IBSE Final

24 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Chapter 1 The Teaching of Science: Contemporary Challenges

student learning and teaching issues that arise in these activities. The use of both

video and narrative cases is increasing as evidence of their value for teaching

and learning accumulates (Barnett 1998; Schifter 1996).

Student Achievement: Attaining Higher Levels for All Students

Since the 1960s, the United States has been part of the tradition of international

comparative studies of mathematics and science education. The results of two

assessments, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment 2003;

Lemke et al. 2004) and TIMSS (Mullis et al. 2001; Gonzales, Guzman et al. 2004;

Gonzales, Pahlke et al. 2004), have engaged our interest. The primary domain

for PISA 2006 was science, which should affect the work of science education

leaders (Bybee and McCrae 2009). At some times and in some categories, the

United States does better than other countries. But more often than not, we are

about average. Occasionally, we are among the lowest-achieving of all countries

in this assessment. The results can be reviewed in Pursuing Excellence: Eighth-

Grade Mathematics and Science Achievement in the United States and Other Countries

From the Trends in International Mathematics Science Study (Gonzales et al. 2004),

International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics Literacy and Problem Solving:

PISA 2003 Results From the U.S. Perspective (Lemke et al. 2004), and PISA Science

2006: Implications for Science Teachers and Teaching (Bybee and McCrae 2009).

An Apparent Contradiction

Beginning in the 1990s, I became intrigued with an apparent contradiction

that accompanies these international assessments. Inevitably, we compare our

results—as one nation—to other countries’, yet states and school districts decide

what students should know and what curriculum to implement.

With the release of national comparative results, the inevitable commentaries

express varying degrees of concern. If the United States does as well compared

to other countries as we did at the fourth-grade level on the 1995 TIMSS, we

hear comments that we really should have done better. After all, we should be

first in the world. If we do as poorly as our physics and advanced mathematics

students did on the Third International Math and Science Study—no countries

performed more poorly, that is, we are last in the world—then commentaries

express deep concern because these students represent our best and brightest.

Now, let us examine the contradictions in detail. With international assess-

ments we compare the United States to other nations, and we do this assuming

the U.S. results represent one nation. At the same time, we maintain an educa-

tion system that defends the right of 50 states and the District of Columbia, and

approximately 15,000 local districts, to make decisions about what students

should know and be able to do, how they should be taught, and what content

and processes should be assessed. Here we see the two contradictory aspects of