The entirety of science education in the United States has been built around a structured and increasingly rigorous curriculum. This curriculum is standards-based, rooted in the four primary science subjects: earth science, life science, physical science and chemistry. Despite periodic reformation efforts to spin science education into real-world societal contexts, the current structured curriculum remains. Dr. Hurd contends it is more imperative than ever to move K-12 science education into the world which modern science practices and away from strict, subject-specific teaching.
Hurd argues science research is “becoming more cross- or transdisciplinary, relating the natural and social sciences.” Biology has developed several sub-disciplines such as bioethics, biophysics, human biology, etc. The same is said of chemistry, physics and earth science. Each burgeoning subtype either clings to the structures of the other major disciplines or, with increasing frequency, social and technological influences. Science has also become a major player in economics (global warming and reducing automobile gas emissions) and politics (birth-control, medical marijuana). Hurd believes modern pre-college science education should mirror these changes.
Hurd’s vision for a reinvented science curriculum synthesizes 350 years of research. Hurd favors what he calls a lived curriculum – turning “science knowledge into a working knowledge that can be used in personal and civic contexts.” Such a curriculum must reference student’s real-world experiences, expectations and future adaptation into society. It must also introduce students to take ownership of their learning. In other words, teaching by the current strict discipline-based standards rarely has connections to problem solving in a technologically savvy, fast changing society. While most science education reforms simply update laws, principles and general theories into a more rigorous set of standards, Hurd calls for a lived curriculum emphasizing students’ developmental and adaptive needs.
“The traditional career-oriented science courses representing the disciplines of science – biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics are now viewed as outmoded for a general education in the sciences.”
While this journal article generally addresses the proposed thought shift which should occur in K-12 education, Hurd has further synthesized his vision of a lived science curriculum for middle school students. In his book “Transforming Middle School Science Education” (2000), Hurd outlines a curriculum based on the unique development needs, interests and expectations of early adolescents. He blurs the line between the four core science disciplines and social sciences to promote a more science literate student. Hurd reinvents science curricula focusing on science’s role building life skills and improving ones quality of life – the two former pillars have major implications for early adolescents.
“Biologists seek conditions in which human beings and nature can exist in harmony. Social scientists look for ways in which people can live with one another to the advantage of everyone. Psychologists want to help individuals achieve a life that is satisfying and workable. …All of these attributes contribute to the emergence of middle-level education.” (53)
He further outlines 10 broadly focused principles to be incorporated into a new lived middle-level science curriculum: 1) Getting to Know Ourselves, 2) People Have a Long History on Earth, 3) Human Life Cycle, 4) How We Learn About People and the World, 5) Learning and Remembering, 6) Language and Communication, 7) Knowing and Deciding, 8) Nutrition, 9) Health, Hygiene and Safety and 10) Human Beings as Social Animals (66-74). Each principle is further articulated with the student as an active participant in his own learning in mind. The physical, emotional, social and intellectual maturation of the individual should be education’s primary focus. This new curriculum shifts the focus from discipline-specific science classes and incorporates broad science themes into problem solving strategies and adaptations to society. This book mirrors the premise of Hurd’s 2002 entry in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching summarized above.
All in all, science education must make a change in concert with those of the science community where the divisions between biology, chemistry, physics and earth science are increasingly porous. Hurd argues for a lived curriculum based on technological advances, student science literacy, problem solving of modern issues and using science for future learning, knowledge and understanding.
Works Cited
Hurd P.D. (2002) Modernizing science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(1), 3-9.
Hurd P.D. (2000). Transforming Middle School Science Education. New York: Teacher’s College Press.
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