Science Learning

The release in 1983 of A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform is a reasonable place to begin consideration of the standards movement in science education in the United States in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This document, prepared by the National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE), was a response to "the widespread public perception that something is seriously remiss in our educational system" (p. 1). The document contained sentiments that became slogans of the standards movement. Science education for all is foreshadowed: "All, regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a chance and to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost" (p. 4). Recommendations focused on content, standards and expectations, time, teaching and leadership, and fiscal support. Science content was defined as "(a) the concepts, laws and processes of the physical and biological sciences; (b) the methods of scientific inquiry and reasoning; (c) the application of science knowledge to everyday life; and (d) the social and environmental implications of scientific and technological development" (p. 25).

The science education community both anticipated and responded to this report with numerous efforts. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) initiated Project 2061, which began by defining scientific literacy for all high school graduates. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) began its Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project and ultimately, in 1992, published Scope, Sequence, and Coordination: The Content Core. Professional organizations and curriculum development corporations began to produce curriculum materials that emphasized hands-on science, another slogan of the period.

Mathematics Standards and National Education Goals

In 1989 two events occurred that would influence the development of national science education standards. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. The term standards assumed new prominence in education reform.

Also in 1989 the National Governors Association met with then U.S. President George H. W. Bush at an education summit. They endorsed six national education goals, which were articulated as America 2000 under the Bush administration and were enacted as the Goals 2000: Educate America Act in 1994, during the administration of Bill Clinton. Two of the national goals made specific reference to improving the knowledge and skills of students in science:

Goal 3: Student Achievement and Citizenship. By the year 2000, American students will leave grades four, eight and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter, including English, mathematics, science, history and geography; and Goal 4: Science and Mathematics. By the year 2000, U.S. students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement. (Malcom, p. 4)

The National Council on Education Standards and Testing, instituted by the U.S. Congress, referred explicitly to the mathematics standards when they recommended in 1992 that standards for school subjects were a desirable and feasible vehicle for meeting the national education goals. This council noted that the mathematics standards had been developed by a professional society that included mathematicians and teachers. Further, the standards had been subjected to cycles of public review and feedback that encouraged consensus building about what students should know and be able to do. Development by a professional society and public review became two requirements as federal agencies began awarding grants to develop high, voluntary, national standards in school subjects including science.

While there was public consensus that educational standards were good and useful, there was no consensus on what standards were. Examining ordinary dictionaries, two apparently contradictory meanings are found. A standard is an object used as an emblem, symbol, and rallying point for a leader, people, or movement; standards are banners. A standard also is an established basis or rule of comparison used to measure quality or value; standards are bars. Further, three types of standards were identified: content standards, performance standards, and delivery standards. Shirley Malcom, in a 1993 report of the National Education Goals Panel, defined content standards as what students should know and be able to do and performance standards as specifying how good is good enough. Diane Ravitch, in the 1995 book National Standards in American Education: A Citizen's Guide, defined delivery standards, later called opportunity-to-learn standards, as conditions for schooling under which content and performance standards would be attained.

Two Key Documents: NSES and Benchmarks

When the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) began to deliberate about which association to consider to develop national education standards for science, two were immediately apparent: AAAS and NSTA. Each had reasons to assume leadership in the enterprise. Project 2061 was well underway at AAAS and in 1989 had produced Science for All Americans, which was having an impact on thinking and practice in curriculum and instruction in science. Work had begun on Benchmarks for Science Literacy, which parsed what students at different grade levels needed to understand if they were to attain science literacy by grade twelve. Alternatively, NSTA is the largest organization of science teachers in the country and is analogous to NCTM.

In spring 1991 the president of NSTA, supported by the unanimous vote of the board, asked the president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) with its operating arm, the National Research Council (NRC), to coordinate the development of national science education standards. The DoE encouraged NAS/NRC, a prestigious organization, to draw on expertise and experience from both AAAS and NSTA. Subsequently, by the early twenty-first century, two works were acknowledged at the national level as setting education standards for science: National Science Education Standards (NSES), which was produced by NRC in 1996; and Benchmarks for Science Literacy, which was published in 1993 by AAAS and is one product of Project 2061. A 1997 analysis of the science content in NSES and Benchmarks conducted by Project 2061 revealed that, although organized differently, there is greater than 90 percent overlap in what the two documents claim all students should understand and should be able to do.

NSES describes science content as fundamental and included as a standard if it: represents a central event or phenomena in the natural world; represents a central scientific idea and organizing principle; has rich explanatory power; guides fruitful investigations; applies to situations and contexts common to everyday experience; can be linked to meaningful learning experiences; and is developmentally appropriate for students at the grade levels specified. In NSES, the science content begins with the unifying concepts and process standard: systems, order, and organization; evidence, models, and explanations; change, constancy, and measurement; evolution and equilibrium; and form and function. These are not sorted by grade level but are applicable in some form to all students and all science disciplines. The other science content standards in NSES are displayed in Table 1. An array of the fundamental ideas in science that constitute the standards illustrates three points. The ideas build on one another from grade level to grade level. The ideas increase in complexity and abstractness across grade levels. There is an increase in the number of ideas across grade levels.

At the standard statement level the knowledge and abilities of students about inquiry and about technological design are similar for all students. Across grade levels, the ideas with which inquiry and design interact are increasingly complex and sophisticated. The increased complexity and sophistication of inquiry and design are captured in the guide to the standards. For example, grade K–4 students are to "Ask a question about objects, organisms and events in the environment" (NRC, p. 122). Grade 5–8 students are to "Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations" (p. 145), while grade 9–12 students are to "Identify questions and concepts that guide scientific investigations" (p. 175).

The NSES went beyond the charge from DoE and developed standards for teaching and assessment, recognizing that change in content is not sufficient to produce change in teaching and learning. Further, NSES produced professional development standards, which focus on initial and continuing education of teachers; program standards, which focus on changes for schools and school districts; and system standards, which focus on changes in the entire educational system. Benchmarks extended science content to mathematics and to human society.

Implementation

Although science education standards have been generally well received, their implementation has been difficult and uneven. Returning to an emphasis on local control in education, some states chose to keep the frameworks they had in place prior to 1989, some adopted the NSES or Benchmarks, others adapted either NSES or Benchmarks, while still others created their own state science standards. By 2000 most instructional materials claimed to be standards based. An analysis of many of them in 2001 by Project 2061, however, indicated that few actually are. Some of the questions that plague those implementing standards include: What is inquiry? What does it mean to understand a science idea? and Are the indicated grade levels appropriate? To answer these and other questions and to extend the influence and implementation of the NSES, the NRC has held numerous conferences and published more than fifteen documents addressed to teachers, parents, policymakers, and curriculum and assessment developers. Benchmarks is only one in a series of materials available or planned by Project 2061 to promote science literacy. The Atlas of Science Literacy, published by AAAS in 2001, graphically presents how the understanding of important science ideas is developed by students over time. Project 2061 also has developed a number of online tools such as Blueprints for Reform, which was published by AAAS in 2001, and conducts meetings and workshops for various stakeholders in science education.

TABLE 1

Other Standards Documents

The picture of education standards in science would be incomplete without mentioning the Standards for Technological Literacy released by the International Technology Education Association in 2000. Also, in 1989 the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards produced standards for experienced science teachers, while the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium published Standards in Science for New Teachers: A Resource for State Dialogue in 2001. There are also standards for programs that educate science teachers and for instructors in such programs.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, standards are seen alternatively as vision or hurdle, as influential or intrusive, as realistic or impractical. Beyond question, however, they have become an integral part of the science education enterprise.