Challenges of Incorporating Earth and Space Sciences into Curricula Aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards

Abstract:

The Next Generation Science Standards present a great opportunity for the increased exposure of contemporary geosciences into the K-12 curricula of most of the countries school. However, the manner by which the NGSS are being adopted by different schools and districts poses several challenges. So far, 13 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted the NGSS in full, accounting for about 30% of the nation’s students. In addition, four states (Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia), accounting for another 5% of U.S. students, have adopted new state science standards that are adapted from the NGSS, each in different ways. For West Virginia, language concerning climate change has been tempered. For Oklahoma and South Dakota, language concerning climate change has been nearly entirely removed. In addition, there are a large number of independent school districts, accounting for at least and additional 35% of the nation’s students, that are in the process of designing curriculum aligned to some degree with the NGSS. These are in states that have either not yet adopted the NGSS or likely will never adopt the NGSS (at a state-wide level). This presents a challenge to the geosciences, because the level of geoscience content will greatly vary, state-to-state and district-to-district. The NGSS present the geosciences with a heavy emphasis on Earth Systems Science, particular as it relates to climate systems and human impacts on systems, but most K-12 teachers have not had exposure to the geosciences in these contexts, and will require significant professional development. In addition, the inclusion of a full year of geoscience content in high school (in addition to a year for middle school), presents another curricular challenge, as most schools have never taught this amount of geoscience to all of its students (the NGSS are designed to have all of its standards taught to all students). The NGSS also emphasizes learning through a set of 8 different practices, many involving the direct analysis and interpretation, often in a quantitative way, with real data and evidence, and while there are great opportunities here, the implementation will be difficult. There are several different models for incorporating the geoscience content in high school, and different districts are likely to vary greatly in its implementation.