New Tool Mapping the Growth of K–12 Science Understanding Released by
AAAS's Project 2061 and NSTA
January 22, 2001
Washington, DC — Taking account of student learning from grade to grade
is essential, especially in science, where key concepts, like the structure
of matter, become more complex as students progress. Unfortunately, few tools
exist to help educators visualize and plan for the growth of student understanding.
In a first-ever joint publishing arrangement, Project 2061 of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Science
Teachers Association (NSTA) provide educators with an innovative tool that
graphically depicts connections among key learning goals for students in kindergarten
through 12th grade.
Atlas of Science Literacy presents a series of strand maps that illustrate
how student understanding of key science, mathematics, and technology topics
builds and grows from grade to grade. Each map displays the ideas, skills,
and the connections among them that are part of achieving literacy in a particular
topic, showing where each step along the way comes from and where it leads.
In addition, each map is accompanied by a summary of the relevant research
on student learning. Topics mapped include gravity, plate tectonics, flow
of matter in ecosystems, natural selection, maintaining good health, communication
technology, and statistical reasoning.
"The maps clearly show how the ideas and skills that students learn in different
grades build on and support one another," states George Nelson, director of
Project 2061. "If our high school graduates are to be science literate, we
must reform K–12 education at every level. Atlas should be a valuable
tool for this type of comprehensive reform, supporting classroom teachers
as well as those developing curriculum and assessment tools."
Atlas is one of a coordinated set of tools developed by Project 2061
to help educators understand and use specific goals for student learning.
The nearly 50 maps in Atlas show connections among the learning goals
established in Project 2061's publication Benchmarks for Science Literacy
(1993). Content standards from the National Science Education Standards (National
Research Council, 1996) drew substantially on the goals in Benchmarks
and overlap with them nearly completely. The maps also continue the work of
Project 2061's landmark document, Science for All Americans (1989),
which provides a narrative account of the concepts and skills necessary for
basic adult science literacy. Atlas complements these earlier efforts
by making explicit the connections among learning goals that were only implied
before.
Both Project 2061 and NSTA see the publishing partnership as beneficial. Arthur
Eisenkraft, president of NSTA, states, "We are pleased to be able to work
with Project 2061 because the partnership is a perfect melding of their strength
in research and NSTA's expertise in teaching. Science educators are the ultimate
benefactors of this partnership because it gives them a new tool to track
and plan student learning from early grades all the way through high school
and to see how the lessons in their individual classrooms relate to the K–12
curriculum as a whole."
Atlas fits into NSTA's publishing agenda to bring quality education
materials to science educators. NSTA Press, the book publishing arm of NSTA,
develops more than a dozen books and other educational programs each year.
Focused on the K–12 market and specifically aimed at teachers of science,
NSTA Press titles offer a unique blend of accurate scientific content and
sound teaching strategies.
Development of the maps has been a painstaking process, based on more than
a decade of study by scientists and K–12 classroom teachers. Project
2061 is at work on additional maps that will include learning goals from Benchmarks
for Science Literacy not included in the current volume and illustrate
more connections to already mapped learning goals.
Educators who have field-tested Atlas express resounding support. "It
is an excellent tool for educators to use because we can see all related learning
goals for a given topic on one page," says David Martin, an earth science
teacher at Gallagher Middle School in Smithfield, Rhode Island. In addition
to using the maps and map commentaries to guide classroom teaching and curriculum
committee work, educators plan to use Atlas as a tool in professional
development and education reform efforts. Dorcas Metcalf, program coordinator
of the Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium at Brown University, sees many
potential uses for Atlas. "I envision incorporating the use of strand
maps in our teacher workshops on science education. . .and using the maps
as support for education reform at the state government level."
Copies of Atlas of Science Literacy are available for $49.95 from both
AAAS and NSTA. Contact AAAS (item #00-12S) at the AAAS Distribution Center,
P.O. Box 521, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701, 1-800-222-7809, or use the on-line
order form at www.project2061.org/order/AtlasOrder.pdf.
Contact NSTA (stock #PA001X) at 1-800-722-NSTA or visit the NSTA on-line Science
Store at http://www.nsta.org/store/.
Funding for Atlas of Science Literacy and for Project 2061 is provided
by the National Science Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Carnegie Corporation
of New York, Hewlett-Packard Company, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The AAAS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the public's understanding
of science and technology and to responsible scientific advancement across
all disciplines. Project 2061 (www.project2061.org)
is AAAS's long-term nationwide initiative to help improve science, mathematics,
and technology education for all students.
The National Science Teachers Association (www.nsta.org)
is the world's largest organization dedicated to promoting excellence and
innovation in science teaching and learning for all. Its 53,000-plus members
include science teachers of all grade levels, science supervisors, administrators,
scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in
science education.
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Contact
Information:
Catherine
Tramontana (AAAS)
(202) 326-7004
Cindy Workosky
(NSTA)
(703) 312-9248
