IBSE Final

54 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Chapter 3 The Science Curriculum and Classroom Instruction

influential experiences with SCIS. For 30 weeks I taught SCIS, in particular the

units on Material Objects and Organisms, to deaf preschool children. In addi-

tion, for a brief period I used SCIS with educable mentally retarded children

(Bybee 1972; Boekel and Bybee 1973). During this same period, Herb Thier

directed a project in which he adapted SCIS materials for the visually impaired

(Thier 1971).

I can remember sitting in my office and thinking about experiences that

would help the deaf children form ideas about phenomena and how best to

sequence those activities. I had to think about conceptual development and not

succumb to teaching as telling (which I could do in my ninth-grade Earth science

class). The contrast in lessons and teaching between what I could do in my

Earth science class and what I had to do in the classes for special students was

striking, and the experience had a profound effect on my views of curriculum

and instruction. I came to realize the necessity of designing curriculum mate-

rials with fundamental concepts and the extraordinary difficulty of teaching for

conceptual change.

New Designs for the Science Curriculum

My work in curriculum and instruction was re-engaged in 1985 when I joined the

Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and began work as a curriculum

developer. IBM supported one of our initial projects—a design study for a program

that would eventually be published as Science for Life and Living: Integrating Science

Technology and Health. The program was revised in the late 1990s and published as

BSCS Science T.R.A.C.S. The curriculum framework for these programs shows the

influence of and variations from SCIS (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2).

Table 3.1 A Curriculum Framework for an Elementary Program Grade Science technology Health 1 Objects and properties Materials and structures Safety and security 2 Comparison and evidence

Tools and machines Wellness and personal care 3 Records and data Construction and testing Nutrition and dental care 4 Interactions and variables

Problems and solutions Self and substances

5 Energy chains and food chains

Design and efficiency Fitness and protection

6 Ecosystems and resources

Constraints and trade-offs

Communication and conflict Source: Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS). 1992. Science for life and living. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.