One State’s Experience Using Science as a Connector for the Reformed School Curriculum

Science/Technology/Society (STS) is the latest effort to provide a real-world, interdisciplinary context for the study of science. Here’s how a num-ber of districts in one midwestern state are using the approach. Science has been considered a curriculum basic since 1821,cien when Harvard designated physics as an entrance require-ment. Other universities followed the lead; a few years later, chemistry became a required course for admission, especially in the most prestigious institutions. Not until World War II, however, with its focus on war tech-nology, was there a general realization of the importance of sci-ence and technology to the American way of life and to nation-al survival. The war brought many applied courses to the high school curriculum-mostly those related to war efforts. Just as the war stimulated change, it took a Soviet satellite to stimulate massive support for improving science curricula. The two decades following Sputnik resulted in more than two billion dollars directed toward improvements in school science