Starting in the 2024-2025 school year, Jamesville-DeWitt High School is switching to a new science curriculum to abide by New York State’s new science learning standards. The changes are starting with the class of 2028 and Earth Science but will eventually change how all of the science classes at J-D are taught. New York State’s introduction to the new curriculum claims that “We need content-rich standards that will serve as a platform for advancing children’s 21st-century science skills —their abstract reasoning, their collaboration skills, their ability to learn from peers and through technology, and their flexibility as a learner in a dynamic learning environment.” The full statement can be found here. To understand these changes, RamPage sat down with Earth Science teacher Nicole Zablotny to discuss what happens next and what the new curriculum means for students and teachers alike.
The old curriculum focused on content-based lessons, with set topics and vocabulary to cover over a school year. The classes were fact-based and focused on drawing connections between different topics rather than focusing on forcing students to understand the science behind the topics. According to Zablotny, the new system is more in-depth. Every class must include three dimensions: Science and engineering practices (SEPs), cross-cutting concepts (CCCs), and disciplinary core ideas.
According to the New York State P-12 Learning Standards, science and engineering practices include asking questions and carrying out investigations to formulate answers. Essentially, they are your standard labs. Cross-concepts are the big ideas that are used in science, like cause and effect, patterning, or scale and quantity. They are ideas that can be used with a variety of concepts. Lastly, disciplinary core ideas are your standard lessons. Vocabulary, the idea of matter, and the existence of soundwaves are some of the examples that the NYS website provides.
This curriculum has also shifted how Earth Science Lab is run. For most upperclassmen, the 40 minutes involved a random science teacher handing out lab packets and students would be responsible for completing the lab on their own. The outcome of the lab was usually incredibly predictable based simply on the title of the lab. Now, there are days whenthe class notes are taken during Earth Science Lab so that the regular Earth Science period can be dedicated to completing labs.
Zablotny believes that the new curriculum has the potential to be beneficial for students. She is witnessing a learning curve with the new method, with both the teachers and the students experiencing some difficulty adjusting. She says, “I think that some people are just naturals at designing the curriculum. It takes a little bit more work for me and Mr. Lembeck and I think most people fall into that category because we were really good at learning the old way.”
When asked to provide an example of what the teaching style in action looks like, Zablotny references the astronomy unit. Earth science students were asked to brainstorm what information they would need to be able to find a new host planet. Once students had answers like water quality, atmospheric oxygen level, or even radiation levels, their teachers would focus on the aspects that the curriculum asked for. From there, Zablotny describes it as a very touch-and-go process. Due to the student-led process of the class, there is far more group work involved, which also makes it harder for students to be ‘hitchhikers’ as everyone needs to have involvement.
The new curriculum involves more student participation, although it isn’t necessarily more hands-on, according to Zablotny. The curriculum focuses on the conclusions drawn by the students, which means that students need to be actively making new connections for the lesson to target. Despite how complicated the curriculum sounds, she believes there is a possibility that the new curriculum may be better for the students.
