Director's Column

A Crack in the Door: Science Education Coming Through
By Kathy DiRanna

Long ago, in a galaxy far away, Sputnik went off in the 1950s and changed the face of American science education-as long as you were white, male and smart. That left most of us out in the cold. But that didn't matter, because in the 60's we were being relevant. In the 70s and 80s, Johnny couldn't read (because he had been basket weaving in the 60s) and science languished.

Oh sure, with a Nation at Risk, science was still around, but the 90s heralded the "Era of Wars." First came the English-Language Arts wars (whole language vs. phonemic awareness-the latter won out) followed by the math wars (drill and kill vs. problem solving-the former won out).

There were even science wars-inquiry vs. reading about science, but STAR wars (no, not that one) solved that problem. Standardized Testing and Reporting-better known as the STAR test-made sure that few cared about the outcome of the science wars because STAR focused schools on English Language Arts and Mathematics as the only subjects that mattered.

Enter 2010ish.....STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) gains traction on the national, state and local level. A few brave schools break out of English/Math only and recognize the disservice done to children by keeping science from them.

Then in 2012, California forms a STEM Task Force to produce a blueprint for STEM education, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) become available for public review.

And just like that, a crack in the door appears.

Well, we intend to drive the bulldozer right through and once again establish science as a CORE curriculum!

The NGSS combine Practices (both scientific inquiry and engineering practices) with Core Ideas in the Discipline (that would be big ideas!) in life, Earth, physical and engineering and technology with Cross Cutting Concepts that tie the big ideas across disciplines. These standards are what students need to know to USE science content in real world applications.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts also call for students to read and write in history, social science, science and other technical subjects. The CCSS, like NGSS, are application standards.

Amazingly, here are two new sets of standards-NGSS and CCSS-that focus on problem solving, decision making, real world application. Both standards deemphasize bits and pieces of information in favor of building student conceptual frameworks.

California adopted the CCSS in 2010 and California students will take the national assessments in 2014-2015 when they are available. NGSS will be nationally adopted by December 2012. California will decide, between March and July 2013, whether to adopt the NGSS as is, modify them, or do something completely different. Our hope is one of the fi rst two choices, with "crossed fi ngers" for the first choice.

As the K-12 Alliance celebrates 25 years of professional development, we also celebrate that fi nally the pendulum is swinging back to the 1950s-with a twist that science education is for ALL students.

The battles we have fought so hard to maintain a science presence in the classrooms have a chance to lay the groundwork for amazing STEM education and excited meaningful learning for students. All this activity makes me think of a line from The Shawshank Redemption: "Hope is a good thing...perhaps the best of things. And good things never die."

Here's to quality science for many years to come!