Course assignment - Reflection 1A

The world in which we live in is dynamic. Science is one area of education that continues to evolve as new discoveries in science and technology occurring constantly. In order to keep up with this trend it is critical for the science standards to also evolve and adapt. Earlier standards were concerned that student’s knowledge of certain facts. Albert Einstein once said, “education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think". President Obama’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology published a report in 2012 titled Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and mathematics, stated that within the next decade the United States must increase STEM professionals in order to fulfill the needs in this country (Musante, 2012). According to the Generation Science Standards: For States, By States our country has a leaky STEM pipeline in K-12 education where too few students are entering into STEM majors, career fields, post secondary certifications or even Ph.Ds (NGSS Lead States, 2013). In an article published in 2014 Lehman, Kim and Harris state:

A coherent and consistent approach throughout grades K-12 is key to realizing the vision for science and engineering education embodied in the framework: that students, over multiple years of school, actively engage in science and engineering practices and apply crosscutting concepts to deepen their understanding of each fields discipline core ideas (Lehman, Kim, & Harris, 2014, p.21).

Previous science standards are not adequately fit for fulfilling the needs of current science education.

          

Harmony Science Academy elementary student's flyable solar airplane

  Earlier states standards and science addressed practices and core ideas as to separate entities according to the Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (NGSS), this would often lead to them being taught totally separately and sometimes not at all (NGSS Lead States, 2013). The NGSS standards have a framework which outlines three dimensions. The first dimension is Practices; these incorporate practices that are used by both scientists and engineers in the process of designing and building systems. NGSS reiterates “we use the term ‘practices’ instead of the term such as ‘skills’ to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice” (NGSS Lead States, 2013, p XV).

Harmony Science Academy students presenting to XQ Super School Project

The next dimension is Crosscutting Concepts: this refers to connecting disciplinary content to ideas and practices which cut across science disciplines. The final dimension is Disciplinary Core Ideas which are the major focuses in science and engineering in regards to the particular topic or subject being studied. By incorporating these three dimensions the Next Generation Science Standards will help to provide high-quality science education which will ensure American students will be equipped to fulfill the needs in STEM fields which will give the United States the ability to compete and Excel in the world of the future.

References

Lehman, J. D., Kim, W., & Harris, C. (2014). Collaborations in a community of practice working to integrate engineering design in elementary science education. Journal Of STEM Education: Innovations And Research, 15(3), 21-28.

Musante, S. (2012). Community colleges giving students a framework for stem careers.

Bioscience, 62(7), 632. doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.7.5

NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: For states, by

states. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/18290