NAS to Organize Planning Meeting on Possible Development of K-12 Behavioral and Social Sciences Education Framework

The National Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) will be awarded funding for a planning meeting to determine whether to conduct a full panel study to develop a framework for kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) behavioral and social sciences education, according to Robert Hauser, Interim Executive Director of DBASSE. In 2010, the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) joined with a number of behavioral and social science societies to call on The National Academies to include all areas of science in its project to develop a conceptual framework for new science education standards (view the letter here).

Hauser stated that the planning meeting will occur in the Fall of 2011 and will “follow exactly the same model that DBASSE followed in the initial stages of its ongoing study of frameworks for the natural and physical sciences and engineering.” The meeting will include SBE scientists, educational practitioners, curriculum developers, and policy-makers. The new study would be an important step in building an integrated and comprehensive science education framework that includes all sciences, including the behavioral and social sciences.