Fulfilling the Promise Biology Education in the Nation's Schools (1990) / Chapter Skim
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8. Achieving National Goals: Dilemma and Resolution
8. Achieving National Goals: Dilemma and Resolution
Pages 94-101
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From page 94... ...
At the outset, it sought to be concerned with biology education in grades K-12; a parallel project, the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences, was to deal with biology in the colleges and universities. That holistic approach was abandoned, however, when the funding agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF)
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From page 95... ...
The failure of adequate inservice support might have been overcome in time if the institutions training new teachers had taken the responsibility for teaching how the BSCS materials could be used effectively. But almost no institutions responsible for the education of teachers paid attention to the BSCS or to any other national efforts to reform science curricula (Mayer, 1986~.
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From page 96... ...
More imaginative and effective approaches to the classroom require that teachers themselves learn differently in colleges and universities, and that can happen only if the scientific community sees itself both as part of the problem and as part of the solution. Changing the perspectives of teachers now in service requires massive efforts of everyone: teachers, scientists, test-makers, schools of education, publishers, school boards, teachers unions, and parents.
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From page 97... ...
In effect, however, texts and tests have been mutually reinforcing. In a hopeful development, national testing agencies have recently indicated plans to break from tradition and develop new forms of examinations that will be better designed to assess the ability of students to reason (National Governors' Association, 1990)
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From page 98... ...
A ROLE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY THROUGH THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL How can our massive decentralized educational system be perturbed in ways that will lead to more effective teaching and learning of science? All the needs for change enumerated in this report have been identified in previous studies; the trumpet of reform has been sounded many times in the recent past.
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From page 99... ...
already has a board devoted to the state of education in mathematics. The growing recognition and concern within the scientific community, the education community, and the general public about science education make it critical that the scientific community act now to improve science education in the United States.
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From page 100... ...
Throughout this report, we have pointed to instances of questionable educational practices that contribute to poor learning. Let us reconsider some of them here, exploring how a board of the National Research Council-or some equivalent body-could contribute to effective change in how science is learned.
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From page 101... ...
National leadership is needed to develop a national consensus that will press ~ , ~ ~ .~ _ _ 1 ~ for the production of well-educateo teachers, to Insist on One exams u~c supplies, to identify outstanding model curricula and inservice programs and make them available to all schools, to mobilize the universities so that support for precollege science teachers becomes one of their major goals, to encourage the professionalization of teachers, and to encourage cooperation of parents and other adults in the education process. National leadership must offer a vision of science education that enables our system to produce students prepared to face the challenges of the twenty-first century.
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