We have just entered the 21st Century, the beginning of a new millennium, and perhaps the beginning of a new era in human history. Every student you teach will be adults in this century. Is the science education these students are receiving adequate to help them meet the challenge and expectations of the 21st century. Educators once used the year 2000 as a reference point to evaluate current practices, warn people of ecological, population and economic disasters, and make suggestions for what education should be. As we passed the year 2000, it became even more evident that there is the need to evaluate the goals of science curriculum, to reflect on the past emphases in science education, and some would say, make bold recommendations for change in the teaching of science.

For example, in the 1990s, there were a number of studies that compared the academic performance of US students in science to their counterparts in Japan, Germany, Sweden, the Soviet Union, and some other countries. In every comparative study the US ranked as one of the lowest in science performance.

In studies comparing science students' performance over the period 1968 - 1996, the general trend was a lowering of student cognitive achievement, and diminished attitudes toward science.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the scientific community, and governments around the world began to recognize the importance of developing a global perspective for the solution of ecological-environmental problems, the reduction of nuclear arms, the ethics involved in the use of high technology, and the drug epidemic that has especially ravaged North and South American societies. These and other global problems signaled the advent of a new and imperative way to think, namely globally or holistically.

Another significant event in the 1990s was the democratization of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. No one could have predicted these events, but the implications of these dramatic changes provide a new alliance of democratic thinking.

The world of the 21st will be a world dominated by global interdependence in a variety of areas including the economy, politics, science and technology, individual and societal security and the environment. According to many observers, acts of environmental destruction may pose a greater threat to national security than the military aggressiveness of other nations. This is especially plausible in light of the changes in Eastern Europe.

Economic security will depend on each nations' ability to compete in the global marketplace. Technological and scientific changes and advances will continue at breath-taking leaps, posing greater problems for individuals, societies and governments, and at the same time hope to alleviate some of the world's pressing problems. Yet, its more than competition. As we move into the 21st Century and beyond agreement and cooperation are needed if we are to solve the real problems facing the planet today, such as: alleviation of world hunger, reducing environmental threats, and creating a sustainable world society.

The world of science education---in this country and around the world---will have to grapple with how it can contribute to the perceived needs of individuals, societies and the planet as a whole.

This chapter will focus on the goals of the science curriculum. We will explore changes in the goals of science education during this century, but will pay particular attention to the contemporary nature of the science curriculum, and reports and recommendations issued by a number of groups, commissions and professional societies in the late 20th Century, and their implications for science in the New Millenium.

PREVIEW QUESTIONS

• What are goals and how are they formulated?

• What factors or forces affected the goals of science education in the later part of the 20th Century?

• How and why have the goals of the science curriculum changed during the last century?

• What are the origins of modern science education?

• What was the Progressive Education Movement and how did it influence the science curriculum?

• What were the characteristics of the science curriculum during the Golden Age of Science Education?

• What changes brought an end to the Golden Age of Science Education?

• What are the contemporary trends in science education?

• What will science eduction be like for the 21st century?