A Survey of State-Level Earth Science Programs in the United States

Abstract

A 1987 state-level survey of United States curricula for secondary-school earth science was conducted by letter. The District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico were included in the survey. A follow-up survey in 1989 confirmed or expanded upon responses received from the earlier survey. Analysis of the thirty responses reveals that there are twenty-five state-level earth-science programs. Of these, fourteen have a curriculum guide for teachers, and all but one include learning objectives in the guide. An additional eight states specify only learning objectives for their earth-science programs. Earth science is taught in fourteen states at the 8th grade or higher level. About half of the curricula include written laboratory activities. Content coverage was examined in the categories of astronomy, space technology, geology, meteorology, climatology, pedology, science/technology/society (S/T/S), and careers. Geology is present in all curricula, but only one-third include biological oceanography, S/...