This essay describes how in the 1890s the Committee of Ten arrived at their recommendations about the organization of the high school biological sciences and seeks to correct the frequently held, but erroneous view that the Committee of Ten was the initiator of the Biology-ChemistryPhysics order of teaching sciences prevalent in high schools today. The essay details the factors underlying the changing views of high school biology from its "natural history" origins, through its "zoology, botany, physiology" disciplinary phase to its eventual integration into a "general biology" course. The simultaneous parallel development of the "Carnegie Unit" for measuring coursework is highlighted as a significant contributor in the evolution of the present day high school biology course. The essay concludes with a discussion of the implications of the grade placement of the sciences for the future development of high school biology.
The analysis of historical trends in science education can provide valuable insights for future reforms. Yet, despite their potential, such studies are rare.2 An increasingly significant reform effort in physics education is the push to reverse the sequence in which the sciences are taught in high school — the Physics First movement. This reform effort gained considerable momentum recently when the AAPT issued a statement promoting Physics for All.3 Is there anything we can learn from the past that might inform the Physics First/Physics for All debate? A recent article in this journal4 outlined the historical development of the Biology-Chemistry-Physics (B-C-P) science sequence and its impact on enrollment, time allocation, methodology, and status of physics in the high school curriculum. Further analysis of the history of the B-C-P sequence shows that surprisingly physics was once first and was once for all in U.S. high schools. So what happened? How and why did the sequence change? This article describes how science course offerings and enrollment at different grade levels have evolved from 1890 to the present day. The factors behind these changes are analyzed, and the implications for physics education are discussed with the intent of using the past to inform the future.
The historical development of the traditional U.S. high school biology–chemistry–physics sequence is detailed from the early 19th century to the present time. The recommendations of several important historical committees, especially the Committee of Ten, are described along with the sequencing practices adopted by the schools, to show how chemistry came to be the “Central Scienceâ€, that is the science taught in the middle of the high school sequence. It is shown that the present high school science sequence is more a product of historical accident than of educational design. The impact of this sequencing on high school chemistry enrollment is analyzed and discussed.
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