Science Education Standards: a new approach

Abstract

The science education standards provide criteria for judging the performance of the components of the science education system responsible for providing schools with necessary financial and intellectual resources. In the education system, the school is the central institution for public education. The school includes many components that interact, for example, teaching, administration, and finance. The primary function of the science education is to supply society with scientifically literate citizens. Information and resources (typically financial) energize the system. The nature of the information, the magnitude of resources, and the paths along which they flow are directed by policies that are contained in instruments such as legislation, judicial rulings, and budgets. Components of the science education that have a major influence on teacher certification fit into four categories: (1) professional societies, (2) program-accrediting agencies, (3) government agencies, and (4) institutions of higher education operating within and across national, state, and local levels. The importance of standards does not imply that all teachers should pursue a single approach to teaching science. Teachers need to use many different strategies to develop the understandings and abilities This paper presents what students should understand and be able to do, how students should be taught, and means for assessing students' understandings, abilities, and dispositions in science. Also, it approaches an educational system in which all students demonstrate high levels of performance, in which teachers are empowered to make the decisions essential for effective learning, in which interlocking communities of teachers and students are focused on learning science, and in which supportive educational programs and systems nurture achievement. Finally, this paper compares features in common and standards across the countries of the EU and gives the differences between countries in terms of the intended curriculum and the assessment used.