IBSE Final

Chapter 2 The Teaching of Science Content

tHE tEACHING OF SCIENCE: 21 st-CENTURY PERSPECTIVES 49

3

The Science

Curriculum and

Classroom Instruction

This chapter uses the major contributions of Bob Karplus to develop several

important themes that have emerged in the past five decades of curriculum

and instruction in science. The chapter begins with a perspective on curriculum

development and curriculum developers. A second theme is the importance

of identifying major scientific concepts as a foundation for the curriculum. A

third theme addresses the importance of incorporating research on learning

theory into designs for curriculum and instruction. Finally, there is a theme of

curricular reform and the professional development of science teachers. This

chapter also presents an occasion for a personal accounting of some intersec-

tions of my professional work, in particular at the Biological Sciences Curric-

ulum Study (BSCS), with that of Bob Karplus and his colleagues at the Science

Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). In the final section, I present some

contemporary challenges.

Science Curriculum Development

The science education community owes a great debt to Bob Karplus. One might

ask, What is the nature of the debt? And exactly how much is the debt? Briefly,

the nature of our debt centers on the characteristics and qualities of curriculum

and instruction, the processes of curriculum development, and the place of

curriculum developers in science education. As to the debt’s amount, I cannot

say exactly. After 40 years we are still only paying the interest and have not

touched the principal of what we owe.

It should come as no surprise that Karplus developed a theoretical back-

ground for science education. He was, by education and inclination, a theoreti-

cian. The theoretical background included the nature and development of chil-

dren’s intelligence, the nature and structure of science, and the implications of

these two domains for designing science curricula. Karplus was clear about the