Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a long-term, comprehensive effort to reform K-12 science education nationwide so that all high-school graduates are science literate. For more than a decade, Project 2061 has been working with scientists and engineers, educators, policy makers, business and industry executives, community leaders, and parents to develop goals for student learning in science, mathematics, and technology. In 1989 Project 2061's landmark report, Science for All Americans described the knowledge and skills essential to science literacy. Its 1993 report Benchmarks for Science Literacy translated those science literacy goals into specific learning expectations for students at the end of grades 2, 5, 8, and 12. Project 2061 is now creating a coordinated set of reform tools to help educators design curricula to meet those goals in their districts.
WHAT IS SCIENCE LITERACY?
To answer that
question, Project 2061 drew on the work of five scientific panels convened by AAAS to help
define what it would mean to be science literate. Their recommendations became the basis
for Science for All Americans (SFAA) which identifies specific knowledge and
habits of mind that people need to make sense of how the world works, to think critically
and independently, and to lead interesting, responsible, and productive lives in a culture
shaped by science and technology. The full text of Science for All Americans is
provided on this Resources for Science Literacy CD-ROM, and a summary of each
chapter is included in the companion print volume.
TOOLS FOR SCIENCE LITERACY
To help educators put the literacy goals of Science for All Americans to use in their schools and school districts, Project 2061 is developing a coordinated set of print and electronic reform tools. In addition to the Resources for Science Literacy tools, the set includes:
Benchmarks for Science Literacy
Created in collaboration with
school district teams of teachers across the country, Benchmarks for Science Literacy
(1993) and Benchmarks on Disk (1994) recommend specific learning goals, or
benchmarks, for all students to reach as they progress toward science literacy. Careful
consideration went into the content and sequence of benchmarks to ensure that they
reflect a logical progression of ideas, with sufficient early-grade benchmarks
anticipating the more difficult benchmarks for later grades.
Along with the sequential, K-12 connections among benchmarks are many cross-subject connections in keeping with Project 2061's emphasis on the interconnectedness of knowledge. Essays and a cross-reference feature make these explicit. In addition, Benchmarks' Chapter 15: The Research Base offers a survey of the education research that influenced the content and grade-level placement of benchmark ideas. (The chapter is included in the Cognitive Research component of this Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Development CD-ROM) A computer-disk version of Benchmarks is available in DOS, MacIntosh, and Windows formats.
Designs for Science Literacy
To provide
educators with further guidance on how to reshape the entire curriculum, Project 2061 is
developing Designs for Science Literacy, which will offer advice for analyzing and
planning a K-12 curriculum around science literacy goals. Designs will draw on the
experiences of the project's school-district collaborators as they attempted to develop
and implement local curriculum models. It will also offer the project's latest thinking
about how schools and school districts can get started in curriculum design--how they can
free the core curriculum of terms and topics that do not serve science literacy, build
connections into the curriculum, link resources and assessment to learning goals,
diversify instruction, attend to relevant research, and focus professional development on
specific learning goals.
Blueprints for Reform
Teachers who have attempted to make
changes in the content of their school's curriculum or in their own instructional
approaches know something of the obstacles to reform. The most promising new curriculum
won't survive if the school can't afford the right materials for it, most of the teachers
aren't sure how to teach it, and the community opposes it. Hence Project 2061's focus on systemic
reform, reform that attends to all parts of the education system that can support or
impede innovations in the curriculum. The Project's recommendations for systemic reform
will appear in Blueprints for Reform and will draw on a dozen concept papers
prepared by expert groups convened over several years to discuss changes needed in teacher
education, materials and technology, assessment, curriculum connections, school
organization, family and community, business and industry, higher education, policy,
finance, equity, and research.