Yes, it's true. The Next Generation Science Standards are available to review. You can submit feedback on the standards as they are until June 1. I can't stop thinking of Star Trek: The Next Generation when I read these. Help me.
So, I should say something about these standards, shouldn't I? My plan was to put together a coherent essay regarding standards. Unfortunately, if I wait until something emerges from my head I will have moved on. Moved on to things like the physics of Angry Birds. So, here is what you will get - a few random statements about standards that may, or may not be connected together.
Standards for Kids
As I was thinking of standards, I decided to make a picture. Here it is:
What if I wanted to come up with standards for kids. Now, notice there are really two meanings when we talk about standards. There are standards that can be used to measure something and then there are standards that state what topics should be in a course. The unfortunate thing is that all too often these two meanings are combined together. If you say what should be in the course, someone is going to ask you to measure that thing. And yes, these are my kids. The only way I could get them to stand still was for me to say that there picture would be in the WHOLE INTERNET. They kind of liked that.
What if I tried to come up with standards for kids? What makes a good kid? What can I measure? Here are some options from the image above. Age, mass, height, and number of push ups. Why push ups? Why not? They are easy to count, right? But what about the boys? They don't really care about push ups. They care about soccer, not gymnastics. Unfortunately for them, I don't have a good metric for soccer ball dribbling. They will just have to stick with push ups. Really, can't the boys just work harder at push ups?
The point is that you can't just come up with a completely subjective number to represent a whole giant group of people. There isn't one magic measure that exactly tells you how that person is doing. It just doesn't work that way. Unfortunately, if you do come up with some number to represent understanding or soccer or whatever - someone is going to make that number the absolute goal in education. That's just plain wrong.
But Wait....Standards Based Grading??
I feel like putting standards for standards based grading in a different category that these Science Standards TNG. Maybe this is like the difference between local standards and federal standards. I don't really have a problem creating standards for my classes. First, they are sort of simply stated. Here are some examples from my calculus-based physics course:
- 2.1 I can apply the momentum principle to solve problems.
- 3.3 I can use a force law to update the momentum of an object.
- 6.1 I can calculate the work done by a non-constant force and relate this to a potential energy (when possible).
Yes. I know these are the best standards. But, you know what? If a student doesn't understand what I want them to do, I can just re-explain it. If a student doesn't perform well on a standard in an in-class assessment, the student can make a video screen cast reassessment. So, no one is locked in.
What happens with Science Standards: TNG? If there is something not quite right, it is just going to be too darn bad. You will have to wait until Science Standards: Deep Space 9 comes out or Science Standards: Voyager. Really, by then it will be too late. Textbooks will have adapted to the new standards and they will be embedded in the textbook.
And here is the last problem. What if you don't really understand the standards? What if you don't have a ton of experience in physics, but you end up teaching high school physics? In this case, it seems like you are stuck trying to interpret something you don't really understand. I don't see that turning out too well.
The One Standards to Rule Them All
Even if it were possible to make perfect and technically correct standards, should they be made? Oh, I get it. You would only use these standards for good, not evil. They would be a powerful weapon in the war against un-education. Right?
What would happen if Boromir got a hold of these standards? Even though he doesn't fully understand their power, he will use them to bring enlightenment to all of those around him. The world will be at peace. Or would he just turn into Gollum?
I really don't think you could make perfect standards. Not even in the fires of Mt. Doom. Even Gandalf wouldn't touch the standards of power. He knew it wouldn't end well.
Football Standards
Football teams need standards too, right? Well, in a sense they do. They compete against other teams so that is how they are evaluated. But don't stop me, I want to use this analogy anyway.
What if we wanted to make a measurement of football teams to somehow see how good they are. I could see the line of reasoning going something like this:
- Hey, that football team over there is pretty awesome. Notice how all the players are quite large. I bet the average weight is around 250 pounds.
- Clearly, if we want to be a good team, we also need to be heavier.
- Football Standards: TNG now say that teams will be evaluated on their average weight.
You know what would happen next, right? Getting heavier would be the goal. In the end you would end up with a team full of Sumo wrestlers. Huge, but maybe not the best at football. Oh, I know my analogy doesn't quite work - but maybe you get the point.
Are SS: TNG Even Correct?
Honestly, I haven't gone over these with a fine tooth comb. But look, someone else has already pointed out some errors in the standards as they are.
Really, the biggest error is the complexity. It seems as though they are trying to get ALL the details in this one document. I am surprised it doesn't say anything about making sure children brush their teeth using small circular strokes.
If I Ran the Zoo
If I ran the zoo, I would make a few changes. That's just what I'd do. Actually, I don't know what I would do. Perhaps the first thing would be to determine the reason for having these standards. If the reason was a basis for standardized tests, I couldn't do anything. However, if the goal was to make uniform topic coverage for each class - maybe I could do that.
What if I wrote something for the calculus-based physics course? In this case, I would probably aim very general with something like this:
- Use the Momentum Principle.
- Use the Work-Energy Principle.
- Use the Angular Momentum Principle.
- Use Numerical Calculations.
- Build a model for something that isn't real - like Angry Birds Physics.
I think that the above "standards" would pretty much fit with anyone's actual course (except for the Angry Birds and numerical model part). Ok, I should probably take off the last two. Those are things that I think are important, but not everyone agrees with me.
