The History of Math & Science Education

By dunruh

  • Algebra becomes part of H.S. Curriculum

    Algebra becomes part of High School Curriculum after it is changed that Algebra is now required to enter college.

  • National Education Administration is created

    In 1857, one hundred educators answered a national call to unite as one voice in the cause of public education.

  • Premise for the Common Core Movement

    Teachers began demanding that Algebra was reformed to be connected, conceptual, and less mechanical.

  • National Education Administration founds the Committee of Ten

    NEA founds the Committee of Ten
    Working group of educators that recommended the standardization of American high school curriculum.

  • Committee of 10 is created

    The Committee of Ten was a working group of educators that, in 1892, recommended the standardization of American high school curriculum.

  • College Entrance Exam Board created

    College Board develops and administers standardized tests and curricula used by K-12 and post-secondary education institutions to promote college-readiness and as part of the college admissions process.

  • Elementary Curriculum is developed

    Areas of study are divided into content and skills.

  • NEA reorganizes secondary education

  • Edward Thorndike & Jonathan Dewey

    Report seperately that education must look like what the students will encounter in the outside world for it to be effective.

  • NCTM is created

    The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics presents itself as "the public voice of mathematics education, supporting teachers to ensure equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students through vision, leadership, professional development, and research.

  • Wall Street Crashes

    This crash of Wall Street triggered the Great Depression. Leaving millions out of work and even more quiting school to try and help to support their families.

  • The Great Depression

    This was a tough time for all. Many young adults found themselves without the knowledge or skills to find work. This led educators to start an educational reform to help serve the youth more.

  • 1933-1937 Dust Bowl

    Millions of people moved from the Great Plains to more urban areas. This also added to the growing amount of students now out of school.

  • Pearl Harbor attack

    After this attack focus shifted off of education and towards winning the war. Many highschool students were put into premilitary training.

  • National Science Foundation take leadership to reform

    The NSF took leadership to address the shortage of qualified scientists and engineers in the nation.

  • B.F. Skinner published, "Science and Human behaviors"

  • 1950-1960 Interval computation implemented

    Interval arithmetic, interval mathematics, interval analysis, or interval computation, is a method developed by mathematicians since the 1950s and 1960s as an approach to putting bounds on rounding errors and measurement errors in mathematical computation and thus developing numerical methods that yield reliable results.

  • Sputnik launched

    Sputnik 1 was launched and changed the face of Science forever.

  • 1958 National Defense Education Act

    Congress passes the National Defense Education Act, which provides $887 million to boost science education, including doubling funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), a federal agency that supports research, teacher training and curriculum development.

  • 1950 & 1960's NSF education and curriculum development

    A milestone in Science education, the NSF curriculum development projects focused on upgradeing the teaching of science by modernizing the content of science courses.

  • 1968 Epperson vs. Arkansas

    Supreme Court rules that barring the teaching of evolution was unconstitutional.

  • First NAEP exam

    The first National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam tests what American students nationwide know about science and other subjects.

  • Apollo lands on the Moon

    Apollo 11 lands on the moon, ending the Space Race and inspiring many to pursue careers in science.

  • 1821-1894 Arithmetic is passed down to Elementary schools

    During this time period arithmetic was passed down to the elementary schools. This was of course as the Algebra requirements took hold of colleges.

  • NSF sponsored science curricula

    by 1977 60% of US school districts reported using one or nother of the NSF sponsored science curricula

  • NSF loosed 70% of funding

    President Reagan’s fiscal year 1982 budget slashes funding for the National Science Foundation by 70 percent, eliminating all NSF support for K-12 science initiatives, including teacher institutes and curriculum development.

  • "Nation at Risk" report published

    This report highlighted the how the US was falling short compared to other industrialized nations in educating their youth.

  • Florida passes law on opting out of animal disection

    lorida passes a law allowing students to opt out of dissecting animals in science class. Fourteen more states have since passed similar laws, board of education policies or state resolutions.

  • NCTM releases mathatics standards for schools

    The controversial 1989 NCTM Standards called for more emphasis on conceptual understanding and problem solving informed by a constructivist understanding of how children learn.

  • Math Wars of the 1990's

    Math wars is the debate over modern mathematics education, textbooks and curricula in the United States that was triggered by the publication in 1989 of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics by the NCTM and subsequent development and widespread adoption of a new generation of mathematics curricula inspired by these standards.

  • Benchmarks for Science literacy are created

  • NAEP begins state testing

    NAEP begins testing science knowledge at the state level in 1996.

  • National Science Education Standards are created

  • New Television program Crime Scene Investigation spawn new generation of Scientists.

  • No Child Left Behing launches

    The No Child Left Behind Act takes the focus off science education as teachers scramble to boost scores on math and reading tests.

  • - 2008 school year No Child Left Behind

    This was the school year that NCLB mandated state level assessments in Science begin.

  • Next Generation of Science Standards are created