation 1: Developers of standards, curriculum, and assessment need to revise their frameworks to reflect new models of children’s thinking and take better advantage of children’s capabilities.
• Recommendation 2: The committee thinks that the next generation of standards and curricula at both the national and state levels should be structured to identify a few core ideas in a discipline and elaborate how these ideas can be grown in a cumulative manner over grades K-8.
• Recommendation 3: Developers of curricula and standards need to present science as a process of building theories and models using evidence, checking them for internal consistency and coherence, and testing them empirically.

With additional meetings in March and April, the expert committee will develop a K-12 science framework which will then be used to write new science standards under the direction of Achieve. Achieve was “created in 1996 by the nation’s governors and corporate leaders, Achieve is an independent, bipartisan, non-profit education reform organization based in Washington, D.C. that helps states raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments and strengthen accountability.

It will be important to follow the development of the new standards.