A Discipline-Specific Approach to the History of U.S. Science Education By Valerie K. Otero and David E. Meltzer Although much has been said uring the late 1800s, sci- ence disciplines through the educa- and written about the value of ence gained an increas- tional history of their own discipline. using the history of science in ingly important role in The historical record reveals that teaching science, relatively little the curricula of U.S. high discussions by science educators of is available to guide educators Dschools and colleges. Ever since the 1800s and early 1900s featured in the various science disciplines then, there have been efforts to many of the same ideas found in to- through the educational history transform courses, reform curricula, day’s national reports and debates on of their own discipline. Through and make lasting change in how sci- science education, as well as in the a discipline-specific approach to ence is taught, both at the college current literature on science educa- a course on the history of science and the high school level. Present- tion reform (Meltzer & Otero, 2015). education in the United States, day instructors and discipline-based In fact, it is remarkable that many of we have spurred the interest of education researchers can find much the present-day themes of emphasis college science faculty and future to learn in these past efforts, both in science education have been so high school science teachers in their successes and their failures. consistently and for such a long time as well as doctoral students in Through a discipline-specific ap- at the center of discussion through discipline-based education research. proach to a course on the history the history of science instruction. Our course entails a systematic of science education in the United Specifically, we refer to a focus on exploration of past reform efforts States, we have spurred the inter- activity-based, project-oriented learn- in physics education and how they est of college science faculty and ing founded on scientific induction have—or have not—impacted the future high school science teachers and an emphasis on deep, conceptual way physics is taught on a broad as well as doctoral students in disci- understanding in place of shallow scale. In this article, we provide pline-based education research. The memorization of facts and procedures. suggestions for those who might course entails a systematic explora- These themes were the focus of sci- want to develop similar courses, tion of past reform efforts and how ence educators of the 1880s, 1920s, particularly in science disciplines they have—or have not—impacted and 1960s, as well as those of today. other than our own area of physics. the way science is taught on a broad Focusing specifically on the educa- We describe methods we used to scale. Here, we provide suggestions tional history of our own field of phys- acquire relevant literature, create for those who might want to develop ics allowed us to screen thousands of appropriate reading lists, and similar courses, particularly in sci- primary source articles in the vast lit- structure and guide classroom ence disciplines other than our own erature on science education, includ- discussions and activities. We also area of physics. We note that there ing textbooks and teacher’s guides. provide references to literature in are several valuable publications that Along with this filtering, we have biology, chemistry, and geoscience provide an overview of the history used various subject-specific themes for scholars who are interested of science education, most notably for organizing the literature, helping in building their own discipline- the thorough synthesis by DeBoer to make these resources accessible specific course. (1991). However, DeBoer’s empha- and manageable for interested schol- sis is more on broader themes and ars. Our instructors’ website archives less on the subject-specific details (in chronological order) much of the that are of particular interest to edu- physics-specific material and provides cators in a particular science disci- annotated reading lists organized by pline. Although much has been said theme (see https://sites.google.com/ and written about the value of using site/physicseducationhistory/). We Copyright © 2017, National Science also found, but did not examine in Teachers Association (NSTA). Reprinted the history of science in teaching sci- with permission from Journal of College ence, relatively little is available to detail, historical material in the dis- Science Teaching, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2017. guide educators in the various sci- ciplines of chemistry, biology, and 34 Journal of College Science Teaching A Discipline-Specific Approach to the History of U.S. Science Education earth science education. At the end reforms have a long history that perspective to gain insight into of this paper, we provide references reflects powerful and enduring potential difficulties and possible to some of this material to serve as a systemic challenges, and pathways for progress. starting point for those who may wish • reframe their current pedagogical to design similar courses. efforts and instructional choices This course was taught as a doctor- In our course, students gain insight within a broader historical al-level, seminar-style course in 2013. into contemporary challenges faced by science educators by exploring the FIGURE 1 evolution of U.S. physics teaching Comments from former students 3 years after they took the course. over the past 150 years, together with Current high school physics and math teacher: the pedagogical issues and debates Now that I’m back in the HS classroom, I see and feel all of the pressures that make that accompanied that evolution. The the changes that (the readings) called for so difficult to enact. It’s very discouraging. course is based on primary-source There is so very little leadership on these issues, and some of the greatest obstacles, literature written by physicists, edu- such as the attitudes of the teachers toward innovation, are very likely a product of poorly managed past “reform efforts.” To many seasoned teachers, my effort to lead cators, and administrators of the day, and transform is just another in a series of “flavors of the week” that will be dropped each of whom addressed the quality, and replaced by another superficial program in one or two years. process, and content of physics courses Current assistant professor of physics: or of physics teacher preparation. The I think the strongest take away message for me from the course was that varying topics and issues discussed are highly size subsets of people have been talking about the problems inherent in the physics relevant and appropriate for analysis education system for a long time. A lot of the ideas that are (hopefully) gaining of science education at the university traction now have been around for a long time. Which begs the question of why is the current system so hard to change, and what can we learn from the past to help level, though they tended to focus more us (today’s physics educators) succeed where others have failed. on high school instruction. The course Current assistant professor of science education: materials are appropriate for research- It is striking how little has changed over the last 100+ years. Many of the calls for ers and instructors engaged in—or reform that we hear today match those from the early 1900s. It was also interesting planning to be engaged in—science to see how the movements changed over time (e.g., focusing on lab preparation, instruction at the introductory level in understanding common technological devices, and college preparation). It’s pretty disheartening to realize how long this has been seen as an issue, but I think overall colleges or in high schools. it clarified my thinking about the purpose of science instruction and strengthened The goals of this course are for my resolve. students (a) to become aware of previ- Current assistant professor of physics: ous work in science education and of [I learned that] (1) Promoting positive changes on a large scale is very slow the major efforts to transform science work that needs consistent effort. Be ready to be involved for a long time, don’t instruction that have taken place in expect change overnight, great ideas take time to scale up and maintain. (2) Be the United States, and (b) to place the wary of “scare tactics” to promote STEM education. There may be unintended consequences. For instance by continually emphasizing the workforce relevance national reform movements of today, of STEM, we may be unintentionally devaluing highly useful aspects of liberal arts as well as current discipline-based education. education research, in the context of Current graduate student: past related efforts. These studies are I think the most impactful aspect of the course has been to locate the current intended to inform the thinking of pedagogical and ideological agenda for physics (and science) education in historical those who will be designing research context. Often we get wrapped up on “our way is the best way,” and we fail to recognize that this discussion has been going on for over a century. This struggle projects and novel instructional ap- makes me realize that progress might depend on some sort of compromise proaches in present- and future-day between the conservative and liberal curricular philosophies. It also makes me science education at the high school realize that we are living in an important moment in the history of education, when and college level. We hope that as a re- people who have been traditionally excluded from the conversation about how to best educate ourselves are finally—though timidly—included at the table. sult of taking this course, students will: Current graduate student: I think it is important to recognize that current efforts in physics (and science) • recognize and appreciate the education are rooted in, or at least informed by, past curricular and pedagogical strong similarity between current efforts.