Rationale
The eight categories of content standards are:
- Unifying concepts and processes in
science.
- Science as inquiry.
- Physical science.
- Life science.
- Earth and space science.
- Science and technology.
- Science in personal and social
perspectives.
- History and nature of science.
The standard for unifying concepts and processes is presented for grades K-12, because the understanding and abilities associated with major conceptual and procedural schemes need to be developed over an entire education, and the unifying concepts and processes transcend disciplinary boundaries. The next seven categories are clustered for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Those clusters were selected based on a combination of factors, including cognitive development theory, the classroom experience of teachers, organization of schools, and the frameworks of other disciplinary-based standards. References for additional reading for all the content standards are presented at the end of Chapter 6.
The sequence of the seven grade-level content standards is not arbitrary: Each standard subsumes the knowledge and skills of other standards. Students' understandings and abilities are grounded in the experience of inquiry, and inquiry is the foundation for the development of understandings and abilities of the other content standards. The personal and social aspects of science are emphasized increasingly in the progression from science as inquiry standards to the history and nature of science standards. Students need solid knowledge and understanding in physical, life, and earth and space science if they are to apply science.
Multidisciplinary perspectives also increase from the subject-matter standards to the standard on the history and nature of science, providing many opportunities for integrated approaches to science teaching.
UNIFYING CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES STANDARD
Conceptual and procedural schemes unify science disciplines and provide students with powerful ideas to help them understand the natural world. Because of the underlying principles embodied in this standard, the understandings and abilities described here are repeated in the other content standards. Unifying concepts and processes include
- Systems, order, and organization.
- Evidence, models, and explanation.
- Change, constancy, and measurement.
- Evolution and equilibrium.
- Form and function.
This standard describes some of the integrative schemes that can bring together students' many experiences in science education across grades K-12. The unifying concepts and processes standard can be the focus of instruction at any grade level but should always be closely linked to outcomes aligned with other content standards. In the early grades, instruction should establish the meaning and use of unifying concepts and processes--for example, what it means to measure and how to use measurement tools. At the upper grades, the standard should facilitate and enhance the learning of scientific concepts and principles by providing students with a big picture of scientific ideas--for example, how measurement is important in all scientific endeavors.
SCIENCE AS INQUIRY STANDARDS
In the vision presented by the Standards, inquiry is a step beyond "science as a process," in which students learn skills, such as observation, inference, and experimentation. The new vision includes the "processes of science" and requires that students combine processes and scientific knowledge as they use scientific reasoning and critical thinking to develop their understanding of science. Engaging students in inquiry helps students develop
- Understanding of scientific concepts.
- An appreciation of "how we know" what we know in science.
- Understanding of the nature of science.
- Skills necessary to become independent inquirers about the natural world.
- The dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science.
Science as inquiry is basic to science education and a controlling principle in the ultimate organization and selection of students' activities. The standards on inquiry highlight the ability to conduct inquiry and develop understanding about scientific inquiry. Students at all grade levels and in every domain of science should have the opportunity to use scientific inquiry and develop the ability to think and act in ways associated with inquiry, including asking questions, planning and conducting investigations, using appropriate tools and techniques to gather data, thinking critically and logically about relationships between evidence and explanations, constructing and analyzing alternative explanations, and communicating scientific arguments. Table 6.1 shows the standards for inquiry. The science as inquiry standards are described in terms of activities resulting in student development of certain abilities and in terms of student understanding of inquiry.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE, LIFE SCIENCE, AND EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE STANDARDS
The standards for physical science, life science, and earth and space science describe the subject matter of science using three widely accepted divisions of the domain of science. Science subject matter focuses on the science facts, concepts, principles, theories, and models that are important for all students to know, understand, and use. Tables 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 are the standards for physical science, life science, and earth and space science, respectively.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS
The science and technology standards in Table 6.5 establish connections between the natural and designed worlds and provide students with opportunities to develop
decision-making abilities. They are not standards for technology education; rather, these standards emphasize abilities associated with the process of design and fundamental understandings about the enterprise of science and its various linkages with technology.
As a complement to the abilities developed in the science as inquiry standards, these standards call for students to develop abilities to identify and state a problem, design a solution--including a cost and risk-and-benefit analysis--implement a solution, and evaluate the solution.
Science as inquiry is parallel to technology as design. Both standards emphasize student development of abilities and understanding. Connections to other domains, such as mathematics, are clarified in Chapter 7, Program Standards.
SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES STANDARDS
An important purpose of science education is to give students a means to understand and act on personal and social issues. The science in personal and social perspectives standards help students develop
decision-making skills. Understandings associated with the concepts in Table 6.6 give students a foundation on which to
base decisions they will face as citizens.
HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE STANDARDS
In learning science, students need to understand that science reflects its history and is an ongoing, changing enterprise. The standards for the history and nature of science recommend the use of history in school science programs to clarify different aspects of scientific inquiry, the human aspects of science, and the role that science has played in the development of various cultures. Table 6.7 provides an overview of this standard.
Form of the Content Standards
Below is an example of a content standard. Each content standard states that, as the result of activities provided for all students in the grade level discussed, the content of the standard is to be understood or the abilities are to be developed.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE (EXAMPLE)
CONTENT STANDARD B:
As a result of the activities in grades K-4, all students should develop an understanding of
- Properties of objects and materials
- Position and motion of objects
- Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
After each content standard is a section entitled, Developing Student Understanding (or abilities and understanding, when appropriate), which elaborates upon issues associated with opportunities to learn the content. This section describes linkages among student learning, teaching, and classroom situations. This discussion on developing student understanding, including the remarks on the selection of content for grade levels, is based in part on educational research. It also incorporates the experiences of many thoughtful people, including teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and educational researchers. (Some references to research on student understanding and abilities are located at the end of the chapter.)
The next section of each standard is a Guide to the Content Standard, which describes the fundamental ideas that underlie the standard. Content is fundamental if it
- Represents a central event or phenomenon 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 experiences.
- Can be linked to meaningful
learning experiences.
- Is developmentally appropriate for
students at the grade level specified.
Criteria for the Content Standards
Three criteria influence the selection of science content. The first is an obligation to the domain of science. The subject matter in the physical, life, and earth and space science standards is central to science education and must be accurate. The presentation in national standards also must accommodate the needs of many individuals who will implement the standards in school science programs. The standards represent science content accurately and appropriately at all grades, with increasing precision and more scientific nomenclature from kindergarten to grade 12.
The second criterion is an obligation to develop content standards that appropriately represent the developmental and learning abilities of students. Organizing principles were selected that express meaningful links to direct student observations of the natural world. The content is aligned with students' ages and stages of development. This criterion includes increasing emphasis on abstract and conceptual understandings as students progress from kindergarten to grade 12.
Tables 6.8, 6.9, and 6.10 display the standards grouped according to grade levels K-4,
5-8, and 9-12, respectively. These tables provide an overview of the standards for elementary-, middle-, and high-school science programs.
The third criterion is an obligation to present standards in a usable form for those who must implement the standards, e.g., curriculum developers, science supervisors, teachers, and other school personnel. The standards need to provide enough breadth of content to define the domains of science, and they need to provide enough depth of content to direct the design of science curricula. The descriptions also need to be understandable by school personnel and to accommodate the structures of elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as the grade levels used in national standards for other disciplines.
Use of the Content Standards
Many different individuals and groups will use the content standards for a variety of purposes. All users and reviewers are reminded that the content described is not a science curriculum. Content is what students should learn. Curriculum is the way content is organized and emphasized; it includes structure, organization, balance, and presentation of the content in the classroom. Although the structure for the content standards organizes the understanding and abilities to be acquired by all students K-12, that structure does not imply any particular organization for science curricula.
Persons responsible for science curricula, teaching, assessment and policy who use the Standards should note the following
- None of the eight categories of content
standards should be eliminated. For instance, students should have opportunities to learn science in personal and social perspectives and to learn about the history and nature of science, as well as to learn subject matter, in the school science program.
- No standards should be eliminated from a category. For instance, "biological evolution" cannot be eliminated from the life science standards.
- Science content can be added. The connections, depth, detail, and selection of topics can be enriched and varied as appropriate for individual students and school science programs. However, addition of content must not prevent the learning of fundamental concepts by all students.
- The content standards must be used in the context of the standards on teaching and assessment. Using the standards with traditional teaching and assessment strategies defeats the intentions of the National Science Education Standards.
As science advances, the content standards might change, but the conceptual organization will continue to provide students with knowledge, understanding, and abilities that will improve their scientific literacy.
The National Science Education Standards envision change throughout the system. The science content standards encompass the following changes in emphases:
