Research on Science Education

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Slide 10

A+ Counties' Standards

Speaker's notes explaining chart:

My colleague Bill Schmidt at Michigan State University has been investigating international differences in science curriculum and methods for years. This slide, derived from Bill's work, illustrates what the science curriculum from 1st to 8th grade looks like in the nations that performed at the highest level on the 1995 TIMSS. The row headings are too small for you to read. The list starts with topics such as physical properties of matter, plants, animal types, and ends with topics such energy types and conversions, dynamics of motion, and evolution, speciation, diversity. The small marks in the chart are entered if that topic is covered in the A+ countries standards. Note first that science isn't introduced in these countries until grade 3, second that the topics covered in the early grades are few in number, and third, that the number of topics grows hierarchically through 8th grade.

Schmidt, W.H., Wang, H.C., McKnight, C.C. (In press) Curriculum Coherence: An Examination of US Mathematics and Science Content Standards From An International Perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies.