Introduction

The content of school science is broadly defined to include specific capacities, understandings, and abilities in science. The content standards are not a science curriculum. Curriculum is the way content is delivered. It includes the structure, organization, balance, and presentation of the content in the classroom.

The content standards are not science lessons, classes, courses of study, or school science programs. The components of the science content described can be organized with a variety of emphases and perspectives into many different curricula. The organizational schemes of the content standards are not intended to be used as curricula; instead, the scope, sequence, and coordination of concepts, processes, and topics are left to those who design and implement curricula in science programs.

Curricula often will integrate topics from different subject-matter areas--such as life and physical sciences--from different content standards--such as life sciences and science in personal and social perspectives--and from different school subjects--such as science and mathematics, science and language arts, or science and history.

The goals for school science that underlie the National Science Education Standards are to educate students who are able to

• experience the richness and excitement of knowing about and understanding the natural world;
• use appropriate scientific processes and principles in making personal decisions;
• engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about matters of scientific and technological concern;
• increase their economic productivity through the use of the knowledge, understanding, and skills of the scientifically literate person in their careers.

The standards for science teaching are grounded in five assumptions:

• The vision of science education described by the Standards requires changes throughout the entire system.
• What students learn is greatly influenced by how they are taught.
• The actions of teachers are deeply influenced by their perceptions of science as an enterprise and as a subject to be taught and learned.
• Student understanding is actively constructed through individual and social processes.
• Actions of teachers are deeply influenced by their understanding of and relationships with students.

Teaching Standard A: Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students. In doing this, teachers

• Develop a framework of yearlong and short-term goals for students.
• Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.
• Select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners.
• Work together as colleagues within and across disciplines and grade levels.

Teaching Standard B: Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers

• Focus and support inquiries while interacting with students.
• Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas.
• Challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own learning.
• Recognize and respond to student diversity and encourage all students to participate fully in science learning.
• Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.

Teaching Standard C: Teachers of science engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching and of student learning. In doing this, teachers

• Use multiple methods and systematically gather data about student understanding and ability.
• Analyze assessment data to guide teaching.
• Guide students in self-assessment.
• Use student data, observations of teaching, and interactions with colleagues to reflect on and improve teaching practice.
• Use student data, observations of teaching, and interactions with colleagues to report student achievement and opportunities to learn to students, teachers, parents, policy makers, and the general public.

Teaching Standard D: Teachers of science design and manage learning environments that provide students with the time, space, and resources needed for learning science. In doing this, teachers

• Structure the time available so that students are able to engage in extended investigations.
• Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.
• Ensure a safe working environment.
• Make the available science tools, materials, media, and technological resources accessible to students.
• Identify and use resources outside the school.
• Engage students in designing the learning environment.

Teaching Standard E: Teachers of science develop communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and the attitudes and social values conducive to science learning. In doing this, teachers

• Display and demand respect for the diverse ideas, skills, and experiences of all students.
• Enable students to have a significant voice in decisions about the content and context of their work and require students to take responsibility for the learning of all members of the community.
• Nurture collaboration among students.
• Structure and facilitate ongoing formal and informal discussion based on a shared understanding of rules of scientific discourse.
• Model and emphasize the skills, attitudes, and values of scientific inquiry.

Teaching Standard F: Teachers of science actively participate in the ongoing planning and development of the school science program. In doing this, teachers

• Plan and develop the school science program.
• Participate in decisions concerning the allocation of time and other resources to the science program.
• Participate fully in planning and implementing professional growth and development strategies for themselves and their colleagues.

Assessment Standard A: Assessments must be consistent with the decisions they are designed to inform.

• Assessments are deliberately designed.
• Assessments have explicitly stated purposes.
• The relationship between the decisions and the data is clear.
• Assessment procedures are internally consistent.

Assessment Standard B: Achievement and opportunity to learn science must be assessed.

• Achievement data collected focus on the science content that is most important for students to learn.
• Opportunity-to-learn data collected focus on the most powerful indicators.
• Equal attention must be given to the assessment of opportunity to learn and to the assessment of student achievement.

Assessment Standard C: The technical quality of the data collected is well matched to the decisions and actions taken on the basis of their interpretation.

• The feature that is claimed to be measured is actually measured.
• Assessment tasks are authentic.
• An individual student's performance is similar on two or more tasks that claim to measure the same aspect of student achievement.
• Students have adequate opportunity to demonstrate their achievements.
• Assessment tasks and methods of presenting them provide data that are sufficiently stable to lead to the same decisions if used at different times.

Assessment Standard D: Assessment practices must be fair.

• Assessment tasks must be reviewed for the use of stereotypes, for assumptions that reflect the perspectives or experiences of a particular group, for language that might be offensive to a particular group, and for other features that might distract students from the intended task.
• Large-scale assessments must use statistical techniques to identify potential bias among subgroups.
• Assessment tasks must be appropriately modified to accommodate the needs of students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, or limited English proficiency.
• Assessment tasks must be set in a variety of contexts, be engaging to students with different interests and experiences, and must not assume the perspective or experience of a particular gender, racial, or ethnic group.

Assessment Standard E: The inferences made from assessments about student achievement and opportunity to learn must be sound.

• When making inferences from assessment data about student achievement and opportunity to learn science, explicit reference needs to be made to the assumptions on which the inferences are based.

Science As Inquiry

Content Standard A: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understandings about scientific inquiry

Physical Science

Content Standard B: As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of

• Structure of atoms
• Structure and properties of matter
• Chemical reactions
• Motions and forces
• Conservation of energy and increase in disorder
• Interactions of energy and matter

Life Science

Content Standard C: As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of

• The cell
• Molecular basis of heredity
• Biological evolution
• Interdependence of organisms
• Matter, energy, and organization in living systems
• Behavior of organisms

Earth and Space Science

Content Standard D: As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of

• Energy in the earth system
• Geochemical cycles
• Origin and evolution of the earth system
• Origin and evolution of the universe

Science and Technology

Content Standard E: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop

• Abilities of technological design
• Understandings about science and technology

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

Content Standard F: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of

• Personal and community health
• Population growth
• Natural resources
• Environmental quality
• Natural and human-induced hazards
• Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges

History and Nature of Science

Content Standard G: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop understanding of

• Science as a human endeavor
• Nature of scientific knowledge
• Historical perspectives

Program Standard A: All elements of the K-12 science program must be consistent with the other National Science Education Standards and with one another and developed within and across grade levels to meet a clearly stated set of goals.

• In an effective science program, a set of clear goals and expectations for students must be used to guide the design, implementation, and assessment of all elements of the science program.
• Curriculum frameworks should be used to guide the selection and development of units and courses of study.
• Teaching practices need to be consistent with the goals and curriculum frameworks.
• Assessment policies and practices should be aligned with the goals, student expectations, and curriculum frameworks.
• Support systems and formal and informal expectations of teachers must be aligned with the goals, student expectations and curriculum frameworks.
• Responsibility needs to be clearly defined for determining, supporting, maintaining, and upgrading all elements of the science program.

Program Standard B: The program of study in science for all students should be developmentally appropriate, interesting, and relevant to students' lives; emphasize student understanding through inquiry; and be connected with other school subjects.

• The program of study should include all of the content standards.
• Science content must be embedded in a variety of curriculum patterns that are developmentally appropriate, interesting, and relevant to students' lives.
• The program of study must emphasize student understanding through inquiry.
• The program of study in science should connect to other school subjects.

Program Standard C: The science program should be coordinated with the mathematics program to enhance student use and understanding of mathematics in the study of science and to improve student understanding of mathematics.

Program Standard D: The K-12 science program must give students access to appropriate and sufficient resources, including quality teachers, time, materials and equipment, adequate and safe space, and the community.

• The most important resource is professional teachers.
• Time is a major resource in a science program.
• Conducting scientific inquiry requires that students have easy, equitable, and frequent opportunities to use a wide range of equipment, materials, supplies, and other resources for experimentation and direct investigation of phenomena.
• Collaborative inquiry requires adequate and safe space.
• Good science programs require access to the world beyond the classroom.

Program Standard E: All students in the K-12 science program must have equitable access to opportunities to achieve the National Science Education Standards.

Program Standard F: Schools must work as communities that encourage, support, and sustain teachers as they implement an effective science program.

• Schools must explicitly support reform efforts in an atmosphere of openness and trust that encourages collegiality.
• Regular time needs to be provided and teachers encouraged to discuss, reflect, and conduct research around science education reform.
• Teachers must be supported in creating and being members of networks of reform.
• An effective leadership structure that includes teachers must be in place.

System Standard A: Policies that influence the practice of science education must be congruent with the program, teaching, professional development, assessment, and content standards while allowing for adaptation to local circumstances.

System Standard B: Policies that influence science education should be coordinated within and across agencies, institutions, and organizations.

System Standard C: Policies need to be sustained over sufficient time to provide the continuity necessary to bring about the changes required by the Standards.

System Standard D: Policies must be supported with resources.

System Standard E: Science education policies must be equitable.

System Standard F: All policy instruments must be reviewed for possible unintended effects on the classroom practice of science education.

System Standard G: Responsible individuals must take the opportunity afforded by the standards-based reform movement to achieve the new vision of science education portrayed in the Standards.