by Discussions about the Holocaust, genocide and eugenics could become part of the science curriculum for middle and high school students in Maine as education officials update the state’s learning standards.
A group of educators tasked with reviewing the state’s current science learning standards suggested that those topics be included in the discussion. Maine’s education standards are regularly reviewed every five years.
The proposed revisions are also a response to state statutes enacted in recent years that require Maine’s Native American history, African American history, and the history of genocide, including the Holocaust, to be included in a “learning outcomes system.” the state.
References to the Holocaust, genocide and eugenics were added to the standards of biological evolution and heredity.
Marcus Mrowka, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Education, told CNN that the materials were included as “additional context and opportunities to encourage critical thinking” to meet the Legislature’s requirements.
In a life sciences unit for 9th graders on “Inheritance: Inheritance and Trait Variation,” the proposal recommends that teachers ask questions about the role of DNA and chromosomes in the inheritance of genetic traits and provides them with the following context, ” The science of genetics was used for the purpose of eugenics. We have gained scientific knowledge in this area through unethical human experiments, such as those carried out on prisoners during the Holocaust and through the unauthorized use of patient cells (for example Henrietta Lacks – HeLa cells).
The proposed revisions to a middle school learning standard related to biological evolution stated that “Historically, some people have misused and/or applied the ideas of natural selection and artificial selection to the genocide of various groups, such as Albinos in Africa or protecting Jews in Europe. .”
Another supplement to the same standard of learning on life sciences said “Regarding human evolution, note that a misunderstanding of fossil observations has created the false idea of human hierarchies and racial inequality. The connections include that these misconceptions occurred and were used to justify the genocide of indigenous people in Maine and around the world (Holocaust, Rwanda, etc.),” according to a copy of the proposal.
Mrowka said the state does not create or mandate the curriculum for any subject area, and that local educators are responsible for developing curriculum and learning materials related to learning standards.
The Maine Science Teachers Association, on the other hand, said it supports the current standards and argued against science teachers sharing the proposed content with students.
“While the Maine Science Teachers Association is not philosophically opposed to expanding middle school content in the proposed areas, we believe that civics and social studies programs are better suited to deliver the content in question,” said Tonya Prentice, Association president Maine Science Teachers in. statement to CNN.
“These studies should be handled by educators who are more familiar with the topics and approach them in a way that fosters a learning environment that fosters understanding, empathy and respect for different perspectives,” Prentice added.
Maine’s current science, technology and engineering standards were signed into law in 2019 and are “significantly adapted” from the Next Generation Science Standards, the set of common science standards for K-12 students that many states have adopted since 2013, Department of Maine. The Professor of Education said on his website.
Mrowka said the recommended revisions were made by two dozen Maine science educators who met several times this summer to revise the science standards. They also worked with scholars and experts to include the additional content required by the Legislature.
The proposals were published in October and were open to public comment until mid-November. A state Legislature committee will review the proposal in January, Mrowka said.
Several teachers across the state submitted testimony during public comment saying they were satisfied with the current standards and asked that they be modified only for “egregious errors.”
Once the standards are approved by the Legislature, the Department of Education will provide “extensive professional learning for educators,” Mrowka said.
Alison Riley Miller, an associate professor of education at Bowdoin College who was part of the committee that reviewed the science standards, said she supports including the subjects as part of what all Maine students should understand by now. will graduate from high school, but she said she was concerned about the proposed revisions to the standards.
Miller said the statute states that subjects such as the history of the genocide must be included in the state’s learning outcomes system and that education officials have misunderstood that it should be included in all subject areas.
“The question is not whether LD 1664 (the statute that prompted the inclusion of several historical events) should be integrated into the Maine state standards, but rather whether these subjects should be integrated and who will teach them,” Miller told CNN. “In my own experience as a teacher and teacher educator, often no one is responsible for teaching a particular topic.”
“So while it makes perfect sense to revise Maine’s learning outcomes for social studies to include the history of genocide, adding genocide-related curriculum to existing science standards is a far greater stretch itself, especially when there is no plan or funding. allocated to the professional learning that would be necessary for science teachers to be confident teaching such a large topic,” said Miller.
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