The Corporation’s Jim Short and the president and chief executive officer of the New York Hall of Science, Margaret Honey, discuss the impetus behind the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Call to Action for Science Education
What should the future of science education look like?
That question is at the heart of a national call-to-action report led by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to develop a framework for a coherent science education system, from kindergarten through postsecondary education. The Board on Science Education at the National Academies has formed a committee, convened public stakeholder meetings, solicited expert testimony, and is now preparing a series of recommendations that they hope will push policymakers to prioritize science education.
The national Call to Action for Science Education is part of Carnegie Corporation of New York’s efforts to advance math and science learning. An underlying goal is preparing citizens to solve some of the world’s great challenges that require sophisticated, science-based solutions. Addressing these challenges will require innovation and the scientific and technical workforce to create them.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant as America’s public schools prepare for an unprecedented infusion of stimulus funding to help recover from COVID-19’s devastating impact on schools, communities, and the economy.
“We've just spent more than a year living through a pandemic,” says Jim Short, a program director within the Corporation’s Education program that is supporting the call to action. “We're now finally beginning to see some light because we have vaccines. And that’s because of science.”
Margaret Honey, president and chief executive officer of the New York Hall of Science, who is chairing the National Academies’ call-to-action committee, says policymakers must recognize that a cohesive and equitable science education system is critical. The focus is on further integrating the fields of STEM, which encompass science, technology, engineering, and math.
“The world's problems will only get more challenging,” says Honey. “Whether it's curing diseases, feeding a growing number of people, addressing issues of global climate change, we are going to need science more than ever.”
In this interview, Short and Honey discuss the ambitious scope of their project, the importance of achieving equity in science education, and more.
Jim Short: This moment hearkens back to 1957 when the Soviets launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite. In America, that prompted a renaissance in science and science education. The federal government responded with the National Defense Education Act in 1958, which put the equivalent of $9 billion dollars into secondary and postsecondary math and science education, and led to a person on the moon.
We’re now in a similar situation with the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. We are going to see a huge infusion of spending in education, the biggest anybody has seen in our lifetime.
Margaret Honey: The last year has underscored the importance of science. But what do we really mean when we say science matters more than ever? To me, it's the idea of using scientific principles, across disciplinary boundaries, as a tool to spur innovation. It means bringing more people, with more diverse perspectives, and more talent, to the equation. And that's where the connection to the education enterprise really comes to the fore.
MH: Innovation requires a broad, inclusive network of human capital to realize its potential. It's not just the dude in the white coat in the lab. That may still be the public's perception of how science happens, but it’s not how it happens.
JS: To underscore Margaret’s point, when we reflect on the Sputnik era, it did get more people interested in becoming scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. And it did create a generation of scientists and engineers that led us into the age of technology. But it was mostly focused on secondary education and postsecondary education. And it did not create more diversity in science.
We must recognize the lack of equity and diversity in science education. K–12 science education can be a driver of equity, but kids in elementary and middle school need to be given access to science, and we need to make sure it reaches all students.
MH: In one of many interviews on the development of the Moderna vaccine, Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, credits two phenomena that made the rapid development possible. One is the science that the vaccine is built on, which had been under development for more than 15 years, and the other was collaboration and people working together. The more we can attract and cultivate a broad and diverse community of people working in science, the richer and smarter the enterprise will be. The story of the scientists behind the Moderna vaccine exemplifies this.
JS: For the Corporation, it began over a decade ago. We asked the Board on Science Education at the National Academies of Sciences to develop a consensus report that establishes a vision for science education reform. Their work became a document called A Framework for K–12 Science Education, one of the most downloaded reports for over a decade from the National Academy Press.
Next, we moved into helping states work with Achieve, the National Science Teaching Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science to translate that vision into a set of standards, which became the Next Generation Science Standards. For the first time, these standards identified science and engineering practices, disciplinary content, and crosscutting concepts that all K–12 students need to master to be fully prepared for college, careers, and citizenship.
Now, we want to move these standards into implementation. Through the National Academies’ Call to Action for Science Education, we are working to identify science education approaches that have been the most effective, as well as the major challenges for implementing a coherent science education program across the K–16 grades. In a final report, the National Academies will make a set of recommendations to help inform state and federal policymakers, as well as educators at the local level, as they start to make decisions about how to spend these stimulus dollars to address learning loss caused by the pandemic and improve science education for all students.
In a final report, the National Academies will make a set of recommendations to help inform state and federal policymakers, as well as educators at the local level, as they start to make decisions about how to spend these stimulus dollars to address learning loss caused by the pandemic and improve science education for all students.
MH: Fundamentally, what we’re being asked to do is think about the ways in which we can use policy and guidance as forces for innovation in the STEM education field. Too much of our policymaking in this country is reactive. Carnegie Corporation is asking us to identify the tools and levers of policy, anchored by a strong vision for science education.
The wonderful thing about the National Academies’ work is through what is called a consensus process. It is a powerful way to surface and bring forward the best ideas and the best information. The process starts with a statement of task. A committee of experts then draws on the National Academies’ existing body of science education work and incorporates public testimony from knowledgeable practitioners and experts who are brought in to respond and reflect on specific themes and topics.
MH: I hope that science education is a centerpiece of instructional practice, at all grade levels in the K–16 system. Fundamentally, science can be a really powerful tool for anchoring instructional practices more broadly in problem-based and project-based strategies to ensure all students receive high-quality learning experiences. My vision is that science is the centerpiece of that endeavor, not something that’s just happening for 40 minutes a week in elementary schools. It should provide context for deep and meaningful inquiry that not only incorporates scientific tools and practices but has clear links to helping students build their competencies in other domains like literacy and mathematics.
JS: Well, it's taken us 10 years to establish the vision and adopt standards for science education. Now, with focusing on the implementation, I hope that in another 10 years, we have broad, scalable use of this vision in classrooms. It doesn't take too long to produce a report, or to create a new set of standards or policies and get them adopted. It takes much longer to develop programs and provide enough professional learning at scale to shift practice around the country. We have that opportunity now with this recent stimulus funding. Over the next couple of years. we're really poised in this country to have a new Sputnik era with greater knowledge and equity. We now have a stronger supply of high-quality materials and resources, growing demand by teachers for them, and the vision to lead this work.
Geoffrey Decker is an award-winning reporter, writer, and editorial consultant for mission-driven organizations. A graduate of CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, he is the creator of Journalism through Learning Design, a storytelling framework that engages audiences as learners, not merely as consumers.
TOP: On a school field trip with their science teacher, a group of children study biology hands-on in a greenhouse. (Credit: SDI Productions/Getty Images)
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