National Science Education Standards

by National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment, National Research Council

Americans agree that our students urgently need better science education. But what should they be expected to know and be able to do? Can the same expectations be applied across our diverse society? These and other fundamental issues are addressed in National Science Education Standards ?a landmark development effort that reflects the contributions of thousands of teachers, scientists, science educators, and other experts across the country. The National Science Education Standards offer a coherent vision of what it means to be scientifically literate, describing what all students regardless of background or circumstance should understand and be able to do at different grade levels in various science categories. The standards These standards reflect the principles that learning science is an inquiry-based process, that science in schools should reflect the intellectual traditions of contemporary science, and that all Americans have a role in improving science education. This document will be invaluable to education policymakers, school system administrators, teacher educators, individual teachers, and concerned parents.

Genres: Education, Science, Teaching

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 1995

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a good job of laying out a new set of ideas for how to teach science, but is extremely vague on how one would actually convert a traditional science education program to the "new" style. The examples given are long, esoteric, and completely atypical of what one would encounter in the course of normal class situations. The standards are vague and ill-defined, and are thus left open to far too much interpretation. However, the authors were at least honest enough to admit that their proposed "new" way of teaching science would likely take over a decade to implement, and would take lots of time, require a good deal of teacher re-training, and would also cost money.

Unfortunately, I think most educators are too busy salivating at the idea of implementing a "new" system that will be a panacea for poor science student performance, and they ignore the massive commitment that re-tooling the program will require.