Teaching Science 2.0

Science is about building explanations from evidence.  Here is a great example of multiple explanations for one set of 30,000 year old DNA…

"In a cave in Siberia, scientists have found a 40,000-year old pinky bone that could belong to an entirely new species of hominid. Or it may be yet another example of how hard it is to figure where one species stops and another begins–even when one of those species is our own. Big news, perhaps, or ambiguous news.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2010/03/24/the-x-womans-fingerbone/

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The Smithsonian's Hall of Human Origins has a beautiful website (with educator resources).

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I had the opportunity to attend a session on the development of new K-12 standards for science at the 2010 National Science Teachers Association conference. The session was lead by Francis Eberle (NSTA Executive Director) and Thomas Keller (National Academy of Science, Board of Science Education). This is my understanding of the process and likely includes some generalizations.

Background:

A few years ago, NSTA began a project called “Science Anchors” to guide science instruction. When it was initially envisioned, leaders felt that it was very unlikely that there would an environment that would support new national standards. Over the past couple of years, this environment has changed dramatically. The National Governors Association and the Coalition of Chief State School Officers have begun a serious process to develop “Common Core Standards” in language arts and mathematics. Drafts of these standards are now available for public comment at http://www.corestandards.org/ (comments open until April 2). Revisions will be made based on these comments and the final standards will be released later this year. Alaska and Texas are the only two states that have not committed to adopting these core standards.

As a result of this huge environmental shift, NSTA has suspended the Science Anchors project. In its place, NSTA is joining with other organizations (see below) on the development of common national science standards. This is a major development with a very aggressive timeline. NSTA has published a summary report of the Science Anchors project that has identified some of the challenges that need to be addressed in the next generation of science standards. The brief (9 pages) report can be found here: http://scienceanchors.nsta.org/

The report discusses a variety of issues including:

• Content
  • Specific content in each discipline
  • Crosscutting content
• Scope
• 21^st Century Skills
• Engineering and Technology
• Teaching Methods
• Performance Expectations
• Organization
  • Grade Bands vs Grade Level
  • High School (course structure vs. competency structure)
  • How much is too much? Depth, Breadth & Specificity

Developing the Next Generation of Science Standards

Before getting in to the details of the process, it is important to understand that these are not federally mandated standards. This process is being driven by a number of non-governmental organizations and is funded by the Carnegie Corporation. At this point, it is not know if the National Governors Association and Coalition of Chief State School Officers will adopt these standards as part of the “Common Core” standards movement. In addition, the “Common Core” standards in language arts and mathematics are not federally mandated. Instead, they are being driven by a partnership between states.

The new science standards are being developed through an unprecedented partnership of the National Academy of Science, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for Advancement of Science, and Achieve Inc. Achieve Inc (http://www.achieve.org/) is the lead organization for developing the Common Core mathematics and language arts standards. Although roles overlap, each organization has specific responsibilities.

· NAS – Drafting a conceptual framework for new science standards.

· NSTA – Eliciting feedback from the science education community and process transparency.

· AAAS – Eliciting feedback from the science community

· Achieve Inc. – Drafting the actual science standards.

This is a major undertaking, with four diverse organizations on a very aggressive timeline. The dates below are therefore tentative.

Conceptual Framework

Development – Winter 2009 / Spring 2010

Public Comment - Summer 2010

Publication – December 2010

An 18-member NAS panel will draft a conceptual framework that will be used to create the new standards. The panel is composed of prominent scientists from multiple disciplines, science educators, cognitive scientists (how people learn science), mathematicians, engineers, and policy experts. The panel is supported by 5 design teams lead by leading experts. The framework will include guidance for the fundamental concepts (big ideas), sufficient depth, and structure. It is based on the work done in the original standards, AAAS Benchmarks, NAEP 2009 assessment framework, AP redesign, learning progression research, “How Students Learn” publications, and other documents.

The public will have a short window to comment on a draft of the framework during the summer of 2010. NSTA will facilitate feedback from the science education community. AAAS will facilitate feedback from the science community. Achieve Inc. will facilitate feedback from policy stakeholders. The panel will make revisions and publish the conceptual framework in December 2010.

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/Standards_Framework_Homepage.html

Drafting the Next Generation of Standards

Development: Winter / Spring 2011

Public Feedback: April / May 2011

Publication: December 2011

Achieve Inc. will begin drafting the new standards after the completion of the NAS Conceptual Framework. Achieve Inc focuses on managing the development process and will use expert teams during the writing process. It is envisioned that a large overlap will exist between these writing teams and the design teams involved in the development of the NAS Conceptual Framework. NSTA, AAAS, and Achieve Inc. will facilitate the public vetting process to ensure feedback from stakeholders (scientists, science teachers, policy makers, general public).

–

Eric Brunsell

Assistant Professor, Science Education

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n natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant — like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use is not as efficient as we would like. Now engineering researchers at the University of Cincinnati are doing something about that.

The researchers are finding ways to take energy from the sun and carbon from the air to create new forms of biofuels.

Full Article: http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=11558

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President Obama Releases Blueprint to Revise Elementary and Secondary Education Act

http://science.nsta.org/nstaexpress/nstaexpress_2010_03_15_legupdate_nonmember.htm

On Saturday, March 13, 2010, the Obama Administration released its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind.

According to the New York Times, the Obama plan “strikes a careful balance, retaining some key features of the Bush-era law, including its requirement for annual reading and math tests, while proposing far-reaching changes … The administration would replace the law’s pass-fail school grading system with one that would measure individual students’ academic growth and judge schools based not on test scores alone but also on indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate. And while the proposal calls for more vigorous interventions in failing schools, it would also reward top performers and lessen federal interference in tens of thousands of reasonably well-run schools in the middle.”

The Administration will rely on Congress to develop legislative language to reauthorize ESEA. Both the NEA and the AFT were critical of the plan. Said NEA president Dennis Van Roekel “We are disappointed by this first effort by the Administration to rectify the considerable problems in the current federal education law …. We were expecting to see a much broader effort to truly transform public education for kids.  Instead, the accountability system of this ‘blueprint’ still relies on standardized tests to identify winners and losers.

AFT President Randi Weingarten stated, “This blueprint places 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers and gives them zero percent authority. For a law affecting millions of schoolchildren and their teachers, it just doesn’t make sense to have teachers—and teachers alone—bear the responsibility for school and student success.” Both unions pledged to share the plan with members to garner further feedback.

Here are some key highlights of the Obama blueprint to revise ESEA. To read the entire 45-page document, go to www.ed.gov. To read the New York Times article, go to www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/education/14child.html.

The blueprint builds on the reforms made in response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, also known as the Stimulus Bill)1. improving teacher and principal effectiveness 2. providing information to families to help them evaluate and improve their childrens schools and educators to help them improve student learning; 3. implementing college and career ready standards and developing improved assessments aligned with those standards and 4. improving student learning and achievement in Americas lowest performing schools by providing intensive support and effective interventions.

—> The blueprint includes specific efforts in these areas:

• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

• College and Career Ready students 

• Reward Schools, Districts and States 

• Challenge states, districts and school 

• School Turnaround Grants

• Effective Teachers and Leaders

• Teachers and Leader Innovation Fund

• Teacher and Leader Pathways 

• College Pathways and Accelerated Learning 

• Promise Neighborhoods 

• 21st Century Community Learning Centers

• Successful, Safe and Healthy Students 

• Race to the Top 

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One of the misconceptions that students have about science is that it is individualistic.  In fact, most scientific research is conducted by teams of scientists.  Here is a fantastic example.

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A recent study published in Science shows that melting permafrost under the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is starting to release methane gas from a vast store from the seafloor.  The “greenhouse effect” from methane is 30 times greater than that from carbon dioxide.  As the earth continues to warm, the permafrost will continue to destabilize, releasing more and more methane.

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