Recent national recommendations have suggested that science curriculums need to reduce trivial content and lecture, emphasize thinking skills, and contextually integrate content from other subjects (Rutherford and Ahlgren 1990, National Research Council 1992). These trends reflect a concern that science curriculums should be relevant to students and foster positive attitudes toward science. As a result, science curriculums have begun to recognize the value of reducing barriers between the community and its classrooms (Yager 1993).
Until recently, such curriculums were somewhat informal, developed by local groups for their own use. Now more formal efforts are taking shape. A significant beginning was Chemistry in the Community (ChemCom), developed by the American Chemical Society (1992).
ChemCom is designed for college-bound students who are not necessarily contemplating science careers. Rather than beginning with a review of mathematics or atoms, the text opens with a story of a fish kill in a small river. As students try to determine its cause, they learn chemistry in context. And, they learn it well. A recent evaluation of ChemCom (Sutman and Bruce In press) reveals that ChemCom students, when compared to regular high school chemistry students, are more excited about chemistry's usefulness and actually scored higher on an American Chemical Society final exam. This is particularly exciting when you consider that the ChemCom text covers only a fraction of the content in many textbooks.
The success of ChemCom led the National Science Foundation (which partially funded ChemCom) to fund BioCom, a curriculum with many of the same goals. Using BioCom, students will apply biology concepts in familiar settings such as a grocery store, a gas station, and a trash dump. They will spend most of their time in investigations, applying knowledge and communicating results. Like ChemCom, BioCom will cover fewer traditional topics. The curriculum will have a strong environmental thrust and will be guided by research in learning theory and curriculum design. BioCom will be field-tested in 1994–95 for delivery in 1996.
Also funded by the National Science Foundation, Active Physics is a similar project being developed by The American Association of Physics Teachers and The American Institute of Physics. Through health care, transportation, sports, and other topics, students will be introduced to key physics principles, concepts, and measurements. As in the other curriculums, ideas are developed in a concrete context. Active Physics should be available in the fall of 1995.
The latest in the series of COMS is PsyCom, from The American Psychological Association. Although funding has not yet been obtained, the Association's past-president, Charles Spielberger, envisions that PsyCom will be a high school psychology curriculum that focuses on scientific aspects of psychology as well as on interpersonal relations, attitudes, anxieties, and other topics of interest to high school students. The American Psychological Association has included the developers of ChemCom, BioCom, and Active Physics on its National Advisory Panel, making the development of PsyCom an interdisciplinary effort.
Because we all need scientific concepts and applications in order to function effectively in our complex society, science should not be taught just for future scientists. The COM curriculums could help meet this need. A school with all four of the COMS (and perhaps a badly needed EarthCom) would offer a formidable curriculum emphasizing active investigation and learning, applied knowledge, cooperative learning, and a more facilitative role for teachers.
