Summary (Aug 16, 2003): Reviewing how state education policies reflect the sentiments of local politics reveals much about how successful we are about communicating with each other--in preparation for communication with another culture.
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Evolution and Education By Edna DeVore, SETI Institute Director of Education and Public Outreach
Teachers from across the nation converged on Philadelphia for the annual National Science Teachers Association's meeting, March 26 through March 30. NSTA convenes the largest meeting of science educators in the world, and this year more than 13,000 people attended. The meeting spanned the breadth of science: physics, chemistry, biology, earth and space sciences.
 | In a universe brimming with stars, the search is on if life exists elsewhere
Credit:NASA/STScI/ESA |
The SETI Institute education team presented workshops and short courses, and participated in the earth and space science events that share lessons with teachers. We also had our exhibit in the trade show arena of the meeting, adjacent to NASA's exhibits. Throughout the five days, a steady stream of interested teachers talked with us about SETI and our science education materials at the booth. Like NASA, we were always busy interacting with the attendees.
Over and over again, teachers remarked that their students are always asking about SETI and astronomy. Kids have a keen interest in astronomy, space sciences, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. What's out there? Are we alone?
Ironically, this interest is not uniformly reflected in the state science education standards across the USA and these state standards drive textbook content. At the national level, scientists and educators together authored the National Science Education Standards (published by the National Research Council); it provides guidelines for pre-college education, grades K-12.
In parallel, The Benchmarks for Science Literacy, was published by Project 2061 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They advocate virtually the same content for science education in the USA. So far, so good. But, we do not have national requirements for our classrooms. Rather, education is a state responsibility, and the individual states develop their own science standards. (Except Iowa, where local districts develop their own standards.)
At the state level, science standards are subject to political pressures from special interest groups such as the creationists. Most commonly, teaching biological evolution is the target, but the origin and evolution of the universe and the history of our planet are also subject to censorship in state standards.
At NSTA, I presented "Evolution and Education: Can Dorothy and Toto Learn Science Anymore?" I reviewed the 1999 decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to remove evolution from their state standards and the resulting outcry by scientists.
Dr. Maxine Singer, President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington wrote "Evolution is the framework that makes sense of the whole natural world from the formation of atoms, galaxies, stars and planets, to the AIDS virus, giant redwood trees and our own health and well-being.... Dorothy was lucky because the Wizard of Oz was wise. The wizards of the Kansas State Board of Education look foolish in comparison." (Washington Post, August 18, 1999). At the next election, the citizens of Kansas overturned this decision by electing new members to the State Board of Education, and Kansas now includes biological evolution in its science standards. Kansas is only one example.
As an astronomy educator, I am interested in how we teach our children about the universe beyond our own small planet. I analyzed the astronomy and space science standards for 46 states by comparing them with the National Science Education Standards (NSES). (At the time, 3 states had incomplete standards, and 1 does not publish standards.) At primary grades (K-4), all states were in agreement with the NSES: observing objects - sun, moon, stars, birds and airplanes - and observing changes - day and night, the changing moon, surface changes on Earth, and weather cycles. Everyone gets an A+.
For grades 5 though 8, the state standards were mostly in line with NSES. Everyone included the structure of the Earth, plate tectonics and landforms, water and rock cycles, and atmosphere and oceans. But only 61% included the impact of living systems on the planet at a time when global warming is all too apparent. Looking at the history of the Earth, 67% include the study of ongoing processes of geological evolution and catastrophes like comet or asteroid impacts, and 80% include the study of fossils as evidence of the age of the Earth.
The solar system is studied a second time in middle school (grades 5-8), and the NSES and state standards are largely in agreement. The topics are the solar system (100%), moon phases (100%), gravity and tides (89%), our sun as source for energy (93%), and the seasons (96%). With the exception of geological evolution and fossil evidence, we can expect that elementary and middle school students across the nation study the basic information about the solar system and our planet. This is good, basic astronomical and scientific literacy. That said, note that in certain states, topics that touch upon the age of the Earth and evidence for its evolution are not included.
At the high school level (graded 9 - 12), astronomy suffers. The general earth and space science content areas are: energy in the Earth system, geochemical cycles, origin and evolution of the solar system, and origin and evolution of the universe. I analyzed the latter two as most related to astronomy. In the content area of origin & evolution of the solar system, I analyzed 46 states as before, and found the following concepts from the NSES included:
Solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago: 25 states or 54% Earth changed since formation: 31 states or 67% Geologic time: fossils & dating: 33 states or 72% Earth as interacting, evolving system: 27 states or 59% Life goes back 3.5 billion years: 7 states or 15% Atmosphere changed due to life: 11 states or 24%
And, in the content area of origin and evolution of the universe, I found:
Origin of the universe: 28 states or 61% Big bang theory: 25 states or 54% Expansion of universe as evidence of age: 22 states or 48% Stars & galaxies made of H and He early: 24 states or 52% Stars & nuclear fusion: 27 states or 59%.
 | | Will understanding our place in the universe help us recognize our common humanit |
Overall, astronomy is included in the high school science curriculum standards in about half of our fifty states. Why is this? In part, this may be due to the traditional and dominant high school curriculum sequence of biology, chemistry and physics. More than a decade ago, California included earth and space science as a suitable laboratory science for college admission, but schools change slowly. More to the point, I believe that the absence of the origin and evolution of the universe and solar system from many state standards is due to political pressure. The age of the solar system and the evidence of early life as well as the origin of the universe at the big bang place humans on a timeline that stretches back at least 13.7 billions years (the latest age of the universe).
For people who believe that the Earth and all its creatures are only a few thousand years old, this is unacceptable. And, they've managed to excise this well-supported science from their children's education by removing it from the state science standards. If it's not in the state standards, it will not be in the textbooks or on the state achievement tests. And teachers will not include it in classroom instruction. We live in a vast and amazing universe, but keep our children from learning about it.
So, as I handed teachers a poster and invited them to visit our website, I hoped to make a difference. The universe in all its grandeur still lures and engages their students. Too bad, that the parents and politicians in many states don't agree. In the words of George D. (Pinky) Nelson, astronaut and educator, "Kansas is a place where grown ups are fighting their cultural war on the playgrounds of children.
The first casualty is truth. The second casualty is children." (Reno, NSTA keynote talk, 1999).
The citizens of Kansas fixed their state standards. Others need to follow their example.
Related Web Pages Microbiology in Microgravity (PDF)
The Search for Life in the Universe (N. Tyson, testimony to Congress)
Ancient Mars Life Studies (Spaceflight NASA)
SETI Institute
Note: History
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