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Geoscientists have been working for several years to restore the prominence
of earth science in Texas high schools and to reverse the 1998 removal by the
Texas State Board of Education of core earth science courses. Last year, the
Texas Education Agency created the Earth Science Task Force to examine the role
of earth science in Texas education (Geotimes, September
2002). And this month, the Texas State Board of Education will hear directly
from us, the earth science community.
The Earth Science Task Force has submitted a number of recommendations to the
board, which are essential to the future of earth science in the state's high
school curriculum. At a Feb. 26 meeting, the board will begin considering these
suggestions. Broad and strong support from the geoscience community in Texas
is needed if we are to achieve our goals. Earth science belongs in the core
curriculum of Texas' high schools if we truly intend to improve the science
literacy of the students and ultimately the citizens of Texas.
Submitted to the Texas State Board of Education Committee on Instruction in
September 2003, the Task Force's report contains eight recommendations intended
to strengthen the earth science curriculum in middle school and high school
in Texas. During the previous year, the Task Force met seven times at locations
around the state to study the issues and to gather input from the various constituents
of the state. In addition, Task Force members presented at conferences and meetings
of science education groups in Texas. These presentations were intended to inform
the constituencies and to obtain feedback from these groups. After one year
of study and discussion, the Task Force finalized its report.
The original charge given to the Task Force was to study how earth science is
taught in high school and to make recommendations relating to it. The members
of the Task Force thought it was necessary to study the middle school curriculum
as well. An important linkage exists in student learning of science content
and concepts between grades 6 to 8 and grades 9 to 12; therefore, several recommendations
were made that will improve the earth sciences at the middle school level.
We have carefully assessed the earth science content in high school and middle
school curricula, with special emphasis on the earth science content and concept
in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and the assessment of this material,
Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. We have compared the content in earth
science in the state curriculum to the National Science Education Standards.
The comparison and the expert opinion of members of the Task Force demonstrate
that the current high school curriculum is extremely deficient in earth science
content and that the middle school curriculum is also deficient in some areas.
The Task Force strongly supports the equal treatment of the earth and space
sciences with the life sciences (biology) and the physical sciences (chemistry
and physics) in the high school curriculum as stated in the National Science
Education Standards.
Our first recommendation to the Texas State Board of Education is to redesignate
certain earth science courses from an elective status to an option for science
core credit. The two courses — Geology, Meteorology and Oceanography and
Advanced Placement Environmental Science — would then satisfy the third
science requirement for those students in the high school Recommended and Distinguished
Achievement plans who take Biology, and Integrated Physics and Chemistry.
We are also proposing that the board require four years of science for the Distinguished
Achievement Plan, one of which should be an earth science course. Further, four
years of science should be required for high school graduation, and at that
time, earth science should become a required science course that is tested on
the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
When the science Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills undergoes revision, the
middle school curriculum for earth and space sciences should be revised so that
it will be better aligned with the National Science Education Standards. Additionally,
schools should implement an eighth-grade science assessment that includes earth
and space science concepts. On the high school level, the Texas Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills should test earth and space science concepts and objectives.
The State Board of Education should direct the Texas Education Agency to redesign
and augment the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for the course Geology,
Meteorology and Oceanography, to incorporate core concepts with other important
aspects of earth science. An expert panel would provide scientific guidance
for these revisions. We further suggest the State Board of Education direct
the Texas Education Agency to develop an earth systems course specifically to
provide students with an integrated science experience.
Lastly, we recommend that a teacher certification program in the earth sciences
be reinstated, to fast-track qualified earth science professionals to become
earth science teachers.
The Committee on Instruction has approved a timetable for the implementation
of the recommendations. If the board approves the first recommendation on Feb.
26, it will require further consideration at two additional meetings before
the State Board of Education will take a final vote. The Task Force's recommendations
will strengthen the earth sciences in the curriculum of the state's secondary
schools and increase the science literacy of all students.
Roy is the Pryon Distinguished
Professor of Geology at Trinity University in San Antonio and chair of the Earth
Science Task Force in Texas.
Opinions and conclusions expressed in Comment by the authors are their own and
not necessarily those of AGI, its staff or its member societies.
Link:
"Earth Science
in Texas: A progress report," Geotimes, September 2002.
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