Sunday, March 10, 2013

Common Core State Standards: Science Curriculum

Being rolled out to a State near you this month...

Suppose Senator Crandall and the State Board of Education have seen it yet?

Oh wait.  They probably have, considering Arizona is a lead state in developing the standards.  Feel free to leave feedback, although it's probably too late.

 
"The way to change a system of equalibrium is to create a stress on the system.  These standards have an opportunity to do that....We have an opportunity, and we kinda need to make sure we don't screw this up."
 - Stephen Pruit/ Achieve
 
"States Developing Next Generation Science Standards In a process managed by Achieve, states will lead the development of K–12 science standards, rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally-benchmarked science education. The NGSS will be based on the Framework and will prepare students for college and careers. The NGSS will be developed collaboratively with states and other stakeholders in science, science education, higher education and industry. Additional review and guidance will be provided by advisory committees composed of nationally-recognized leaders in science and science education as well as business and industry. As part of the development process, the standards will undergo multiple reviews from many stakeholders including two public drafts, allowing all who have a stake in science education an opportunity to inform the development of the standards. This process will produce a set of high quality, college- and career-ready K–12 Next Generation Science Standards ready for state adoption. The standards will be published on this website when they are completed, in late 2012 or early 2013."
 
 
The Partners:  If you have been following our previous entries, a few of these names should sound familiar to you.
 
 
 
 
Carnegie Corporation of New York  (The irony isn't lost on the fact that this organization is based in a city where 80% of the high school graduates are illiterate and can't even read Bloomberg's mandated  nutrition information on restaurant menus.)

 
Carnegie Corporation has donated millions to groups like:
Center for American Progress
Migration Policy Institute
Tides Foundation
Achieve
PARCC
Council of Chief State School Officers-  in 2012 and 2009 to implement CCSS
American Association for the Advancement of Science - for the Global Knowledge Initiative's Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration.
Arizona State University- for a symposium on the social, educational and economic impact of Arizona immigration laws 
ACT - 2009 For an initiative to increase the number of students graduating high school who are college and career ready (See previous entries)
 
 

The Noyce Foundation whose board member, Phil Daro,  happens to have been on the committee to write the Math Standards, donates to groups like
 
Achieve
National Governors Association
 
 
The number one concern from the feedback received on the first draft of the "rigorous" standards was that it covered too much material.  This resulted in the removal of some content and other content shifted grade levels in elementary school.
 
 
Things people do can affect the environment but they can make choices to reduce their impacts
Societal activities have had major effects on the land, ocean, atmosphere and even outer space; Students describe things society does to protect Earth’s resources and environments
Human activities have altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging it, although changes to environments can have different impacts for different living things; Activities and technologies can be engineered to reduce people’s impacts on Earth
Resource availability has guided the development of human society and use of natural resources has associated costs, risks and benefits
Sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources, including the development of technologies and regulations
Global climate models used to predict changes continue to be improved, although discoveries about the global climate system are ongoing and continually needed
Humans depend on biodiversity but also have adverse impacts on it, including the potential of major extinctions that may be harmful to humans and other organisms; Sustaining biodiversity is essential to supporting life on Earth.
If a biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, including one induced by human activity, the ecosystem may return to its more or less original state or become a very different ecosystem, depending on the complex set of interactions within the ecosystem.
Humans and other organisms will be affected in many different ways if Earth’s global mean temperature continues to rise
Human activities affect global warming; Decisions to reduce the impact of global warming depend on understanding climate science, engineering capabilities, and social dynamics
Natural hazards and other geological events have shaped the course of human history at local, regional and global scales;
in turn, human activities contribute to the frequency and intensity of some natural hazards