How can politics impact science education?
This week, Dan and Sam unpack the Franklin Standards. These standards have been developed by the National Association of Scholars and Freedom in Education as an alternative to the NGSS. Unfortunately, they are on the road to adoption in at least one state. As we dug in, we found that these standards have very little to do with what we know science to be and show evidence of being politically motivated by forces on the right. Since this week's episode discusses partisan politics, we wanted to share a bit more about where each of us stands politically. You can find that below. As a reminder, everything we share through this podcast represents our own thoughts and opinions and does not reflect that of our employers or any other entities.
Dan places the highest value on good governance, support for democratic norms, and measures that strengthen communities. This has led him to supporting a variety of candidates, including writing in John McCain with a different running mate in 2008, voting for Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 (after earlier support for John Kasich in the primaries). In 2018, he supported a primary challenge to Iowa's GOP governor and served as a delegate at the Iowa Republican State Convention in a (failed) attempt to push the party in a more productive direction, accompanied by additional work advocating for ranked-choice voting and other measures to improve our political system. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Dan has generally voted straight-ticket for the Democratic Party, but would welcome other parties putting up candidates who propose their own, thoughtful solutions to our most urgent local and global problems.
Sam has been a Democratic voter since she was first able to vote in the 2012 election. She has aligned herself with candidates who stand for values she believes in, such as promoting green energy and reducing emissions, protecting access to and funding for public education, supporting common sense gun laws, and protecting women's reproductive rights. Since 2020, she has volunteered with Postcards to Swing States to write hundreds of postcards to rally voters across the country, from presidential swing states to competitive state legislative districts.
If you'd like to do your own digging into the Franklin Standards, these are the resources we consulted for this episode:
* Reporting from Wendy Suares from Fox 25 in Oklahoma City [https://www.threads.net/@wsuares/post/DAJNpdXuC1O?hl=en]
* Franklin Standards [https://www.nas.org/storage/app/media/Reports/Franklin%20Standards/Franklin_Standards_.pdf] - developed by the National Association of Scholars [https://www.nas.org/reports/the-franklin-standards] and Freedom in Education [https://freedomined.org/franklin-science-standards/]
* Final Evaluation of the Next Generation Science Standards by the Fordham Institute [https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/final-evaluation-next-generation-science-standards]
* The Franklin Standards are said to be based on the following: 2006 Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Standards [https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED508413.pdf] and 1996 New York Science Core Curriculum Standards [https://www.nysed.gov/standards-instruction/science]
Resources:
* Drilled Podcast [https://open.spotify.com/show/6zrL0QQWBhlVFsCveE2mtE?si=1a59766f824141ae]
* National Center for Science Education [https://ncse.ngo/its-just-theory]
* Article from The Conversation about attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution [https://theconversation.com/no-epigenetics-and-environmental-responsiveness-dont-undermine-darwinian-evolution-65647]
* A Framework for K-12 Science Education [https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13165/a-framework-for-k-12-science-education-practices-crosscutting-concepts]
* Next Generation Science Standards [https://www.nextgenscience.org/]
Follow along and send us questions YOU have about science education!
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unpackeverythingpod@gmail.com [unpackeverythingpod@gmail.com]
Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley [http://www.scottbuckley.com.au] released under CC BY 4.0.
