Nashua resident Adrian George submitted this letter to the Nashua Telegraph in support of the Next Generation Science Standards:
As someone with an advanced degree in physics and who has researched cloud impacts on the Earth’s climate system in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science at Penn State University, I was disheartened and surprised at the confusion about the role of science in the curriculum and in our society. In every era, science has always worked to address the problems of the times. To be effective, science must be integrated with all other disciplines; otherwise, the scientist is trying to solve problems that he or she can’t fully understand. But, we have come to think of science as a field apart from others and understandable by only a few. This is exactly what science is not. Science is a way of asking questions about the world and answering them.
That is why I support the NGSS. These standards encourage students to question, analyze data, come to conclusions, make decisions and solve problems. It puts the work of science in context and encourages connections between disciplines.
The world needs excellent scientists badly at this moment. It also needs thinkers, writers, problem-solvers, idea generators, communicators and connectors. The NGSS encourage students to become all of these things and more.
Source: Support Next Generation Science Standards | The Nashua Telegraph
