July 30, 2024

We Endorse NAS’ Franklin Standards For Science Curriculum

Readers of a certain vintage will remember Thomas Dolby’s hit ’80’s song “She Blinded Me With Science”.  It’s a zany, catchy tune, but it captured something of a zeitgeist when it comes to science.  My memory of the time–your humble correspondent was newly into the double digits when the song was released–was that science was curious, fun, exploratory.  I was too young to capture the romantic nuances of the song; I just thought it reflected some idea that science meant an unfathomably rich and fascinating world ready to be explored.

So perhaps it’s fitting that the National Association of Scholars has recently released The Franklin Standards for K-12 science  curriculum with a note in the introduction stating that much of the science content and pedagogy of the ’80s and ’90s is worth revisiting and using.  The Standards start off by stating, from the very off, that “[s]cience seeks to make sense of the natural world.”  From the first sentence of the first page, the Standards urge the reversal of the politicization that currently ails our science classrooms, and they encourage in word and deed returning science to being a discipline capable of being studied and understood.

For example, on page ten, we see the contrast between scientific methodology and the conviction that there are many different “ways of knowing”.  The former gives us a dependable way of studying an objective reality, while the latter turns reality into a subjective experience.  This, of course, has material consequences:  Having set content that is assessed to set standards actually helps, amongst other things, underprivileged and marginalized students who can master said content and use the learning to improve their lives.  Indeed, the Standards make that very point.

In addition to removing political fads from the science classroom, the Standards strike a nice balance between content and flexibility.  Teachers are given range to lead their classroom, and in the later grades the Standards include content that is available if time and bandwidth allow, but still additional to the core material that should be studied.

And the Standards address current issues in science education from the right philosophical posture.  Computer models are addressed as speculative, not determinative.  Consensus is framed as precisely what it is–popular opinion.  Since the Standards do a splendid job of weaving science history into the curriculum, by the time the student gets to some of these issues, she or he has a decent context for how to think through them.

And with the Standards, science is exciting again.  Norman Borlaug gets his due!  Pluto is a planet!  CRISPR!  The innate curiosity of the science student is fed with solid content and directed by the appropriate philosophical underpinnings.  This is what happens when science is put in its right and important place.  The Franklin Standards get the philosophy, process, and content of science spot on.  For all these reasons and more, Yorktown Foundation for Public Policy is pleased to endorse National Association of Scholars’ Franklin Standards.