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In November 2010, the National Science Teachers Association recently a position statement about Teaching Science and Technology in the Context of Societal and Personal Issues. See http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/societalpersonalissues.aspx.

Quoting from the introduction to the 3-page document:

NSTA strongly promotes the education of a citizenry that is scientifically and technologically literate as defined in the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996). This requires that we not only know, understand, and value scientific and technological concepts, processes, and outcomes, but that we are able to use and apply science and technology in our personal and social lives (Zeidler 2003).

It is not easy for a group of educational leaders to create a position statement that they find mutually acceptable. The document created by the NSTA is suggestive of why both teachers and their students often feel overwhelmed by the requirements being set in the various instructional disciplines.

As I read the Declaration, I felt totally overwhelmed. I can see that I, personally, am fairly science literate according to the suggestions made in the document. However, you can judge your own preparation by doing some careful reflection on items in the list. Here are the first five items on the 16-item list.

1. Know the major concepts, hypotheses, and theories of science and be able to use them. [Part of Moursund’s reflection. Hmm. Can I make such a list off the top of my head. What is it important to include. What am I missing?]
2. Include knowledge of science concepts and practices of science in making responsible everyday decisions. [Part of Moursund’s reflection. From time to time I think about this question just in terms of mathematics, my doctorate area. Outside of my professional work, I very seldom use the math I learned in college and graduate school.]
3. Understand that the generation of scientific knowledge depends upon inquiry processes and upon conceptual theories. [Part of Moursund’s reflection. I think and write about this quite a bit, so I am comfortable with my progress in this area.]
4. Understand that the invention and improvement of technologies depends on the technological design process. [Part of Moursund’s reflection. I wonder what the authors mean by the technological design process? Are they assuming that the typical science teacher knows what this means?]
5. Understand that science and technology are products of human creativity and imagination, subject to verification and rigorous tests. [Part of Moursund’s reflection. I think of this as a statement about scientific method.]

And, here are two items from the 7-item list about science instruction:

1. Incorporate scientific issues that are personally and socially relevant, and developmentally appropriate, as a way to generate interest in and motivation to engage in relating science to personal and societal issues; [Part of Moursund’s reflection. This is an interdisciplinary nightmare. It is very important, but…]
2. Provide an authentic learning context by examining the societal dimensions of scientific issue, such as political, economic, and ethical considerations. [Part of Moursund’s reflection. This is an interdisciplinary nightmare. It is very important, but…]

As I thought about these last two items, I thought about my “Two cultures” IAE Blog entry of 11/16/2010 available at http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/the-multiple-academic-cultures-faced-by-an-elementary-school-teacher.html. The two entries suggest to me that NSTA is well aware of the two cultures issue and wants science education to address it.

Final Remarks

Spend a bit of time reflecting on what you have just read. How does the information fit in with your current knowledge, beliefs, and activities? How can you make use of the information to help improve our informal and formal educational systems? Who do you know that might benefit from reading the IAE Blog entry?

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Responsible adult citizen.