HISTORICAL EARTH SCIENCE CURRICULAR REFORM IN SECONDARY EDUCATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRENT REFORM INITIATIVES

Earth science education in the U.S. has a long, rich history rooted in its fundamental importance in understanding the natural world. However, compared to other sciences, enrollment in Earth science courses in secondary schools has been consistently low. In New York State, though, the picture is different. More students earn high school credit in Earth science than in either chemistry or physics. The reasons for the current placement and prevalence of the modern Earth science course are complex and rooted in historical decisions that diminished its status.

The historical richness of educational reform efforts at the turn of the 20^th century establishes an important foundation upon which the Earth sciences are grounded. Three themes received increasing attention: 1) the college acceptance of secondary sciences, 2) the expectation for laboratory and fieldwork, and 3) the placement and purpose of the Earth sciences.

Course length and mental discipline marked the characteristic of an acceptable college entrance course. Although secondary schools began to demand that colleges accept more sciences, several decisions about the physical and biologic sciences served to create and widen a chasm between these sciences and the Earth sciences. The Earth sciences were well established in the state’s schools and could justify time in the courses of studies, however, the perception of laboratory work in the Earth sciences as being less challenging and of lower “mental training” capacity than the other “pure” sciences rendered it as a subject of lower academic value. There was continued debate on whether or not physical geography (Earth science) served best as an introductory course or as a culminating capstone course. This perception and debate about Earth science persists today.

So why is New York so different, and how can an understanding of historical reform decisions inform current national reform initiatives? This research contributes to the science education research community by providing an understanding of how and why the various sub-disciplines that comprise the Earth sciences historically became intertwined and incorporated into New York State’s Earth science course, and it identifies the genesis of policies and practices that continue to marginalize the Earth sciences within the high school science framework.