IBSE Final

50 NaTIoNal SCIENCE TEaChERS aSSoCIaTIoN

Chapter 3 The Science Curriculum and Classroom Instruction

objective of science education: It was scientific literacy. But his view centered on

fundamental conceptual ideas in science and gave less emphasis to a contextual

emphasis, such as energy, resources, and environmental quality. He thought that

the science curriculum had to provide students with experiences that differed

from those they usually had. The unique, unusual, and engaging experience

afforded the opportunity for discovery. He proposed the use of experiences with

different substances, instruments, environments, and living organisms. Curric-

ular design should be such that students were guided from a point of unique

experience to the discovery of a new scientific point of view.

Robert Karplus and, in no small measure, his colleague Herb Thier made this

theoretical background into a practical program through SCIS. For the psycho-

logical basis of SCIS, they drew on the work of Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and

other educators. For the scientific basis, they relied on their own understanding

and appealed to Chet Lawson and other colleagues at SCIS.

Principles for the Science Curriculum

In 1969, Karplus prepared an orientation for the Cubberley Curriculum Confer-

ence at Stanford University. That presentation was later published as a chapter

titled “Some Thoughts on Science Curriculum Development” in Confronting

Curriculum Reform (Eisner 1971). In this chapter Karplus addressed a view about

curriculum specialists and their responsibilities, the process of curriculum devel-

opment, commercial publication, and curriculum evaluation.

Karplus clearly suggests that he opposed a “teacher proof” view of science

curriculum development. Rather, he proposed a variety of objectives and oppor-

tunities for attainment. The beginning science teacher could follow the suggested

sequence very closely, while an experienced science teacher might adapt the

program to accommodate the students’ needs and special interests. The view he

expressed here is one of shared responsibility for the curriculum.

The chapter Karplus prepared included several principles for science curric-

ulum development. In general, the principles indicated the importance of incor-

porating different strategies, allowing for spontaneous activities by children,

and providing opportunities for social interaction. One principle has insight that

seems particularly prescient. I quote:

Developmental learning theory is more reliable in the cognitive area; ... One

implication of this principle is that concept formation should be pursued at low

pressure over long periods of time; that is why individual activities have to fit

an overall conceptual structure ... (Karplus in Eisner 1971, pp. 58–59)

This quotation contains two wonderful insights about curriculum and

instruction—namely, that concept formation is pursued at low pressure over

long periods and that activities should have a conceptual structure. Three