Student Autonomy and Teacher Input

Abstract

The Congress of the United States created the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950. It stipulated that the Foundation would have two missions: to support basic research in science and to improve science education. From the inception, the first of these missions was pursued enthusiastically, but not the second. While there was considerable interest within the Foundation for support of education in science at the Ph.D. level, there was little enthusiasm for becoming involved in undergraduate science curriculum—and there was none for education below the college level. In fact, funds to address issues of improving pre-college science education were not made available until 1956. Under a new “course content improvement program,” a grant was awarded to the Physical Sciences Study Committee, a consortium of science professors and some teachers in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area, to design a new course for high school physics. Support for several other secondary-school curriculum projects followed quickly. Nevertheless, there was continuing and pronounced reluctance, as well as active opposition, to a move into developing science curriculum for elementary-schools.