What’s There to Understand?

The Basics of “Science Understanding” The primary objective of “Science understanding” is to enhance a persons core knowledge of science based topics which benefit them in academic, professional, and societal settings. Basically…

The more that you understand science… The better you can interpret life.

The Look What Does Science Understanding Look Like?

Why? Without a general understanding of scientific theory or methodology a person is left poorly equipped to solve many of the challenges life has to offer, no matter how simple or complex.

Problem A Hypothetical Situation: A chemical factory that sits on a major river bank five miles outside of town has just had a fire that has destroyed a large part of its building. Most of its production area and its primary chemical storage tanks were damaged in the fire. According to the local news, the fire has been contained and any threat of chemical exposure has been neutralized.

Do You… A. Take the word of the local news at face value B. Begin to panic uncontrollably and run screaming into the streets C. Don’t worry unless something happens Or…

Completely disregard the concept of a world dictated by finite “ A, B, or C” multiple choice options and question the ramifications of this incident in a logical and analytical way. “Is this local media station affiliated with an outside party that benefits from the continued operation of the chemical production company?” “How do these specific chemicals affect water quality and aquatic wildlife?”

But Why Do “I” Have To Learn Science Science is more than bubbling beakers and free floating neurons. It’s everything in the world around us…

You Are What You Learn Our world is made up of science everywhere we look. It surrounds us, it is within us, it is us. Without science our world is empty.

“Science Understanding” vs. Science Education “Science Understanding” – A set of inquiry based problem solving skills developed through the teachings of primary science education lessons. Aka. The blueprint of a scientific knowledge structure. Science Education – Foundational teachings of scientific methods and procedures that create a compendium of inquiry based problem solving information. Aka. The foundation and raw materials of a scientific knowledge structure

United We Stand, Divided We Fall “Science understanding” and science education are two pieces in the same puzzle. Together they create a symbiotic structure formed by core knowledge and inquiry based problem solving skills.

How Do These Ideas Compare To Actual Educational Practices The NGSS standards each have three dimensions: a disciplinary core idea, a scientific and engineering practice, and a cross cutting concept. These work collaboratively together to create a total understanding of the material. “Science understanding” and science education also create the same symbiosis. While a DCI relates to a selected scientific or engineering practice, the cross cutting concept allows the information learned to be redirected to additional topics. This same process is used in the implementation of “science understanding” in multiple life situations (technological, political, environmental, etc.) where the core knowledge has been obtained from the building blocks of a solid base in science education.

How Do These Ideas Compare To Actual Educational Practices While there is an alignment in the overall attitude surrounding the NGSS, my interpretation of “science understanding” and the importance of basic science education (a solid framework of basic scientific skills learned through the implementation of DCI’s, science and engineering practices, and cross cutting concepts to increase a persons overall scientific literacy and prepare them for the academic, professional, and social world), there is one aspect of the NGSS that I do not entirely agree with, Performance Expectations.

Performance Expectations The NGSS states that “Performance expectations are the assessable statements of what students should know and be able to do…The essential point is that all students should be held accountable for demonstrating their achievement of all PE’s… [this]deserves special attention because it is a fundamental departure from prior standards documents, especially at the high school level where it has become customary for students to take courses in some but not all science disciplines… the NGSS takes the position that a scientifically literate person understands and is able to apply core ideas in each of the major science disciplines.” SS%20-%20Final% pdf SS%20-%20Final% pdf

Performance Expectations Does the implementation of these performance expectations account for: Students with learning disabilities Students attending underfunded schools with reduced staff Schools negatively effected by the ramifications of No Child Left Behind Will these performance expectations add more standardized testing And if so, will the type of testing cater to all learning styles of the students taking them, even the ones who have difficulties expressing their knowledge in traditional test form

If Not… Then the NGSS in its entirety does not coincide with my views of what “science understanding” and science education should accomplish for everyone. Every person learns at their own pace and every learning situation is different… If a baby isn’t walking at the standard acceptable age, do you give it an efficiency test followed by a performance expectation or do you treat every situation as an individual one and adjust your teaching goals accordingly.

In Conclusion As I stated before: The primary objective of “Science understanding” is to enhance a persons core knowledge of science based topics which benefit them in academic, professional, and societal settings. This core knowledge is best achieved by the early learning of basic science education skills. Together the compellation of these two symbiotic practices will prepare each student for the challenges that lie ahead throughout the course of their life. And because each students path will be different, the learning that they receive throughout their years must reflect these differences and not assume that every student can and should be “evaluated” in the same standardized way.