THE FRANKLIN STANDARDS: BALANCED K-12 SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS FOR THE USA

This presentation introduces the geosciences to The Franklin Standards developed by The National Association of Scholars. These new K-12 science education standards build on the strengths of prior national science curricular efforts from the 1990’s, while addressing weaknesses of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) of the 2010’s to offer an a new integration of science into the K-12 curriculum.

Strengths of the new standards include:

• Thorough grade level integration across biology, chemistry, physics, and geoscience.
• A simplified/clarified structure easily comprehensible and achievable by teachers in a variety of educational settings.
• Full inclusion of the relevant mathematical skills needed for successful implementation of the science curriculum.
• Inclusion of relevant engineering standards for school systems with such requirements.
• Rebalancing of critical core content in each science with general inquiry and science skills.
• Focus on the underlying science over questions of policy related to societal challenges arising from or requiring scientific solutions
• Restoration of the context in which scientific advances occurred with a focus on the history of science and the scientists whose work built the body and methods of science to this moment in societal evolution.
• Clarification of the methods and requirements of science as a way of learning/knowing about the natural world and its function that is distinct for its openness to all people, rejection of appeals to authoritative knowledge and reliance on the ability to test and falsify hypotheses to separate belief from verifiable reality.

The Franklin Standards offer specific guidance to teachers of the geosciences clarifying and depoliticizing topics such as evolution/natural selection, geologic time, atmospheric and climate science.

Multiple states whose teachers prepare millions of K-12 students are already considering adoption of The Franklin Standards with implementation as early as the 2025 academic year. While designed for adoption by public school systems, the standards are also designed to guide private and charters schools as well as homeschool educators. University faculty stand to benefit in time from the more balanced, scientifically literate graduates coming from schools utilizing The Franklin Standards. Read The Franklin Standards at:

www.nas.org/reports/the-franklin-standards