This chapter began with an examination of goals and objectives for the science curriculum with an eye to the future. I discussed the results of Project Synthesis, Project 2061, New Designs for Elementary School Science and Health, and cognitive research, and identified some of the implications for the science curriculum goals.
As we move into the 21st Century, the goals of the science will be influenced not only by the items I just mentioned, but by several other factors. Here very briefly are some of those factors that will impact science education. Although recent research has shown that the science curriculum has not changed very much in the last fifteen years, these issues will be debated, described, and put into practice in individual classrooms, school districts and states. We must keep in mind that this country does not have a national curriculum, that much of the action in curriculum development occurs in individual school districts and classrooms
Multicultural Education Programs
School districts are taking a proactive position in infusing multicultural programs into their schools. Portland, Oregon along with the states of Minnesota and Iowa have developed programs whereby multicultural education is part of the entire curriculum, not simply a unit taught here or there.
In 1989, a Multicultural Science Education Division was established by the Board of Directors of the National Science Teachers Association. The first director of this new NSTA division was elected in 1990. The Association for Multicultural Science Education (AMSE) was also formed in 1989 to deal with issues related to multicultural education. The first organizational meeting of the AMSE was held in Atlanta at the 1990 NSTA annual meeting. The new association's purposes are as follows:
1). To explore issues and initiate programs relevant to teaching science to students of diverse backgrounds and motivate them to consider science as a career.2). To awaken interest of nonwhite and female students in science.
3). To promote programs which make science teachers successful in a culturally diverse classroom.
4. To explore changes which need to be made in the science curriculum to meet the needs of all students.
5. To identify, recruit, and fully involve current teachers of all minorities in becoming important forces in science education.
Several of the NSF funded projects of the late 80s and 90s were aimed at developing science education programs in multicultural environments. Several of these will discussed in the next chapter.
Global Environmental Issues and Problems
The major conferences held during the 1990s will have to do with the environment, and the economic impact environmental problems will have on all nations. Science education programs will attend to a number of global environmental issues such as air pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, and deforestation. Science education will have to address the global environmental problem head on in the nineties. Earthday 1990 (April 27) marked the twentieth anniversary of the environmental education movement and represented a call for action among governments, action groups and citizens to deal with the fate of the Earth's environment. The environmental theme will permeate science curriculum development at the local, state, national and international level---in short, globally.
Science-Technology-Society Interface
The science-technology-society interface, which will be developed more fully in Chapter 5, is the bridge that science teachers will use to connect the ideas of science with their utility in society. It will be the vehicle to humanize science teaching, and make the content of science relevant to students in middle and high schools. The science-technology-society theme makes sense as an organizing principle for science teaching, especially in light of recent history of science curriculum development. If you recall, the curriculum reform of the 50s and 60s was discipline centered, and this approach was found to ineffective with most students. The STS theme forces us to ask questions such as: How does science relate to the world of the student? How can science contribute to the fulfillment of healthy life and environment? What is the relationship between humans and the environment? How can science be in the service of people?
The STS theme has the intrinsic appeal of forcing us to stay current, and to relate science to the students world today, and dreams of tomorrow. It also has the structure of incorporating some of the other major forces that are influencing education today, namely multicultural programs, interdisciplinary thinking, conceptual themes, and global environmental issues.
Key Concepts and Conceptual Themes
If you recall, the notion of big ideas was put forward in the 1930s, and was an important construct during the curriculum reform era of the late 50s and 60s. The major themes of science have been called in addition to big ideas, "overarching truths," and "unifying constructs." Project 2061 (published in 1989) recommends that science content be organized around conceptual themes (see pages 000-000). Because of the prestigiousness of the AAAS, many school districts and states will adopt this notion.
Conceptual themes, however, have support in the recent research in cognitive science. One of the recommendations that has been made is to reduce the amount of content in science courses. Organizing courses around a reduced list of conceptual themes is right on target. For example, the 1989 Science Framework for California Schools has identified six themes for its K-12 framework as follows:
Accordingly, the main criterion of a good theme is its ability to integrate facts and concepts into overarching constructs. Themes have the characteristic of linking content between the disciplines, therefore being transdisciplinary. But they also have the quality of helping students link science with other disciplines in the curriculum, such as mathematics, history, economics, political science, language arts, literature.
Interdisciplinary Thinking and Planning
Key concepts and conceptual themes are the structures needed to link thinking across the disciplines, e.g. biology and physics, or geology and economics. Interdisciplinary thinking is a strategy that will enable students to see the relevance of science content, especially when science is linked with issues of the day. For example the field of sports physiology is a way of not only linking biology, health and physics, but also a way to connect science with economics,management, and sports.
Middle schools are organized to put interdisciplinary thinking and planning into action more so than junior high schools or senior high schools because of the organization of teachers into multidiscipline teams and because in many middle schools, these teams have time allotted in the school day for planning. . In many middle schools, interdisciplinary units of study are developed by the mathematics, science, social studies and language arts team. In some high schools, the science teacher plans with the social studies teacher to investigate the historical aspects of a particular environment or community. In other settings, the mathematics and science teacher team up to help students integrate topics in mathematics with topics in biology, Earth science, chemistry and physics.