Ohio's Science Academy Opposes New STEM Guidelines

March 22, 2011 

The Ohio Academy of Science has indicated that proposed state curriculum guidelines for the STEM fields should be scrapped. 

Petitioning members of the State Board of Education, the Academy has asked it to retract Ohio's science academic content standards, to table the current model curricula development, and to instruct the Department of Education to draft new science standards. 

Academy representatives, in a letter to the Board, reiterated their opposition to the June 2010 science education standards, calling them "skill-less and lacking relevance to the real world and the economy." 

"Many career opportunities and the economic future of our state are a direct function of science-driven technology. Unfortunately, Ohio's current educational objectives teach mere understanding with a shallow, often policy-driven 'science' curriculum rather than mastery and a consideration of technological design," said Phil Geis, who chairs the Academy's policy committee. 

"Ohio's choice of 'understanding' vs. 'mastery' for STEM education makes our students essentially spectators, rather than participants to advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics," said Lynn Elfner, the Academy's CEO. 

However, Michael Collins, a Board member from Westerville, OH, and chair of the committee which reviewed the proposed curriculum, said the new model integrates science with other disciplines. 

Source: The Columbus Dispatch (March 8, 2011)