Science Framework, part 1 - Free Downloads (CA Dept of Education)

4Chapter 1Introduction tothe Frameworkthe classroom. But are the same studentswell served if seed planting is afocus of the science curriculum in thenext year and the following one aswell? The same question may well beasked of any instructional activity. Toovercome the challenges in scienceeducation, several strategies are recommended:Prepare Long-Term PlansLong-term planning of a sciencecurriculum over a span of grades helpsstudents learn new things and developnew skills each year. A standardsbasedcurriculum helps students whomove from district to district; theywill be more likely to receive a systematicand complete education.The Science Content Standards andthe Science Framework are designed toensure that all students have a richexperience in science at every gradelevel and that curriculum decisions arenot made haphazardly. Instructionalprograms need the content standardsto be incorporated at each grade leveland should be comprehensive andcoherent over a span of grade levels.Reforming science curriculum,instruction, and instructional materialswill be a time-consuming process.To achieve the reform objectives, alleducational stakeholders need to adhereto the guidance provided in thisframework. The hope is that in thenear future teachers will have a muchgreater degree of certainty about theknowledge and skills the studentsalready possess as they file into theclassroom at the beginning of a schoolyear. Less time will be spent on review,and teachers will also have aclear idea of the content their studentsare expected to master at each gradelevel and in each branch of science.Meet the CurricularDemands of Other CoreContent AreasThe Reading/Language Arts Frameworkand Mathematics Framework 4explicitly require uninterrupted instructionaltime in those subjects. In theearly elementary grades, students needto receive at least 150 minutes of reading/languagearts instruction daily and50 to 60 minutes of mathematics instruction.At the elementary schoollevel, the pressure to raise the academicperformance of students in reading/language arts and mathematics has ledsome administrators to eliminate orcurtail science instruction. This action isnot necessary and reflects, in fact, a failureto serve the students. The ScienceFramework helps to organize and focuselementary science instruction, bringingit to a level of efficiency so that it neednot be eliminated.All teachers, particularly those whoteach multiple subjects, need to usetheir instructional time judiciously. Oneof the key objectives set forth in theMathematics Framework applies equallywell to the study of science: “During thegreat majority of allocated time, studentsare active participants in the instruction.”5 In this case active meansthat students are engaged in thinkingabout science. If the pace of an activityis too fast or too slow, students will notbe “on task” for much of the allottedtime.When large blocks of time for scienceinstruction are not feasible, teachersmust make use of smaller blocks. Forexample, an elementary teacher and the