Project 2061: Science for All Americans (2061 is the year of the next arrival of Halley's Comet and the period of the next human life span) is a massive project to examine the goals of science education, develop experimental programs in selected school districts around the nation, and eventually use the results of the project to transform the face of science education. Quite a challenge.
Science for All Americans was written by Project 2061 staff of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). was the first product of Project 2061. You can read the entire text online. According to the AAAS project staff, it is suggested that the "terms and circumstances of human existence can be expected to change radically during the next human lifespan. Science, mathematics and technology will be at the center of that change---causing it, shaping it, responding to it. Therefore, they will be essential to the education of today's children for tomorrow's world." Project 2061 also published two other documents on science education including: Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy and Blueprints for Reform
Project 2061 believes that Science for All Americans is about scientific literacy. To Project 2061, a scientifically literate person is one who:
• is aware that science, mathematics and technology are interdependent human enterprises with strengths and limitations.• understands key concepts and principles of science.
• is familiar with the natural world and recognizes both its diversity and unity.
• uses scientific knowledge and scientific ways of thinking for individual and social purposes.
Although the report points out that most Americans do not understand science, they take a point of view that goes beyond individual self-fulfillment and the national interests of the United States. As they point out, more is at stake. The serious problems that humanity faces are global---unchecked population growth, acid rain, the shrinking of tropical forests, the pollution of the environment, disease, social strife, extreme inequities in the distribution of the earth's wealth, the threat of nuclear holocaust, and many others. In this context, scientific literacy takes on a global perspective. The scientifically literate citizen in a global world would realize the potential of science in the following ways:
• Science can provide humanity with the knowledge of the biophysical environment and of social behavior to effectively solve global and local problems.• Science can foster the kind of intelligent respect for nature that should inform decisions on the uses of technology.
• Scientific habits of mind can be of value to people in every walk of life to solve problems that involve evidence, quantitative considerations, logical arguments and uncertainty.
• The knowledge of principles related to the nature of systems, for example, can give people a sound basis for assessing the use of new technologies and their implications for the environment and culture.
• Knowledge of technology, especially continuous development and creative uses, can help humanity deal with survival and work toward a world in which humanity is at peace with itself and its environment.
Project 2061 was divided into three phases, each with own actions and goals: (1) content identification; (2) educational formulation; and (3) educational transformation.
The purpose of phase I is to build a rationale for science education and develop an outline of what science, mathematics and technology content ought to be included in an education for elementary and secondary curriculum. The Science for All Americans report included recommendations on the nature of science, mathematics and technology, the physical setting, the living environment, the human organism, human society, the designed world, the mathematical world, historical perspectives, common themes and the habits of mind.
Five panels were organized, and each developed reports outlining the subject matter that should constitute the essence of literacy in science, mathematics and technology. The panel reports that are of most interest to science teachers include Biological and Health Sciences, Physical and Information Sciences and Engineering, and Technology.
Physical Science
For example, the panel on the physical and information sciences and engineering recommended that the task of teaching the physical and information sciences and engineering in elementary and secondary schools can be facilitated by focusing on key unifying concepts. They identified four key unifying concepts---materials, energy, information, and systems---and several other unifying concepts including equilibrium, time rate, conservation, efficiency, uncertainty, risk, const-effectiveness, and benefit analysis. They then identified key specific concepts in physics, chemistry and earth, planetary and astronomical sciences, information science and computer science, and engineering. The chart below shows the key unifying concepts for physics and chemistry, Earth science, information science and engineering.
Physics
and Chemistry Key Concepts Earth,
Planetary and Astronomical Sciences Key
Concepts Information
Science and Computer Science Engineering • All physical
and chemical phenomena are governed by a few basic
interactions. • The quantum
principle: on a microscopic-length scale, many physical
quantities---such as electric charge, mass, and energy---are
found in tiny fixed units called quanta; atoms gain and lose
energy in fixed quantum units. • The behavior
of simple static and moving systems can be explained using
the laws first laid out by Isaac Newton. • Intuitive
ideas of space, time, energy and mass fail at great
distances and when speeds approach the speed of
light. •
Electromagnetic radiation, of which light is an example,
occurs in a very large range of wavelengths; such radiation
is emitted and absorbed as particles or bundles of
energy. • Electrical
phenomena can be understood in terms of the behavior of the
electric charge. • For many
purposes, matter can be viewed as being composed of atoms
and molecules that have well-defined sizes, shapes,
structures, compositions, and energy contents. • Atomic nuclei
undergo changes. • Our universe
has an enormous number of galaxies. • The Sun is
one of the many stars within the Milky Way Galaxy; the Earth
is one of the planets of the Sun. • The Earth is
a nearly spherical rotating body; its dimensions, motion,
and position relative to the Sun govern our
lives. • Forces deep
within the Earth, acting over geologic time, have caused
continents to move, rupture, and collide. • Life on the
Earth arose through natural processes several billion years
ago. • The oceans
and atmosphere are very large, buffered chemical, biological
and geological systems. • Climate is
the long-term expression of the movements of masses of
fluids in the ocean and atmosphere. • Waves, wind,
water and ice are agents of erosion and deposition that
sculpt the Earth's surface to produce distinctive
landforms. • Humans need
and use many substances found naturally on the Earth's
surface and in its interior. • All places on
Earth have characteristics that give them meaning and
character and that distinguish them from each other.
• Information
is the meaning attributed to data. • Different
kinds of information can be derived from the same
data. • Information
can be expressed in many forms and can be represented in
analog (continuous) or digital (discrete)
formats. • Information
generally degrades during transmission or
storage. • All systems,
both natural and human-made, are internally coordinated by
processes that convey information. • Information
is more useful when it is represented by orderly collections
of symbols called data structures. • Procedures
can be formalized as algorithms. • Computing
machines are constructed from simple components. • All
general-purpose computing machines are fundamentally
equivalent. • To ensure
that an information system will be successful in the real
world, the design must include both logical rigor and an
understanding of social forces, cultural beliefs and
economic realities. • A key
ingredient of engineering process is the ability to plan and
manage a project. • Modeling
conceptualizes the problem to be solved and the solution
itself, formulating them as much as possible in quantitative
terms. • Every design
or system has constraints that must be identified and taken
into account. • Optimization
endeavors to determine the best possible solution to a
problem under its relevant constraints. • The design is
the core of the engineering process. • Each design
has its side effects. • The artifacts
created by design cannot be allowed to perform unassisted;
they require operation supervision, maintenance and
repair. • We must
constantly be alert to the possibility of engineering
failure; most failures occur at the interface between
systems; failures can occur in all systems, even
well-maintained and supervised ones.
Biology
The biological panel suggested that citizens should come to know biology in order to understand oneself as a product of evolution, and as a single individual in an ecological scheme. Secondly, the panel felt that biology "teaches rules to live by." The topics that the panel included in its report show the emphasis that biology in elementary and secondary curriculum should take: human biology, the evolution of diverse life-forms, environmental biology, and human ecology. The panel posed a number of questions that they hoped 18-year-olds would be able to answer. Some of these questions include: How does the human organism work and what does it take to keep it healthy? How are humans like and unlike other living organisms? What determines the productivity of an ecosystem? How does accumulating pollution affect humankind's future?
Technology
The technology panel defined technology as the application of knowledge, tools, and skills to solve practical problems and extend human capabilities. The panel highlighted the notion that technology is part of social progress, as well as a technical process. Technology education should emphasize the interface between technology and society. They pointed out that citizens must be able to develop, articulate and illustrate how technology affects society and how society affects technology.
The technology group identified several fields of technology that should provide the framework for technology education: materials, energy, manufacturing, agriculture and food, biotechnology and medical technology, environment, communications, electronics, computer technology, transportation and space. The panel report outlined the nature of each of these technology fields, and identified suggested experiences for students. For example, activities suggested by the panel in the communications area included having students make simple devices that can be used in communications, from historical gadgets (such as a carbon microphone or simple telegraph) to modern electronic circuits. Students should also be encouraged to undertake imaginative projects, such as inventing ways of communicating with people in remote lands or searching for information from outer space that might reveal life there.
The second phase of the project is an extension of phase I of Project 2061. In the second phase, the focus of attention will to develop, in five school districts across the nation, alternative K-12 curriculum models for education in science, mathematics and technology. Development teams will design curriculum plans for science, mathematics and technology, and then field-test and evaluate the results. The second phase will also include creating a set of blueprints for reforming the other components of education that complement curriculum reform, increase the pool of educators and scientists able to serve as experts in the school curriculum reform, and foster public awareness of the need for reform in science, mathematics and technology education.
Phase III of Project 2061, referred to as the educational transformation phase, will be a "highly cooperative, nationwide effort which will mobilize resources, monitor progress, and, in general provide direction and continuity of the effort." The goal of the third phase is to use the products of phases I and II to broaden the scope, raise the quality of education in science, mathematics and technology.
The overall and general direction of Project 2061 is multifaceted, but includes the following:
Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy
Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy are statements of what all students should know or be able to do in science, mathematics, and technology by the end of grades 2, 5, 8, and 12. The grade demarcations suggest reasonable checkpoints for estimating student progress toward the science literacy goals outlined in SFAA.
Blueprints for Reform was created on the premise that it is useful to think of education as a system. More particularly, it grew out of Project 2061's conviction that serious efforts to achieve the science literacy goals in Science for All Americans ought to be based on an understanding of education as a system. Project 2061's approach to reform is national and systemic. We define the educational system to include more than students, teachers, and school administrators. The organizational structures where these people work and the laws and policies that affect them must also be included in systemic change. Further, business leaders, textbook and test publishers, academic and industrial scientists, and many others must be involved if change is to take place at the necessary scale and depth to make science literacy a reality.