Developing Science Curriculum in a Culture of Controversy (original) (raw)

Science Education is at a crucial point in America. Because of perceived shortfalls, changes are currently being made both at elementary and secondary levels that may change not only how science is taught, but what is taught in science. International tests indicate that America is doing fairly well at teaching scientific facts, but it is not a clear leader. However, until a better way to determine the effectiveness of education systems in creating free thinkers who can problem-solve is developed, it is unwise to claim that American science education is inferior. The No Child Left Behind approach to teaching science tends to promote factual knowledge but not necessarily thinking skills. Inquiry Based Learning promotes the scientific method. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is the new method that emphasizes practical applications for science and will likely bring new funds and energy into science curriculum but could also be used to censor minority opinions on some scientific topics. While some think there is need of more censorship of certain topics such as creationism and denial of a climate crisis, these topics allow students to practice analyzing differing viewpoints and evaluating arguments. Though the courts have decided that Creationism has little place in the classroom, at least one in eight science teachers use it as a way to promote critical thinking in the classroom. Instead of criticizing science teachers for the way they teach and pointing to international test scores as evidence that they are not doing their job, people need to recognize that the goals of American science teachers are different than those of other countries. Science teachers in America face, not only the task of teaching students content knowledge but also teaching them to analyze differing viewpoints on controversial topics that relate to science.