Critical Issue: Aligning and Articulating Standards Across the Science Curriculum

ISSUE: The emerging national standards for science education will require educators to align their science curricula with the standards for science and the standards for other disciplines. The resulting curricula will present science holistically, linking concepts and processes across disciplines, and articulating them throughout the students' years in formal schooling. To create and implement this new science curriculum, educators will need broad content knowledge and a new vision for science learning.

OVERVIEW: Scientists traditionally have organized their knowledge of nature into discrete domains--such as biology, chemistry and physics--even though these disciplines share a number of principles and processes. Science curricula have tended to emulate this pattern, resulting in a fragmented collection of specialized courses.

The traditional curriculum model assumes that students should first learn fundamental facts and skills, then combine them at some later point to solve problems. This approach has led to curricula that emphasize facts, laws, and rote learning. It also conflicts with the goals of education for the 21st century, when citizens increasingly will need to think critically and strategically to solve real-world problems using knowledge from multiple disciplines.

In response to these 21st century needs and as part of a national effort to develop high standards for all students, national standards for science education are being developed by several science groups. Because there is no national consensus on one set of standards, curriculum developers should be familiar with three significant programs of science standards:

• Benchmarks for Science Literacy, by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). These standards are based on the book Science for All Americans (Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990).
• National Science Education Standards, by the National Research Council's National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment (NCSESA).
• Scope, Sequence and Coordination of Secondary School Science,a framework for high school science education (based on National Science Eduation Standards) by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

Both Benchmarks for Science Literacy and the National Science Education Standards propose a new view of science learning based on a growing body of research on how students learn. These standards support a constructivist approach, which views knowledge and understanding as growing from inquiry and investigation. Specific knowledge and understanding are acquired in the process of dealing with authentic problems.

Science for All Americans, for example, advocates teaching science not as a static body of lists, facts, definitions, and formulas, but as an active, ongoing social enterprise motivated by the basic human desire to make sense of the world. In support of this view of science, AAAS recommends four overarching goals for the science curriculum. These goals reflect the premise that generalized principles and processes link all disciplines of learning.

Scope, Sequence, and Coordination of Secondary School Science also favors a curriculum that uses science to solve authentic personal and societal problems. The basic tenets of SS&C stress the need to consider the students' prior knowledge and experience and to emphasize deep understanding of basic scientific principles over breadth of topic coverage.

These three programs of science standards provide a new approach to science and a new definition of learning that can serve as a framework for restructuring the science curriculum.

GOALS: Science education should encompass the following goals:

• The science curriculum teaches the scientific concepts and processes outlined in the national standards.
• The science curriculum incorporates the content and processes of science.
• The science curriculum provides meaningful, engaged learning for all students.

Leacy Piper, science teacher at Anson Jones Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, talks about the changes she made in the way she teaches. [QuickTime slide show, 297k] Excerpted from the video series Schools That Work: The Research Advantage, videoconference #3, Children as Explorers (NCREL, 1991). A text transcript is available.

• The science curriculum engages students in challenging, authentic, interdisciplinary tasks.
• The science curriculum links scientific concepts and processes with prior learning in science and other disciplines.

Etta Tricksey, reading teacher at Anson Jones Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, discusses teaching as part of a team and how reading skills are developed as part of science instruction. [Audio file, 315k] Excerpted from the video series Schools That Work: The Research Advantage, videoconference #3, Children as Explorers (NCREL, 1991). A text transcript is available.

• The science curriculum engages all learners in meaningful scientific tasks involving high-order thinking skills.
• The science curriculum provides a hands-on approach to learning. (See the critical issue "Providing Hands-On, Minds-On, and Authentic Learning Experiences in Science.")
• The science curriculum eliminates discipline boundaries when natural, logical, and appropriate.
• The science curriculum provides opportunities for students to observe, explore, and test hypotheses.
• The science curriculum encourages the students' imagination, logic, and open-mindedness.

ACTION OPTIONS: All stakeholders in the educational system--administrators, teachers, parents, and business and community members--can do the following things to support the alignment and articulation of standards in science education:

• Stakeholders are aware of the current need for high standards for all students.
• Stakeholders know what national standards are and how they're being set.
• Stakeholders are aware of federal legislation designed to increase the educational achievement of American students, to improve teaching, and to expand parental participation. (See " Misconceptions About the Goals 2000: Educate America Act.")
• Stakeholders are aware of state-level efforts at developing educational standards.
• Stakeholders understand and support the three programs of national science standards. A helpful resource that is a composite of the AAAS, NCSESA, and NSTA standards is Science Standards, developed by the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory.
• Stakeholders are aware of the complexities of the change process.

Curriculum design teams--consisting of administrators and teachers, with the help of parents and scientists from the community--can do the following things to align and articulate the science standards:

• Curriculum design teams review the school's science curriculum.
• Curriculum design teams have the time and support needed for designing or reshaping the curriculum in science.
• Curriculum design teams align the existing science curriculum with the national or state standards.

Teachers can do the following things to help improve science education:

• Teachers make parents and community members aware of new approaches to teaching.
• Teachers discuss new initiatives with parents and community members.
• Teachers link science learning with prior learning in science and other disciplines.

• Teachers institute a thinking curriculum that integrates content and process.
• Teachers have the time and support they need to implement the new science curriculum in the classroom. Specifically, they have adequate time for science learning and teacher preparation.
• Teachers are empowered to make decisions about implementing the new curriculum in the classroom. Such empowerment promotes decisionmaking, collaboration, professional development, and an improved curriculum.
• Teachers emphasize authentic instruction and elements that promote high performance and successful learning among students.
• Teachers provide meaningful science learning for all students. (See the critical issue "Ensuring Excellence and Equity in Science.")
• Teachers accept the premise of science for all--that science is accessible to all students.

Irene Damota, principal at Whittier School in Chicago, talks about challenging all students to reach their educational potential. [Audio file, 153k] Excerpted from the video series Schools That Work: The Research Advantage, videoconference #3, Children as Explorers (NCREL, 1991). A text transcript is available.

Students can do the following things to become better learners of science:

• Students are engaged in the learning process and take responsibility for their own learning.
• Students display demanding, higher order thinking skills.
• Students can relate knowledge from one scientific field to another and to other disciplines of knowledge.

Mary Budd Rowe, science education professor at Stanford University in Stanford, California, talks about the importance of science in helping students to find connections and see relationships. [Audio file, 180k] Excerpted from the video series Schools That Work: The Research Advantage, videoconference #3, Children as Explorers (NCREL, 1991). A text transcript is available.

Various other groups--including educational publishers, test writers, elementary and secondary education programs at colleges and universities, and science researchers--can use the standards to develop and access the science literary of students and to identify areas for improvement.

IMPLEMENTATION PITFALLS: All teachers and administrators may not be committed to changing the way science is taught, but their cooperation and enthusiasm is critical to the implementation process. Unfortunately, the working circumstances of teachers and administrators do not foster opportunities to study, debate, or consult with authorities for information on implementing science reform. Teachers and administrators may need more time for learning and planning than the amount currently allocated.

Teachers in particular are essential members of science reform efforts. Teachers who have specialized in one science discipline may resist breaking down the traditional walls between disciplines. Sustained professional development is an important way to help teachers accept and implement new approaches and ideas.

Education programs for science teachers currently foster specialization. Efforts to change the way science is taught will fail without systemic reform, including changes in preservice and administrative preparation programs.

Educational reform takes time. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students may be slow in changing their attitudes relating to science education. In order to succeed, reform efforts must be comprehensive. Community support and political leadership are essential to any educational reform movement.

DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: Some educators defend the boundaries between science disciplines as logical. They prefer learners to connect elements of knowledge into larger concepts one discipline at a time.

Some educators believe that the study of physical science should be postponed until middle school or high school, when students presumably know more about math.

Some educators advocate a strong focus on vocabulary, facts, formulas, labels, and other basic skills in elementary and middle school science. They fear that emphasizing the science process will detract from learning the basic facts.

Some educators neglect cross-discipline opportunities in the belief that some students are just not good in science. Such biases contribute to the equity imbalance in science classes.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES:

Integrating State Performance Objectives into Local Curricula: The state of Ohio and Clermont County public schools.

Team planning at Milwaukee Public Schools.

ENC Online from the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education.

The Little Red Hen Bakes Bread: A mathematics and science cross-curricular investigation developed by the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy to reflect Illinois state goals.

CONTACTS:

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1333 H St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6400
WWW: http://www.aaas.org/

National Science Teachers Association
SS&C Research and Development Center
1840 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201-3000
Contact: Erma Anderson
E-mail: A@nsta.org
(703) 312-9256; fax (703) 522-1698
NSTA WWW: http://www.nsta.org/
NSTA SS&C Research & Development Center WWW: http://www.nsta.org/

References

This Critical Issue was researched and written by Marvin Christensen, Science Professional Development Specialist, Midwest Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, Oak Brook, Illinois.

Date posted: 1996