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Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education comprises science content, some sociology, and some teaching pedagogy.

Science education standards

In many U.S. states, K-12 educators must adhere to rigid standards or frameworks of what content is to be taught to which age groups. Unfortunately, this often means teachers rush to "cover" the material, without truly "teaching" it. In addition, the process of science is often overlooked, such as the scientific method, and critical thinking, producing students who can pass multiple choice tests (such as the New York Regents exams and the Massachusetts MCAS), but cannot solve complex problems. Although at the college level American science education tends to be less regulated, it is actually more rigorous, with teachers and professors fitting more content into the same time period.

In 1996, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences of the U.S. National Academies produced the National Science Education Standards which is available online for free in multiple forms. Its focus on inquiry-based, rather than memorization-based, science education was somewhat controversial at the time, but has been shown to be more effective as a model for teaching science, if less amenable to multiple-choice tests.

Concern about science education and science standards has often been driven by worries that American students lag behind their peers in international rankings. One notable example was the wave of education reforms implemented after the Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite in 1957. In recent years, business leaders such as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates have called for more emphasis on science education, saying the United States risks losing its economic edge. Public opinion surveys, however, indicate most U.S. parents are complacent about science education and that their level of concern has actually declined in recent years.

United Kingdom

In UK schools science is generally taught as a single subject science until age 14-16 then splits into subject specific A levels (physics, chemistry and biology).

See also

• Controversial science
• Education
• Educational research
• Epistemology (the study of knowledge and how we know things)
• Graduate school
• National Science Education Standards
• Pedagogy
• Primary science 5-11 years
• School science technicians
• Science
• Science Virtual Field Trips

External links

• Vega Science Trust - Free on-line science programmes and teaching resources
• Teaching Science Effectively to Limited English Proficient Students. ERIC/CUE Digest.
• Doing Science with Your Children. ERIC/CSMEE Digest.
• Action Research in Science Education. ERIC Digest.
• Teaching Science through Inquiry. ERIC/CSMEE Digest.
• Teachers' TV: Programmes, free downloads and advice on teaching science.
• Teaching science using science projects
• Science Encylopedia
• Free on-line primary and secondary science lessons, and tropical agriculture projects for schools, linked to UNESCO.org
• science upd8: free, ready-made science-in-the-news activities for 11-16 year olds

• Science education