In the 1990s, there was no single vision in the United States on how to educate children in mathematics and science, according to a report by the U.S. National Research Center. This 1997 report,
A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education, found that the curricula, textbooks, and teaching in the U.S. were “a mile wide and an inch deep.”
The report states that:
- This splintered vision produced an unfocused curricula and textbooks that did not clearly define what needed to be taught and emphasized familiarity with multiple subjects rather than a few specific ones.
- This splintered vision was likely to lower academic performance.
- The preoccupation in the U.S. was with breadth over depth and quantity over quality—and this probably affected how well U.S. students performed in comparison with students in other countries.
- The U.S. curricular approach was “come early and stay late.” In mathematics, the U.S. taught far more topics in grades one and two than in other countries but then repeated these through grade seven. In science, the U.S. practice was to introduce concepts at intervals, especially at grades one and five, with little change in the grades in between. And in grades 10 through 12, the U.S. curriculum generally dropped more topics than in other countries.
The report reviewed data from an analysis of 491 curriculum guides and 628 textbooks from around the world and looked at data on teacher practices in the U.S., Germany, and Japan.
About the Report:
Title: A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education
Prepared by: U.S. National Research Center
Date Published: 1997