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New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Science
INTRODUCTION
The Vision
The New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Science reflect the belief that all students can and must learn enough science to assume their role as concerned citizens, equipped with necessary information and decision-making skills.
The need for scientific literacy in today's increasingly technological world, for fundamental reforms in how science is taught, and for established standards in science education are by now well known and documented. Presidential appeals for excellence, combined with expressions of concern from scientists and educators, have led to national, state, and local initiatives. New Jersey is host to an impressive array of scientific and technological industries, and should play a leadership role in the development and implementation of standards for the teaching and learning of science.
The Core Curriculum Content Standards for Science are influenced by certain understandings, events, and principles in the continuing improvement of science education in New Jersey and the nation. Efforts to establish standards for the teaching and learning of science have been pursued actively at the state and national level. In 1993, Benchmarks for Science Literacy was published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), followed in 1994 by a comprehensive draft of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) by the National Research Council. Both of these documents contributed to an ongoing interest in the formulation of world-class educational standards rooted in reform movements such as Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Scope, Sequence and Coordination Project of the National Science Teachers Association. The simultaneously emerging national standards presented a reliable model that was often consulted in the formulation of the original New Jersey science standards.
In New Jersey, the call for science education standards was heightened when the State was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for the establishment of a Statewide Systematic Initiative (NJ SSI) for the reform of mathematics, science, and technology education. The combined funding of the NJ SSI and the Mid-Atlantic Eisenhower Consortium for Math and Science Education made possible the widespread distribution of an initial draft of science standards during the 1994-95 school year.
Following extensive public exposure and review, the science standards along with those for other subjects and a newly formulated set of Cross Content Workplace Readiness Standards were adopted by the State Board of Education as New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards in May of 1996.
Revised Standards
Concurrent with the adoption of the standards themselves was a mandate that they be regularly reviewed, and revised if necessary, every five years. This process began for the science standards during the winter of 2000-2001, when a review committee was organized to oversee the revision process.
Much had occurred since the 1996 adoption as New Jersey was joined by nearly every state in the nation in formulating rigorous academic standards as part of a growing national interest in educational reform. This resulted in the availability of several nationwide surveys that acknowledged the excellence of our science standards but more importantly served to inform the committee’s careful review of those standards. Particularly useful were a comprehensive research project conducted by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) that provided a framework for the benchmarking of the New Jersey standards and a detailed assessment of our science standards reported by Achieve, Inc., an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit organization founded at the 1996 National Education Summit. Additionally, the revisions have benefited from the ongoing work of the organizations that were at the forefront of the science standards movement, particularly the Atlas for Science Literacy published by AAAS in 2001.
An enormous amount of scientific content has accumulated at an accelerating rate over the years, causing textbooks to thicken as material is added but rarely deleted. Science educators across the nation have come to recognize this as a disturbing and counterproductive trend. The science standards in this section, therefore, are not intended to include all of science, but rather are an attempt to define what all students should understand and be able to apply as they grow towards scientific literacy. A guiding principle of these standards is that an understanding of fundamental scientific principles and the development of science-related skills are not limited by gender, economic status, cultural background, or ability. While we recognize the need for the inclusion of fundamental understandings in the life, earth and space, and physical sciences, the development of critical thinking skills is considered of paramount importance. Also important are safe practices, the attitudes students display as they learn science, and the development of qualities inherent in the practice of science, such as curiosity, skepticism, open-mindedness, and honesty when collecting and interpreting findings. While these habits of mind cannot be measured easily, no science program can be considered complete or successful that does not promote them.
Science should be taught at all levels with awareness of its connection to other subjects and the needs of society. While these standards do not suggest a specific curriculum design or sequence of courses, they assume that the relationship of the various disciplines of science to each other, and of science to the overall learning experience, will be strongly emphasized. The grade clustering system implemented in the current version of the standards reflects developmental appropriateness of the content and skills to provide guidance for developmentally appropriate implementation. The standards also reflect the needs of the students and teachers of New Jersey; indeed, incorporating New Jersey's unique natural resources in the teaching of science should be a primary goal of school districts as they move towards implementation.
The formulation of standards does not ensure their proper implementation. The NSES mentioned above includes standards that address the preparation of science teachers as well as the school environment in which science is taught. While New Jersey standards are not intended to deal with such issues, these issues must be considered if the standards are to be realized. The standards are only of value if they are part of a larger, ongoing effort to improve the teaching and learning of science in New Jersey schools. Defining scientific literacy for the citizens of New Jersey is an important first step toward achieving this goal.
Standards and Strands
There are 10 standards, each of which has a number of identified strands. These standards and their associated strands are listed below:
5.1 Scientific Processes
5.2 Science and Society
5.3 Mathematical Applications
5.4 Nature and Process of Technology
5.5 Life Science
5.6 Physical Science – Chemistry A. Structure and Properties of Matter
B. Chemical Reactions
5.7 Physical Science – Physics
5.8 Earth Science
5.9 Astronomy and Space Science
5.10 Environmental Studies
References
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (2001). Atlas of science literacy. American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Science Teachers Association, Washington, D.C.
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. Oxford University Press, New York.
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). Project 2061. Oxford University Press, New York.
International Technology Education Association (2000). Standards for technological literacy. International Technology Education Association
National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
National Science Teachers Association. (1992). Scope, sequence and coordination of secondary school science, vol. 1. National Science Teachers Association, Washington, DC. |
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