An Analysis of Virginia's Science Standards of Learning

The Virginia Department of Education's (VDOE) 2018 Science Standards of Learning have been the subject of scrutiny and debate, particularly regarding their structure, clarity, and content. This article delves into a comprehensive analysis of these standards, drawing upon expert evaluations and highlighting key areas of concern and commendation. The goal is to provide a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the 2018 Standards and to inform discussions about future revisions.

Introduction

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) periodically seeks comments on its Science Standards of Learning to enhance concept clarity and update the standards' structure. The 2018 Science Standards of Learning (hereafter 2018 Standards) serve as a guide for science education in Virginia's K-12 schools. While these standards represent an improvement over the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), concerns remain about their brevity, vagueness, and certain content omissions.

Commendations

Virginia has notably avoided significant influence from the NGSS, which has negatively impacted science instruction in other states. The VDOE's commitment to concision and teacher freedom is also commendable, as it allows teachers greater autonomy in the classroom.

Concerns

Lack of Detail and Rigor

The primary concern with the 2018 Standards is their brevity and vagueness. State content standards provide minimum content knowledge standards for teacher education, teacher licensure, and professional development. Brief, vague content standards especially harm the education of disadvantaged students, and thereby foster an unequal society. Detailed science content standards give school districts more material to use to plan their own science instruction, facilitate reliable assessment, and prevent teachers from teaching only what is explicitly prescribed. College professors regularly tell us that students come to them unprepared due to insufficient instruction in content knowledge and scientific reasoning.

Pedagogical Prescription

The phrase "Students will investigate and understand" prescribes a specific pedagogical method, limiting teachers' freedom to choose the most effective teaching strategies. Teachers should be free to choose whatever means will lead students to understand.

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Omission of History of Science

The 2018 Standards contain virtually no History of Science. Science instruction can be enriched by the history of scientific discovery, by helping both teachers and students to learn how we came to know what we know about the natural world. Learning the history of scientific discovery will help teachers plan the sequence of science instruction and the choice of laboratory experiments and field exercises.

Insufficient Mathematical Integration

The 2018 Standards broadly prescribes mathematical knowledge, but it provides no actual mathematical knowledge in its science standards. Even the high school Chemistry and Physics standards include no mathematical formulas; for example, the 2018 Standards mentions Ohm’s law (PH.8.b, p. Recommendation: VDOE in its revision should add explicit and thematic mathematical knowledge throughout K-12 instruction to its science standards, including scientific formulas of increasing complexity in middle school and high school.

Politicization through Environmental Polemic

The 2018 Standards politicizes science instruction by incorporating substantial amounts of environmental polemic throughout its Earth Resources strand, which prompt students to engage in environmental activism (e.g., K.11.c, p. 10; 1.8, p. 13; 3.8, p. 19; 6.[Introduction], p. 26; 6.9, p. 28; ES.6, p. 43; ES.10.e, p. 44; ES.11.c-d, p.44; ES.12.e, p.44). Recommendation: VDOE in its revision should remove the Earth Resources strand. Any purely scientific material should be incorporated into Living Systems and Processes and Earth and Space Systems.

Unclear Scientific and Engineering Practices

The 2018 Standards broadly prescribe scientific process knowledge, often referred to as “skills,” under the name of “scientific and engineering practices.” These standards generally are phrased in unclear, bureaucratic, and abstract language. They do not make explicit reference to the scientific method as a unique and necessary means of acquiring scientific knowledge.1 They also prescribe excessive reliance on models,2 whose value for scientific knowledge is limited and unreliable, and which have been subordinated to political activism in fields such as climate and public health policy.

Politicized Vocabulary

The 2018 Standards contains politicized vocabulary, some of it a prompt for action civics3 conducted in the science classroom, including authentic (iv), solve societal problems (iv), the needs of society (vi), societal needs (PS.5, p. 33), and Make informed decisions regarding contemporary civic, environmental, and economic issues (iv), think critically (v; and see vii), problem-solve (v).

Limited Treatment of Evolution

The 2018 Standards treats evolution briefly and circumspectly (LS.11, p. 31; BIO.2, p. 36; BIO.7, p. 37). It is understandable that VDOE would seek to avoid creating contention on an extremely divisive subject.

Recommendations for Revision

To address the shortcomings of the 2018 Standards, the following revisions are recommended:

Increase Detail and Specificity

The VDOE should provide greater detail in its revision to ensure that the standards offer sufficient guidance to teachers and students.

Remove Prescriptive Pedagogy

The phrase "Students will investigate and understand" should be removed to allow teachers to choose the most effective teaching methods.

Incorporate History of Science

The history of scientific discovery should be integrated into the standards to enrich science instruction.

Add Explicit Mathematical Knowledge

The VDOE should add explicit and thematic mathematical knowledge throughout K-12 instruction, including scientific formulas of increasing complexity in middle school and high school.

Remove Environmental Polemic

The Earth Resources strand should be removed, and any purely scientific material should be incorporated into Living Systems and Processes and Earth and Space Systems.

Clarify Scientific and Engineering Practices

The language used to describe scientific and engineering practices should be clarified, and the standards should make explicit reference to the scientific method.

Remove Politicized Vocabulary

Politicized vocabulary should be removed to avoid prompting action civics in the science classroom.

Expand Treatment of Evolution

The treatment of evolution should be expanded to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.

Additional Standards of Learning in Virginia

In addition to the Science Standards of Learning, Virginia has standards for other subjects, including:

Family Life: These standards provide guidelines for instructing students on issues such as family and community relationships, mental health, responsibility, and disease prevention.
Economics and Personal Finance: These standards help students understand economic concepts, analyze real-world situations, and develop decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Fine Arts: These standards include Dance Arts, Music, Theatre Arts, and Visual Arts.
World Languages: These standards aim to provide students with the knowledge and skills to interact with users of the language and understand their culture.
Digital Learning Integration: These standards were approved by the Virginia Board of Education in October 2020.
Physical Education: These standards provide students with the knowledge, processes, and skills to become physically educated, physically fit, and responsible in their physical activity choices and behaviors for a lifetime.

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