PUBLIC INTERPRETATION OF CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS IN THE NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS: LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE

In 1996 the National Research Council published the National Science Education Standards (NSES) as a guide to teachers and administrators seeking to provide quality science instruction in K-12 classrooms. With many state standards informed by NSES, university departments tasked with preparing and sustaining the content knowledge of pre- and in-service teachers also looked to NSES to guide their efforts. Contained within the co-equal content threads for life, physical and earth science, NSES addressed topics that most scientists considered settled but which remain controversial in large parts of the American population. The NSES method for addressing controversial topics such as evolution, fossil record, deep time, formation of the solar system and the role of culture in the history of science offer insight into how these topics and new areas of controversy such as climate change could be addressed as the nation seeks to implement the Next Generation Science Standards. This study surveyed college students in general education courses, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers at a public community college, 2 public comprehensive universities, and a private selective research university as well as in-service teachers attending professional development workshops in the South and Midwest to determine how they interpreted requirements for teachers seeking to meet the NSES standards. Participants were asked to read the NSES text of the controversial standards before responding to a series of positive statements about what should be taught, expressing agreement or disagreement on a Likert Scale. Questions investigated: 1. Does region of the country where a student matures impact teaching of controversial topics? 2. Does post secondary education institutional type effect general education student views of the teaching of these standards? 3. Do educators view the standards differently than the general student population from which they are drawn and when in their development do such changes arise? The results of this study suggest that adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards is unlikely to reduce the level of controversy surrounding key topics where the scientific community’s narrow interpretation of settled science stands in contrast to the more inclusive view of science desired by many Americans.