Background

In 1999 AGU’s Committee on Education and Human Resources (CEHR) proposed that the Union adopt a position emphasizing the importance of teaching Earth and space sciences in primary and secondary school (grades K-12).  Given that AGU members are primarily researchers at the university level, some may not see the connection between their research interests and the value of teaching Earth and space sciences to students before college.  We feel that success in advancing the geophysical sciences, a Union goal, depends measurably on preparing future scientists but also on the non-scientist who understands and appreciates the value of supporting Earth and space science research.  AGU President Marcia McNutt appointed us to a panel to draft a position statement for the Union in the Fall of 2000.  The AGU Council adopted the statement without objection on 13 December 2001.

Introduction
 
The July 2001 through June 2004 AGU Plan contains the following AGU mission statement.

“AGU is a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity.”

“AGU exists to advance the geophysical sciences by catalyzing and supporting the efforts of individual scientists within and outside the membership.  We organize and disseminate information for the scientific community.  As a learned society we have an obligation to serve the public good; we meet this obligation by fostering quality in the geophysical sciences and bringing the results to the public.”

In preparing this statement, the panel recognized that while some members of AGU have expertise in education at these levels, most do not.  Consequently, rather than attempting to provide a detailed recommendation on appropriate content in the Earth and space sciences, the panel recommended that the position statement endorse reports by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Research Council (NRC) on science education in primary and secondary school.  These two reports contain expert advice and provide clear and reasonable content guidelines for teaching the Earth and space sciences as an integrating but distinct component of K-12 science curricula.

The AAAS Benchmarks and the NRC Standards

During the 1990s, in parallel with similar movements in mathematics, history, geography, and other areas, national efforts to improve science education in grades K-12 came to focus on an approach based on guidelines or standards developed by teachers and subject matter experts through a consensus process. Such an approach recognizes that in the U.S., K-12 education is inherently a “local” matter. National standards are intended to aid school districts and departments of education operated by local governmental units, such as counties, cities, and states, in determining what is to be taught and how it is to be presented to students. The standards provide definitive guidance as to the essential elements of scientific knowledge and technique that an individual must know in order to have a basic understanding and appreciation of the natural world and sufficient skills to function in a complex technological society. National standards offer a comprehensive, self-consistent basis for the development of state standards, science education policies, science curricula, and textbooks, software, and other materials for the classroom.

As part of the national effort to improve science education, the AAAS and the NRC independently explored ways to improve the quality of K-12 science education and produced complementary national science standards. The AAAS, as part of its long-running Project 2061 to improve K-12 science education, published its Benchmarks for Science Literacy (BMSL; 1994). The National Research Council, responding to a call from the National Governor’s Conference in 1992, developed and published the National Science Education Standards (NSES; 1995). These documents outline specific concepts that students should know, understand, and be able to apply in order to be scientifically literate.  They also suggest effective methods for teaching science.  Both the BMSL and the NSES include extensive sections dealing with the Earth and space sciences, albeit organized somewhat differently. These sections comprise well-researched definitions of geoscience literacy drawn directly from contemporary research, including that of many AGU members.

Both documents were developed through consensus processes that involved panels of scientists, science educators, K-12 teachers, and administrators, and an extensive review process structured to build support for the resulting standards in both the scientific and education communities.  The NSES and the BMSL were developed following a “less is more” philosophy. As a result, selected concepts about the Earth, judged by the panels to be “fundamental” and “essential”, are emphasized and explored in depth, but at the expense of other topics that some may feel to be of equal or greater importance. Both the NSES and the BMSL are tightly integrated documents, that is, it is very difficult to adopt only part of the standards. Fundamental concepts in the life, physical, and Earth and space sciences are interlinked. Several themes, such as deep time and co-evolution of life with the inanimate components of the Earth system, are woven through the various sections on the life and Earth sciences, and also appear several times at different grade levels.

The BMSL and the NSES challenge K-12 schools to provide students a comprehensive education about planet Earth, beginning with simple observations and explorations in lower grades and culminating in an integrating discussion of the Earth as a dynamic planetary system toward the end of high school.  Importantly, both the BMSL and the NSES state that the Earth and space sciences should be considered on a par with the physical and life sciences. This is done in recognition of need for a high level of “geoscience literacy” in the next generations of citizens of this country, generations which will be required to address a host of complex environmental questions using the best available scientific knowledge.

The standards are structured to foster improvements in the teaching of science by emphasizing a hands-on, inquiry based approach.  The teaching strategies discussed in these documents are built on the best available research by educational psychologists into how, and at what age, young people most effectively learn basic scientific concepts and principles.  Although some specific examples of teaching methods are discussed in the documents, the standards strongly advocate substantial flexibility with regard to implementation within the classroom environment, e.g., “The importance of inquiry does not imply that all teachers should pursue a single approach to teaching science.” (NSES; p. 2).

Summary

The objectives and content goals in the national standards are entirely compatible with the goals of AGU.  Key among these are the desire to promote scientific study of Earth and space sciences and to further the public’s understanding of the importance of these sciences in everyday matters.  A citizenry which has learned the fundamental concepts in Earth and space sciences advocated by the national standards documents will likely have much greater appreciation for the relevance of such concepts to society and will likely be able to make better-informed decisions.  Furthermore, the prominence given to the Earth and space sciences is in accordance with what many AGU members have maintained: that the Earth and space sciences are an integral (and integrating) part of any science education, drawing on and extending the knowledge students learn in physics, chemistry, and biology.

We strongly encourage AGU members, as their expertise and interests permit, to become familiar with these national standards, and to work with local and state education agencies to implement the AAAS and NRC recommendations on Earth and space sciences in primary and secondary education.

References:

The AGU position statement, "Importance of the Earth and Space Sciences in Primary and Secondary Education: An Endorsement of the AAAS Benchmarks and NRC Standards," is available online at http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/earthspace_educ.html.

The NSES are available on line at http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/index.html in HTML format, at http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/pdf/index.html in PDF format.

The BMSL can be found at http://www.project2061.org/tools/benchol/bolframe.html. The Blueprints for Reform (1998), at http://www.project2061.org/tools/bluepol/blpframe.html, is an important companion document.

Authors: John Snow, Marvin Geller, Carl Katsu, Margo Kingston, Randall Richardson, Richard Vondrak

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