Revising Science Curricula Yet Again (Part 2)
The recent publication of a new science Framework and the slow motion birth of national standards in the U.S.–44 states have already adopted Common Core Standards in English and Math–announces to the world yet another version of what science knowledge is important for students to learn. Not too many policymakers (and wannabe reformers), fearful of India and China awash in engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, know about previous “new” science frameworks.
Because advancing science (and technology) carries so much policy talk and political symbolism with it in the U.S., knowing about earlier cycles of re-making science curricula–especially in secondary schools–become important in raising questions about why repeated revisions appear decade after decade. Here is the story.
For over a century, there have been continuous efforts to alter both the content and classroom practice of
