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In this paper, we debate the strengths and limitations of standards-based science education reform in the United States. Our purpose is to raise questions and encourage conversations about the mis/uses of standards to shape science curriculum and instructional practices at both state and national levels. We begin by examining the case of California: California recently developed science content standards and used these standards to guide the development, assessment, and adoption of K-8 science instructional materials, a process in which we participated. We offer substantive critique of the California standards themselves and the ways such standards narrowly frame science education for the state's teachers and students. We then move to more general challenges posed by fashioning standards as instruments of reform: the proliferation of increasingly unwieldy instructional materials and the muting of teachers' voices in local decision-making processes. While we do not call for the elimination of standards, we argue for greater awareness of the challenges in using standards to achieve science education reform and for renewed effort to include teachers in the translation of standards into local, responsive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the historical conditions that fostered significant reform in science education. To understand these conditions, we employ a framework drawn from the new institutionalism in organization theory to study the founding and early development of the Exploratorium—a prominent science center that greatly impacted the field of science education. We examine how the Exploratorium employed institutional resources that were available in its environment to develop a new type of organization: an interactive science center. Our findings reveal that the Exploratorium was shaped by the state, which includes all levels of government; the mass media; and the professions, including science, education, and museums. In addition, we explore the pivotal role an individual, Frank Oppenheimer, played in leveraging the institutional environment in which an organization was developing. Our findings suggest that (a) reform in science education may be more profoundly advanced by the development of a new type of organization than by “tinkering” with an existing type of organization such as schools, and (b) that interactive science centers should exercise caution in navigating the changing seas of science education by maintaining their core mission and collaborating with new types of organizations that arise in response to the changing environment. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed93: 269–292, 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article cites a study that tested the effectiveness of a new program designed to teach children one critical procedure common to all scientific and technological disciplines in California. This program is a highly motivating set of activities in which the children design, build and launch model rockets. Included in the test sites were schools and nonschool youth groups including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, summer camps, 4H Clubs and recreation centers. The program is a sample neo-Piagetian study of learning in field settings that aims to control variables with model rockets.

The article examines the relationship between syntactical complexity of high school students' written language and their ability to reason formally. Researchers hypothesized that as one develops expertise in the ability to isolate and control variables, one is in fact developing an awareness of the need to qualify statements in the context of extenuating circumstances. Subjects were 50 freshmen high school students enrolled in English classes in Miramonte High School in Moraga, California. Formal reasoning ability was measured by a 15-item group-administered demonstration test. Several charts are also presented depicting the means and standard deviations for variables measured, and separate Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients for variables measured for male and female students.

The article presents a summative evaluation of the Star Games, a participatory astronomy exhibit designed for public and school group visitors from age 13 to adult, developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science in California. The evaluation provides information about the effect of the exhibit on visitors and the attainment of its goal in education. It also provides information about the effect of Star Games on visitors of various ages and sexes. It is concluded that the exhibit experience should be an effective learning tool even if on a less comprehensive level, particularly at a science center with a large population of school groups such as Lawrence Hall.

The article discusses the retraining of elementary teachers to keep pace with advances in pedagogy and changes in scientific knowledge. One pattern for the re-education of teachers was developed by the Departments of Mathematics and Natural Science, San Jose State College in California. One purpose of the program was to aid teachers to understand the nature of inquiry learning through activities that combined scientific and quantitative data essential for comprehensive understanding of science. Another purpose was to assist teachers in designing and conducting inquiry centered lessons applicable to children's varying intellectual levels.

The article describes an experiment by making use of the procedures used in teaching high school chemistry. Students need to know the fundamental scientific principles in addressing related problems; this is considered as the desirable outcome of courses in science. The subjects of the experiment constitutes of eight classes from two high schools in Oakland and San Francisco. The eight groups were presented with a list of all chemistry principles to be drawn upon in the later testing materials.

This article examines the teaching of science in the elementary school program in California. Workshop teams have been developed to provide practical demonstration workshops in response to requests from administrators and teacher organizations. Local districts are also planning well-articulated twelve-year science programs with the help of science and education faculties of regional teacher-education institutions. Furthermore, committees on science in general education are developing science library standards, standard lists of equipment, workshops, extension courses, and Saturday field trips.