September President's Message

“Any collection of things that have some influence on one another can be thought of as a system. Thinking of a collection of things as a system draws our attention to what needs to be included among the parts to make sense of it, to how its parts interact with one another, and to how the system as a whole relates to other systems.” This quote from the seminal publication, Science for All Americans, still holds true today. A characteristic of effective leadership is the ability to think about systems—how parts relate to one another and to the whole. Systems thinking can help leaders support science education by examining how components that make up a K-12+ system interact with and influence one another. This is why the theme of my 2022-23 NSELA presidency is “Science Education Leadership in the K-12+ System.”

?One component of a K-12+ system that NSELA will be highlighting throughout the year is elementary science education leadership. Elementary science is a critical part of the K–12+ science education system; yet time, resources, and professional learning support for K-5 science have been greatly reduced in many elementary schools. The good intentions of ensuring children can read and be mathematically literate have diminished the fundamental K-5 foundation for science learning in our K–12+ education system. This crucial part for a fully functioning system is missing or incomplete.

?Learning in science begins in early childhood. This is a time when young minds are curious about the natural and human designed world and ready to engage in the core ideas, practices, and language of science and engineering that form a foundation to be built upon and strengthened throughout a student’s K–12+ science education. All young children bring to science and engineering views of their world and ways of thinking that have a major impact on their learning as they progress from one grade level to the next. Delaying the substantive development of science and engineering concepts, ideas, and practices until science is taught as a core subject in middle school goes against what we know about systems: If one part is missing or incomplete, it affects the other parts of the system.

NGSS and other Framework-based new standards have raised the rigor-bar for career and college preparation for all students. However, we can’t expect students who have missed out on six years of substantive science learning to suddenly be prepared to take on more complex science learning in middle and high school. The parts of the system, that should include the K–5 years of progressively and equitably building science understanding, are not fully there to support the steps along the way to grade 12 and beyond.

?It is time for us as leaders to work together to figure out how we can ensure elementary science has a foothold equal to that of reading and mathematics. Using a systems approach, all of us as leaders have a collective responsibility to advocate for high quality elementary science programs and resources; increased time spent on teaching elementary science; and opportunities for elementary teachers and leaders to access the professional learning they need to support science teaching and learning. The burden for elementary science advocacy and support can’t be placed solely on our elementary science leaders. Secondary science specialists, informal educators, pre-service educators and all others who make up our NSELA membership must act together to provide leadership and support for elementary science.

?An NGSS elementary goal for the crosscutting concept of systems and system models states, “students understand that a system is a group of related parts that make up a whole and can carry out functions its individual parts cannot.” We can apply that learning goal to our own work as leaders. Imagine what the output could be at the end of grade 12 if we all band together to strengthen our K–12+ science education system to support six years of high quality elementary science education for every student. After all, each part of the system, including elementary science, contributes to the whole. Stay tuned this year for ways you can be involved as a leader to advocate for elementary science education in our K-12+ system and support our elementary science leaders through our NSELA publications, professional learning opportunities, networking, partnerships, and more. And furthermore, invite elementary science leaders you know, including elementary science teacher leaders, to join NSELA.

?I’m pleased to announce that one new way we will be supporting elementary science leaders this year is through a partnership with NSTA’s Science and Children journal. Starting later this year, a new column, Leadership in Elementary Science, will be featured in the journal to support the work of elementary science teacher leaders and specialists. A panel of NSELA members, chaired by Kathy Renfrew, will solicit and review articles for the column. NSELA members are invited to write for this column. What other ideas do you have for ways that NSELA can provide support for elementary science leadership through our professional learning webinars and face-to-face events, networks, Science Educator journal, partnerships, our web-based Leadership Center, town hall meetings, and other avenues we can make available to our membership? I welcome hearing from you, especially any new ideas.

And last, elementary science is just one part of a K-12+ system, albeit a very important component. Let’s all put on our systems thinking hats to think about ways to support the other system components that interact and are integral to our work as science leaders. To quote Peter Senge, “Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots.” I’m looking forward to exploring leadership ideas through systems thinking with all of you this year.

Respectfully,

Page Keeley, NSELA President 2022-23