Here’s the scoop—what’s really in the standards!
On August 11, 1999 the Kansas State Board of Education adopted new Science Education
Standards. Contrary to reports of the mainstream media, evolution was not deleted
from these standards. Following is a synopsis of what is actually in the standards.
Judge for yourself if Kansas students will learn about evolution.
Incidentally, no mention is made of a “special creation,” “creation,”
or “intelligent design” in the standards. Those are “buzzwords”
attributed by the media to the “religious fundamentalists” who are supposedly
out to remove evolutionary teaching from the public schools and insert their belief
system in its place.
The writing committee for these standards built upon prior work done at the national
level. Two documents are mentioned in an acknowledgement on p. 6 of the standards:
the National Science Education Standards published by the National Research Council;
and Benchmarks for Science Literacy from Project 2061 of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
“Therefore, the Kansas Science Education Standards are founded not only on
the research base, but also on the work of over 18,000 scientists, science educators,
teachers, school administrators, and parents across the country that produced the
national standards as well as the school district teams and thousands of individuals
who contributed to the benchmarks.” (p. 6)
The purpose of the standards
“These standards should not be viewed as a state curriculum nor as requiring
a specific local curriculum. A curriculum is the way content is organized and presented
in the classroom. The content embodied in these standards can be organized and presented
with many different emphases and perspectives in many different curricula.”
(p. 5)
Critical thinking encouraged
The “nature of science” discussion (p. 6) informs the reader that scientific
explanations are “built on observations, hypotheses, and theories,”
then defines those terms. Basically, the standards instruct students to evaluate
theories, hypotheses, and what is assumed to be fact. These standards therefore,
actually build the critical thinking skills of the student because the student must
be able to differentiate among those entities.
New research encouraged
We read: “The core theories of science have been subjected to a wide variety
of confirmations and have a high degree of reliability within the limits to which
they have been tested. In areas where data or understanding are incomplete, new
data may lead to changes in current theories or resolve current conflicts.”
(p. 7)
Scope of the standards
The standards are general statements of what students should know, understand, and
be able to do in natural sciences over the course of the K-12 education. (p. 9)
There are seven separate standards, but these seven separate standards are interwoven,
and should not be treated separately. The seven entities are:
Science as Inquiry—this is the part of science where students
described objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test their
explanations against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to
others.
Physical Science—students will study the disciplines of physics
and chemistry.
Life Science—students will gain an understanding of biological
concepts.
Earth and space science—students will study the fields of
geology and astronomy.
Technology—students will learn of the advances made by man
to improve his condition and to develop tools needed to accomplish his goals
Science in Personal and Environmental Perspectives—students
will understand personal and community health issues, natural resources.
History and Natural of Science—students will distinguish
between science and other forms of knowledge or beliefs such as philosophy and religion.
Each set of standards (by grade level) indicates to the teacher whether the topic
will be tested by the state. While evolution is mentioned in the standards, those
portions will not be tested by the state. Please note that evolution can still be
taught (since most public school text books contain much evolutionary content),
but will not be tested at the state level. It is unrealistic to assume a teacher
will not teach evolution.
Kansas has been a “local control” state for a long time. These new standards
compliment this model of education. The standards are meant as a guideline, with
the content of state-regulated tests indicated clearly.
Teaching to the test
Will teachers “teach to the test,” thus eliminating the teaching of
evolution? Maybe. Teachers all over the country are teaching to the state proficiency
tests. However, a good teacher will also cover material that is not mandated by
the state test.
Some examples of what will/won’t be tested
Under that category, students are to “Research ALL published data on the fossils
present in the layers of the Grand Canyon.” (p. 88) Ninety-nine percent of
the material a student will find published on this topic is evolutionary in content,
attributing minimally millions of years of layering to form the Canyon.
Also in this category students are to investigate how rocks and fossils are dated.
Once again, the literature is mostly evolutionary on this topic. (These topics are
NOT tested by the state.)
- Students will understand the origin of the universe. This “remains one of
the greatest questions in science. Studies of data regarding fossils, geologic tables,
cosmological information are encouraged. But standards regarding origins are not
mandated.” (p. 88)
Finally, the appendices contain a rather extensive glossary, which includes a definition
of evolution. (p. 98)
We need not believe all that we read in the newspapers or hear on the radio or see
on television. We are to be like the Bereans and search for truth. The truth of
the matter is that the media falsely reported what the Kansas science standards
contained.
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