What is the rationale for conducting the proposed middle school study?
Current levels of science achievement suggest that the United States is not preparing the general population with levels of science knowledge necessary for the 21st century workplace. According to The Committee on Science Learning, Kindergarten through Grade 8 (2006), “Much of the current science education curriculum is based on dated assumptions about the nature of cognitive development and learning assumptions that lead to the suboptimal teaching of science” (p. 336).
