OVERCOMING BARRIERS FOR K-12 EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE EDUCATION

Our national government has been set on raising math and reading scores on assessments for so long that schools have begun to decrease time spent on science. We see this especially in Michigan where the Michigan Educational Assessment Program only gives students tests in science in 5^th and 8^th grades, while math and reading are assessed every year. This causes elementary schools to focus on math and reading in the early years, as science becomes more like an elective than a rigorous discipline of study.

In high school we see science treated a bit differently. Michigan graduation requirements state that a student must take biology and either chemistry or physics. Earth/space science is never mentioned! Since a school is only graded on whether students are proficient in math and reading, science is often simply a curriculum requirement that the students must meet; time and options for various science courses are usually quite weak, and science teachers are not usually held to the same professional development standards as those in math and reading.

The federal government has come out with a new movement for curriculum and assessment with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). At the moment only English language arts (ELA) and math are included in these standards, but there is a push for a similar process to be established for the science standards. If states and the federal government adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as required curriculum, then the emphasis on science education will certainly improve. If not, we are still better off because of the CCSS for ELA and math.

The ELA document has a section on argumentative writing and talks about informational texts. It specifically discusses science and social studies. This is a large benefit for science as ELA teachers are now being asked to write and read like scientists! Furthermore, the math assessment that is being developed would require students to use a computer to manipulate data in order to make sense of it. This is using math in an applied context—something that scientists are well versed in! Even if the NGSS do not get adopted as standard curriculum for everyone, at least the CCSS emphasize scientific literacy. In order for us to overcome the lack of science being taught in schools today, we need to work on our interdisciplinary skills as educators.