Virginia: State and National Science Standards :: Essays Papers

Virginia: State and National Science Standards Across the field of education, standards have become both a guideline for teacher lesson plans and a measuring device for students’ achievement. In recent years several subject-based standards have been put in place by national organizations of scientists, mathematicians, and other professionals. Simultaneously, states have been developing their own set of standards, many of which may or may not correspond with offerings such as the National Science Education Standards (NSES). One example we will focus on in this paper is the State of Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOLs). As a result, the VA SOLs received a rather poor grade on a national scale, measured by the Thomas B. Ford Foundation in March 1998. Much of the criticism lies in the VA SOLs’ lack of broad ideas and theoretical structure. Educators across the state have differing opinions concerning the VA Science Standards. Many educators have expressed disagreement over the value and the implementation of the SOLs. With regard to the VA Science SOLs, one elementary school teacher stated, "I don’t find the science SOLs controversial at all. I really enjoy teaching science and can find many ways to include the SOLs in all my academic areas." Not all teachers feel so positively about the standards. A Northern Virginia elementary principal expressed this viewpoint when he said, "Your feeling about the science SOLs will depend on your philosophical point of view about a fact vs. experiential science curriculum†¦Teachers who like open-ended, experiential-thinking based curriculum will not like them [VA SOLs], teachers who like sequential, fact-rich curriculum will." One criticism of the VA SOLs points towards its lack of exploratory learning due to its fact-based nature. Many believe that the extensive content needed to be covered handicaps teachers in such a way that they are unable to teach anything else but the SOLs and therefore can not delve deeply into any one area of study. On the contrary, VA SOLs can be a valuable resource for lesson plans. Since all teachers on a certain grade level must hold their students responsible for the same information, they can easily share lessons and materials. This lends itself to collaborative teaching. The NSES also have both positive and negative aspects. The National Science Education Standards appeal to those who appreciate an inquiry-based, constructivist approach. As stated in Catherine Kelly’s article, Reaching to the Standards (2000), "The Standards [NSES] have also encouraged constructivism and rallied support for a developmental curriculum in which students are more process oriented than product oriented.