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Copyright © 2002
Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written permission of the copyright owner.
Journal of
Research
in Science
Teaching
Volume
39,
Issue
6, Pages
522-549
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How Well Do Middle School Science Programs Measure Up? Findings from Project
2061’s Curriculum Review
Sofia Kesidou, Jo Ellen Roseman
Abstract: The purposes of this study were to examine how
well middle school programs support the attainment of key scientific ideas
specified in national science standards, and to identify typical strengths
and weaknesses of these programs using research-based criteria. Nine widely
used programs were examined by teams of teachers and specialists in research
on teaching and learning. Reviewers found that whereas key ideas were generally
present in the programs, they were typically buried between detailed or even
unrelated ideas. Programs only rarely provided students with a sense of purpose
for the units of study, took account of student beliefs that interfere with
learning, engaged students with relevant phenomena to make abstract scientific
ideas plausible, modeled the use of scientific knowledge so that students
could apply what they learned in everyday situations, or scaffolded student
efforts to make meaning of key phenomena and ideas presented in the programs.
New middle school science programs that reflect findings from learning research
are needed to support teachers better in helping students learn key ideas
in science. The criteria and findings from this study on the inadequacies
in existing programs could serve as guidelines in new curriculum development.
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