The Quest for a Coherent School Science Curriculum: The Need for an Organizing Abstract Principle

Achievement test results from TIMSS and NAEP suggest that the performance of US students in science is not strong either in terms of international or national standards. Yet, the US is perceived as a world leader in standards-based and "hands-on" science reform. In this paper I argue that the major policy issue confronting the science community that addresses this apparent disconnect is the development of an organizing principle that would serve to limit the number of essential topics, subordinating some topics in science standards to others. Furthermore, this organizing principle would weave the reduced set of topics into a sequence that is logical and that leads to an unfolding of a key story or stories in science that are intrinsically interesting to students and that provide the needed basis for understanding science by future literate citizens and not just the memorization of isolated facts to be forgotten as school finishes. How can the US achieve a more coherent and rigorous sch..