Mapping the Steps toward Basic Understanding of Scientific Inquiry

Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS 1993) lists for four gradelevels the steps by which students might achieve science literacy before leaving high school. These steps and the conceptual connections among them are now being mapped to suggest where anyone idea or skill comes from, what it is connected to, and where it leads. A set of 49 such strand maps appears in Atlas of Science Literacy (AAAS 2001). This paperdescribes strand maps in general and examinesthree draft maps titled Evidence and Reasoning, Scientific Investigations, and Scientific Theories, which together represent one section of Benchmarks Chapter 1, on scientific inquiry. The maps do not prescribe any particular curriculum, but can aid in planning a variety of curricula, analyzing instructional materials, assessing student understanding, and can be used in professional development for teachers.