EDUCATION
one ) told me … by looking and doing investigations that the matter from the tree comes from the air .”
And it turns out carbon dioxide is a cause for concern on our planet , Passmore says . That kind of contextual understanding of science is immediately applicable to the world and some of its biggest challenges . Most people know it ’ s important to plant trees , she adds . But students who understand that trees pull carbon dioxide out of our environment and trap it in their tissues can explain why it ’ s important to plant them .
A shift in education standards
To provide guidance on how to teach the new standards , the California State Board of Education adopted the 2016 Science Framework for California Public Schools . But “ local control laws in California do not require ( school ) districts to adopt the California NGSS nor to implement the framework . It is up to the districts ,” says Scott Roark , information officer for the California Department of Education . That ’ s led to an inconsistent rollout and implementation of the standards .
But there are formal efforts statewide such as the California Science Project , one of nine subject matter projects developed by the California Subject Matter Project , a collaborative of K-12 and university educators . The projects are designed to improve student learning by providing access to a network of experts driving educational policy and standards , as well as professional development to strengthen K-12 teachers ’ science knowledge and instructional practices . CSP works with regional offices to cascade resources down to districts , schools and teachers .
But the latest test scores among students in the Capital Region — and throughout California — show the
“ Our students really do get to express and represent a range of emotions , thoughts , ideas . … ( They ’ re ) developing their emotional and social intelligence .”
MICHELLE REYNOLDS Head of School , California International School
majority of students still aren ’ t proficient in science subjects . In 2020 , results were released of the new California Science Test designed to measure the progress of NGSS among students in fifth and eighth grade and high school during the 2018-2019 school year .
Statewide , nearly 30 percent of students met or exceeded the science standards , with a significant disparity between white and Asian students who performed on average the highest , and Black , Latino and Native American students who performed on average the lowest . Among the 10 counties in the Capital Region , proficiency scores ranged from 22.88 percent to 45.06 percent . Sacramento County scored the lowest , followed closely by San Joaquin County , while Placer County scored the highest , followed closely by El Dorado County in second place .
But some are not apt to heavily rely on the test ’ s first year of results . “ They ’ re all very low because they were in some early stage of implementation ,” says Kirk Brown , former division director of STEM Programs for San Joaquin County of Education , who became head of K-12 programming at the Milken Center for Advancing the
American Dream in Washington , D . C . in December 2021 .
Others argue the results are consistent with long-term trends among traditional assessments of student performance . They point to the challenges of a disjointed rollout and implementation of NGSS that ’ s left up to districts with varying pedagogy ethos , budgets , access to updated textbooks and materials , teacher shortages and training .
“ Think about the scale of what we ’ re talking about . Something that happens in every single classroom , all across the state , every single day , millions of students ,” Passmore says . “ I feel like so often in education we ’ re like , ‘ OK , here ’ s the new thing .’ Boom ! And then we just kind of throw a bomb and walk away . … Hopefully that ’ s not what ’ s happening with the shift in the Next Generation Science Standards , but I ’ ll tell you , a number of school districts still don ’ t have new curriculum . These standards were adopted years ago but they ’ re still working with textbooks that are 10 years old that way preceded the standards , and that ’ s not the teachers ’ fault .”
The challenges of overhauling STEM curricula alone are real . And the prevalence of STEM over STEAM in mainstream education isn ’ t a stance against art or the humanities , but rather a commitment to build a proficiency in the teaching and learning of STEM disciplines — a formal undertaking that has yet to be uniformly achieved .
But there are growing opportunities for local schools and teachers to integrate STEAM . For example , the California Department of Education , California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls , and the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation co-host the annual California STEAM Symposium . The UC Davis Center for Integrated Computing and STEM program for K-12 students
56 comstocksmag . com | February 2022