Relating Learning Science Criteria with TEKS
In this article, the author addresses her concerns with the amount of actual science that is being taught in schools. She acknowledges the difficulty in determining the criteria used to... See More
In this article, the author addresses her concerns with the amount of actual science that is being taught in schools. She acknowledges the difficulty in determining the criteria used to judge whether the teaching of science is actually occurring in the classroom. In Texas public schools, teachers use the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to develop lesson plans. The TEKS state the knowledge and skills that students should acquire by the end of a specific school year.
Several of the criteria developed in the article for determining whether students are learning science align well with the kindergarten through fifth grade TEKS. One of the author’s criteria includes discussion of scientists’ work and activities. The TEKS build on each other from kindergarten through fifth grade and allow students to learn what a scientist is, learn what different types of scientists do, investigate what scientists have studied, and learn how the science they study connects to the history and careers of science and scientists’ contributions.
Two other criteria include students developing their explanations and comparing them to scientists’ explanations and determining whether to agree with the scientists’ explanations. The TEKS require students to explain and defend their observations and results to others and to what scientists have discovered about the world. In the upper elementary grades, students critique and analyze scientific explanations.
The three additional criteria are not directly addressed in the TEKS, but could be easily incorporated into discussions about the science community and with the participants of the scientific community.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter112/ch112a.html
Do the Science TEKS Support Science Learning?
According to the author’s perspective, the science TEKS do not line up with the criteria that she feels are evidence that children are learning science. This is evident in the fact that she ... See More
According to the author’s perspective, the science TEKS do not line up with the criteria that she feels are evidence that children are learning science. This is evident in the fact that she states, “I maintain there is no such thing as “science skills”—observing, measuring, interpreting, analyzing, and communicating are all life skills.” The science TEKS list all of the verbs mentioned above with various topics that deal with content. Another statement that the author makes is that science should not be taught using content in the form of unrelated facts, but science actually involves students questioning scientists’ ideas and relating their own interests and understanding with those of the science community. It is clear that the author believes that students should be more involved in the scientific process of inquiry and collecting data rather than fact memorization and unrelated experiments. The science TEKS cover a large variety of topics, some of which involve identifying and memorization and others that involve experimenting and classifying. This is exactly what the author describes in the situations where the teachers thought that students were learning science, but they were not.