Atlas of Science Literacy
Mapping K-12 Learning Goals
In its 1989 report Science for All Americans, Project 2061 provided
a clear vision of science literacy, portraying what all high-school graduates
should know and be able to do in science, mathematics, and technology. Since
then, the project has been developing tools that educators can use to help
their students achieve those ideals. One of these, Benchmarks for Science
Literacy, identifies specific learning goals for grade ranges K-2, 3-5,
6-8, and 9-12 to suggest reasonable progress toward adult science literacy.
Conceptual Connections
Benchmarks for Science Literacy is intended to help educators design
a K-12 curriculum—one that makes sense to them and addresses the science
literacy goals expressed in Science for All Americans. But the relatedness
among important concepts in science, both within and between grade ranges,
is only implied in Benchmarks.
To help educators gain insight into the connections among benchmark ideas,
Project 2061 has developed Atlas of Science Literacy, a collection
of linked maps that depict how students might grow in their understanding
and skills toward particular science literacy goals. These maps display not
only the sequence of benchmark ideas that lead to a goal, but also connections
across different areas of science, mathematics, and technology, and how ideas
come together in sophisticated understanding.
The initial print volume of Atlas of Science Literacy includes 49 maps
depicting K-12 growth of understanding in a variety of science literacy topics.
Topics mapped include gravity, evolution and natural selection, the structure
of matter, and the flow of matter and energy in ecosystems. Each map indicates
links to related maps in the set and is accompanied by brief descriptions
of the science literacy topic at hand and relevant text from Science for
All Americans and Benchmarks. Project 2061 is at work on additional
maps that will include learning goals from Benchmarks not included
in the current volume and illustrate more connections to already mapped learning
goals. Eventually, a CD-ROM version of Atlas will allow users to move
conveniently between connected maps and will provide hypertext links that
direct the user to research and other information.
Improved Teaching and Learning
Atlas is a valuable professional development tool for teachers, who
can use the maps to gain a sense of where their instruction fits into the
larger picture of students' K-12 science education--where ideas are coming
from and where they are going next. And by studying all benchmarks related
to a particular idea, teachers can improve their own understanding of the
concepts they teach. The maps can also provide the basis for discussions and
collaboration among teachers at different grade levels and across subjects.
An awareness of connections among subjects helps educators to prepare students
for the increasingly complex ideas that they will encounter as they progress
toward science literacy. Familiarity with earlier benchmarks will help teachers
to decide if students have the prerequisite ideas to comprehend a new topic.
Similarly, knowing what students will be learning in later grades can guide
teachers' decisions about what to teach now. By emphasizing connections among
ideas and building on what has already been learned, teachers can better help
students to understand and retain important concepts.
Materials developers and curriculum planners, too, will find Atlas of Science
Literacy useful. The graphic representation can help developers to justify
the grade placement of concepts and activities in their textbooks and materials
and to notice when they are out of place. And an entire K-12 curriculum planned
with the relationships among benchmarks in mind will provide a better-paced
and more interdisciplinary progression of subjects and courses.
Order your copy of Atlas of Science
Literacy from Project 2061.
Register for a workshop where you will
have the opportunity to work with Atlas strand maps.
Continue exploring Atlas of Science Literacy
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