Science Education: From Congress to the Classroom

This course tackles a variety of topics in science education. We’ll begin with a discussion of the history of science education in the United States, changes that were proposed and that actually took place following the 1983 publication of “A Nation At Risk,” and a comparison of science education requirements in the United States and in other industrialized countries. From this broad overview, we’ll move to discussions of policies that were put in place to improve US science education. Some questions that we will explore: What exactly were these policies meant to achieve? Whose education did they improve? How were they conceived? What incentives were put in place? Is it sensible or possible to have national policies, given the decentralized nature of our school system? Finally, we’ll talk about what actually happens in the classroom, especially in the early grades. We’ll discuss philosophical and practical reasons why science isn’t usually introduced until late elementary or even middle school. Again, some questions for students to explore are: How much science does one need to teach? What does science mean for very young students? What habits of mind do scientists employ? How do you teach these habits of mind? Is there specific content that everyone “should” know? Who decides what it is? How does policy make its way into the classroom? Students must have previously taken at least one science course at SLC.