EARTH SCIENCE STANDARDS ARE NOT ENOUGH: WE NEED TEACHERS

42 states have adopted or adapted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and, at this time, the Framework for K12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas is currently impacting the STEM education of 84% of American students. Both the Framework and the NGSS elevate the Earth Sciences on par with the Life and Physical Sciences and these changes promote a more scientifically literate public but standards are not enough. Implementation of NGSS, especially at the High School level requires institutional and structural changes that encourage Earth Science majors to pursue teaching as a career. States need to shift graduate requirements from 2 or 3 years to 4 years of science to better prepare high school graduates for college. District curriculum developers should emphasize innovative integration of content areas and support teachers with professional development to ensure high levels of implementation.

Currently, fewer than 4% of secondary science teachers have degrees in the Earth Sciences. If we want to see “All Standards. All Students” come to fruition, we need to invest in broad scale, rigorous training of current inservice teachers while inspiring Earth Science majors to become teachers. Geoscience departments should be encouraging interested majors to pursue teaching certification. Those preservice Earth Science teachers who also take coursework in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology are better able to demonstrate the connections between high school science content areas. By modeling innovative integration strategies, they have the potential to lead science departments in a new direction. Inservice teacher training should encourage field-work and computer simulations that scaffold learning to both life and physical sciences. Summer training is ideal because there is enough time to explore and collaborate to create integrated lessons and units of study based on the NGSS. As a community of Earth Science educators, we have the opportunity to change an archaic system by encouraging students to consider teaching as a possible career choice. Earth Science teachers are needed to change the system from the inside out.