The National Science Education Standards, finalized in 1996, formed the basis for a period of reform which resulted in massive changes to standards-based education across the states, including an effort involving yours truly as well as many fine scientists and science educators in Florida. Why, we even got evolution and climate change into the state standards in Florida by 2008, much to the chagrin of organized conservative efforts which are still fighting to remove science-driven teaching from some of the classrooms, thanks to ridiculous bills that have become law in Florida and elsewhere (one such bill is 2017's HB 989) or this year's anti-science bill. If you are interested in such things, Florida Citizens for Science and the National Center for Science Education have lots of material available. In Florida in particular, Brandon Haught has an excellent blog that covers science education and exposes anti-science education attempts. He could use some support!
With efforts to improve fundamental literacy for our public school students, came the Common Core, and soon an organization called Achieve worked organically with many state partners to develop the Next Generation Science Standards, or #NGSS, which could provide a useful framework for science instructional practice from K-12. These standards amplified and clarified the goals of science education and defined a three-dimensional approach to science education that included disciplinary core ideas, cross-cutting concepts, and science and engineering practices.They are a phenomenal change and paradigm shift, now adopted by some 19 states and the District of Columbia, including my own, Oregon (disclosure: I served on the state adoption panel and am now a member of the implementation panel for the Oregon Department of Education).
These standards call out (again, as did NSES) new standards among the disciplinary core principles that include a measured balance of material in three major areas: earth and space science, life science, and physical science. Stop for a moment. No biology? No chemistry? No physics? [Not really, keep reading.] Radical idea! Rather, the physical sciences include chemistry and physics; the life sciences include biology, microbiology, and anatomy and physiology. Earth science is finally given its due (a nod came out of NSES but was brushed off in most states), combined with space science. This creates a fundamental problem for states or districts which do not offer earth science or do not have well qualified teachers, or do not even have an ability to have a credential in earth science. Integrated science may suffice, but that usually entails a requirement (for teacher licensure) of only one or two lower division core classes in one of the earth sciences (geology, pedology, climatology, meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, ...) along with a core in more advanced biology, chemistry, or physics classes. That ought to be good enough, right? Well, no. But that is a dead horse I'll jump on another day.
A real problem lies with the expectation that high school students will earn college credit in high school, and the requirement in some states that all students must at least attempt such credits. These can be awarded by participating in International Baccaulaureate (IB) programs, Advanced Placement (AP) classes, sponsored dual-credit with area colleges, or actual college classes taught on their high school campuses. I'll concentrate on AP here, because there is a national standard, and passing scores result in awarding of college credits, based on completion of a high school class and an AP test. Scores go from 1 to 5, and credit is usually awarded for achievement at 3 or higher, determined by states or individual colleges or collectives. Are these credits functionally equivalent to college classes? Do they serve a useful purpose for students in terms of assuring success in college, or quickening that experience for them? In science there is a distinct problem.
The NGSS has provided a paradigm shift in science education for K-12 that includes changing practices as well as changing emphases. Among the changes are the shift from traditional core science classes, biology, chemistry, and physics (although physics is often given short shrift), to one which fits a redefinition I've already addressed above. If one examines the options for students to earn science credit in high school, and the quantitative aspects that occur with it, we find Table 1. I have selected a community college in Oregon (my own), my graduate alma mater (Oregon State University), a smaller liberal arts institution (SUNY Oneonta, my undergraduate alma mater) and a major southeastern Research I university (Florida State University) where I spent much of my time as a professor.
Each of the classes listed on each row of the table is designed as a full-year course, equivalent to one high school credit. These classes may in fact be taught in different ways at different schools, but the credits assigned when achievement goals are reached are quite different; there are fairly universal standards required if a school offers AP options. In nearly every case examined, and in different states, there are two conclusions that relate to NGSS and modern science education practices. There is no way to earn college credit in Earth Sciences, and the amount of credit awarded to Environmental Sciences is far less than those for other science classes, and usually is associated with a non-laboratory science. This disincentive to even offer earth or environmental sciences as an important, quantitative, rich science class is a barrier to students becoming exposed to this material, and potentially opening them to make college choices based on programs that exist to further their own educational objectives. Scholarly work published in journals of the National Science Teacher's Association, National Earth Science Teachers Association, and National Association of Geoscience Teachers, to name a few, report high levels of student satisfaction and engagement with geoscience material. As an example, there are approximately 100 institutions in the United States that offer undergraduate degree programs or options in meteorology, and hundreds more that offer programs in earth sciences with a geology focus. Programs which focus on the hydrosphere (hydrology and oceanography) are fewer in number, but many institutions with graduate programs in all of these areas may have outreach, internship, or research opportunities that can attract students to them, facilitating a hands-on or almost clinical approach to these sciences that help students succeed.
I am advocating here for a rethink on credits awarded. My opinion is that students who take AP science exams are getting too much college credit, and they are also missing out on college credit opportunities because Earth and environmental science options are limited or missing.
In Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, students who pass a single exam after taking a full term or full year class can earn credits equivalent to a full one year sequence, the equivalent of as much as 1/6 of the entire associate's degree (15 credits out of 90 for the AA). In Environmental Science, however, only one course is awarded at that credit level, and in earth science, there is no credit possible. For years, schools have struggled with how to treat environmental or earth sciences, particularly in states where no instructional endorsement is available, or in smaller rural districts where finding well-qualified teachers in multiple disciplines is particularly harsh. The problems facing those who champion physics education, certainly a foundational aspect of a desirable high school curriculum, are further magnified when it comes to earth and environmental sciences. Similarly, liberal arts non-science classes typically do not bestow credit equivalent to 1/6 of an Associate's degree.
In many instances, earth science is taught and relegated to those students who are deemed not to be college-bound, if it is offered at all. In my own case, I was an honors high school student in New York (decades ago) who was not given a chance to take earth science, even though I wanted to. Guidance counselors at the time moved freshmen students with "low achievement" in middle school into the freshman earth science class - it was not open to advanced students. I had to take anatomy and physiology as my 4th high school science class. It was ok, but didn't help me formulate a better understanding of options in earth sciences. Even in admissions decision-making, earth science or environmental science classes sometimes (often?) do not "count" as laboratory sciences, while the traditional "big-3" do, regardless of what the nature of the science class (or lab, if available) is at the high school attended. The landscape imagined in NGSS demands that disciplinary core ideas provide some structure and framework for how to reimagine science instruction. At the high school level, there are many options (see the Appendix K examples in NGSS, for example). But in analysis done by the Oregon Department of Education, there were 19 missing standards in the earth sciences, and another dozen or so in physical or life sciences, as Oregon moved from its earlier (2009) standards to full NGSS adoption.
Liberal Studies approaches to Science Education
Science electives are typically part of any BA or BS degree, and require students to complete a minimum of coursework in Mathematics and Science (usually at least one of the latter with a laboratory component). Courses like "Rocks for Jocks" and "Digging Dinosaurs" are commonly offered to meet the demand for this requirement, and they can be excellent options. But they also often can be deployed for mass audiences without opportunities for students to engage in real inquiry. That prompts a question: What now for Earth Science?
Elective courses are available across the gamut - committed educators often taking on extra "preps" to make them work. But commonly we also find:
- Inadequate laboratory facilities to foster engagement
- Inadequate understanding of earth science as a true "hard science" by college admissions and high school guidance counselors, and inadequate knowledge of career potential across the geosciences.
- Key societal aspects of science implementation are foundational to earth sciences, including renewable energy, understanding of climate change, public health and environmental pollution, geophysical hazards, and even aspects of environmental justice. But teachers often state they don't feel like there is enough good material for them to use, or they would like to learn more about them so that they can deploy good methods in their own instructional practice.
What now for Environmental Science?
What an opportunity for an integrated science capstone course with aspects of life, physical and earth sciences! This could be a great 4th year of science course in high school. Imagine students becoming Data Scientists by mining data off government web sites, or measuring their own data and involving themselves in collaborative research, using past data gathered at their own local sites, or working with others across the GLOBE. That does prompt a shameless promotion to the GLOBE program, and its fine work including connectivity to NGSS.
A longtime colleagues (and lobbying mentor whose excellent blog Bridge to Tomorrow is linked here) from our 2006-2008 work, Paul Cottle, championed the notion that Florida needed to spend $100 million on teacher professional development to successfully deploy new standards in Florida. That proposal went nowhere, and the efforts to successfully implement instructional practices supported by research in science education continue to be thwarted in many states and districts. In addition, even in the states where changes are implemented, budgetary support is often lacking to institute the reforms. The problem is particularly stark in Oregon, the state with the lowest number of instructional hours per week in elementary science, and very poor laboratory facilities and dearth of well-qualified science teachers according to what NGSS is expecting. Teacher preparedness for implementation of NGSS will require a seed change in deployment of funded and useful professional development for existing teachers, better certification options particularly for teachers of physics and Earth science, and effective professional learning communities that could work to implement practical and solid student opportunities across the sciences, including perhaps increased opportunity for high school students to earn college credit in real college-level science classes.
There are resources available if you are interested. Here are a few good ones from whom I've gleaned much good information over the years:
- North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)
- Science Teacher Listservs from State University of New York, Oneonta, including ESPRIT
- National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA lists)
- National Center for Science Education (NCSE)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- National Research Council (the other NRC), a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
- NRC's A Framework for K-12 Science Education
- BadAss Teacher's Association (BATS)
It is my hope that committed science educators will advocate for precious time and resources in their states and across the nation, and not just within their discipline organizations. As an earth scientist, it is insufficient to work within a narrow group of geoscience professional organizations, we must expand our work across the spectrum of science educators. The spreading of "alternative facts" informing our young minds is a corrupting influence on student understanding of how science works in fundamental ways.
3 March 2018 Paul Ruscher, PhD, FAMS, Eugene, OR
Opinions expressed here are attributable to me and not my employer or affiliated professional organizations.
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