As a new science teacher, I was dismayed by the lack of high-quality, field-tested, complete curricula available and by the lack of attention paid to the actual teaching of science content. To put it in terms that the non-education-educated will understand, newly trained science teachers have not been taught how to actually teach. They have not been handed down lessons that have proven successful in the past, they have not been asked to consider the importance of the order in which ideas are developed over the course of a year, they have not been given a set of tools with which to do their jobs. In short, every new teacher is asked to reinvent the wheel.
I'm starting this blog in an effort to fix that. I want to draw attention to the issue of curriculum in science, biology in particular, and to find like-minded individuals interested in working with me to develop a solution.
In part, this is an attempt to highlight the muddled thinking that has become so pervasive around issues of science teaching. The muddle includes the current popularity of inquiry-based approaches, the emphasis on process skills over actual science content, and the idea that successful teaching cannot be tested and measured. Less obviously, but more insidiously, it includes the sentiment that a good curriculum will hurt teachers by diminishing their autonomy.
I would like to accomplish for science what E.D. Hirsch and the Core Knowledge Foundation have for elementary education. I would like to create an open-source, comprehensive biology curriculum that can be tested and improved by teachers all over. This is a first step.
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