EDUCATION
Mixed Reaction To National Research Council's Draft Education Standards or two years, a National Research Council (NRC) committee has been working to formulate a set of national standards in science education. The project's ambitious goal is to describe what all primary and secondary students should understand as a result of their school experience. The standards also will provide criteria for judging the quality of teaching, policies, and infrastructure of school systems. About 500 scientists, teachers, and policymakers got a look at NRCs efforts to date at a science education forum in Atlanta last month hosted by Sigma Xi, the scientific research society. NRCs attempt to shape reform of kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) science education drew widespread approval. But many of the 100 or so K-12 teachers present were uneasy about how relevant the standards would be to their classrooms. National Academy of Sciences president Bruce M. Alberts described the
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work of NRCs National Committee on Science Education Standards & Assessment to the forum. NRC took on the "enormous task," he said, at the urging of groups concerned about the dismal achievement of U.S. students. The project is funded by the departments of Education, Energy, and Agriculture; the National Science Foundation; the National Aeronautics & Space Administration; and the National Institutes of Health. Alberts explained that standards are being developed in five different areas. Content standards define what all students should understand at various stages in their education. Teaching standards describe what teachers need to understand and learn to best provide for students. Assessment standards identify characteristics of fair and accurate assessments consistent with the content standards. Program standards, Alberts continued, describe how content, teaching, and assessment standards are coordi-
Content standards define what students should know Grades
Physical science
Life science
Kindergarten-4 Properties of objects and materials Position and motion of objects Forms of energy: heat, light, electricity, and magnetism
Characteristics of organisms
5-8
Structure and function in living systems Reproduction, heredity, and variation Diversity and adaptations of organisms Populations and interdependence
Properties of matter Particulate model of matter Motions and changes in motions Transformations of energy
9-12
Structure of matter Chemical interactions Forces and motion Conservation and transmission of energy
Life cycles of organisms Organisms and environments
Diversity of organisms The cell Heredity Matter, energy, and organization of living systems Evolution of living systems Populations and interdependence
Source: National Research Council's National Committee on Science Education Standards & Assessment
nated. Finally, systems standards address policies and actions of school administrative systems. The "central, revolutionary" theme of the NRC standards effort, Alberts said, is embodied in the concept "science as inquiry," which is also the title of one of the content standards. "I don't know all of biology after 30 years, but somehow we expect our students to know everything after junior high," he said. "We should just want to get them excited so they'll keep on learning." Several workshops at the Sigma Xi forum critiqued portions of the draft NRC standards. One such session tackled the content standards. In addition to science as inquiry, the draft addresses seven other categories: physical science, life science, Earth and space science, science and technology, science and societal challenges, history and nature of science, and unifying concepts and processes. The group praised the progressive nature of the content standards, which return again and again to the same concepts while increasing in breadth and depth with the grade of the student. But many critical comments also surfaced. "Mush" was the reaction of George Biallas, an engineer with the Southeastern Universities Research Association in Newport News, Va. "Manufacturing is the engine of America, and there is nothing in the standards about how people make things. No technology, no engineering." The K-12 teachers in the workshop worried about how to translate the standards into daily lessons that would have meaning for their students. Some viewed the standards as too academic. Others worried that the details of the standards, which spell out the facts supporting various concepts, would become a national curriculum to be memorized. NRC plans to release a draft of the standards for comment this summer. The final document likely will be completed by late this year or early next. Pamela Zurer MAY 2, 1994 C&EN
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