Are students being taught science, which is a method and an outlook, or science facts and history? Both are good things to learn, but the first is very often given short shrift….

Add to that the anti-vaccination movement, and most importantly climate change.

How do your guests reconcile DJT's disregard for scientific evidence, his claims that he's smarter than scientists, and his harmful actions towards the EPA, climate change, and more?
What kind of an example is that for students?

Can you rephrase to relate to the topic of teaching science in elementary school?

During my 13 years at U C Berkeley, that time it was ranked as the best University in Science in the World, now it has lost that standing prestige,, now it is more known as college for economics, business, other social science.

Berkeley's school of engineering is 3rd behind only MIT and Stanford. I don't think UC Berkeley has lost its prestige in general, but you need to look field by field.

In the memory of Frank Oppenheimer, the brother of Robert Oppenheimer whose role in getting children in San Francisco, and the Bay Area interest in science and technology when he created the great museum Tech nation, and played major role in the creation of the Observatorium..

Will kids be able to do experiments at home, to reinforce what they learn in class?

It is unclear how you can view sample questions similar to those in the actual NGSS assessment tests, without entering your social security number online. There is no reason the site (caaspp.org) would need your SSN. Can someone please link to a page that shows some sample test questions?

Why was Forum not able to find someone who developed these science standards, or the assessment tests, to bring on as a guest?

One practical experiment usually teaches more than hours of theory. My husband - now working in a STEM field, learned science at an early age by building dams and so on around his rural home. It was the hands-on aspect of science that was severely lacking in my own children's experience in California schools. I hope that the new standards really will result in a wealth of PRACTICAL experimentation in science.

The problem with excellent out-of-school progras is that they exclude the majority of students- and often the students who DO participate are those who have a lot of parental support in other ways. Practical science opportunities really need to be made available within the curriculum.

Does the NGSS overcome a lack of interest or aptitude for science on the part of teachers?

As long as math/science teachers are paid poorly, someone who is strong in science and math has little incentive to become a teacher. In fact, they can almost not afford to in the Bay Area.

I see people going from professions like engineering and banking to teaching school, because that gives them fulfillment.

The people of California were given the chance to end the death penalty in 2016, and decided to uphold it. Not only uphold it, but to speed it up.

Once again, a liberal Democrat decides to thumb his nose at the will of the people of California.

Education in the US, and particularly California, is plummeting. That’s what the left wants and needs.

Prigozhin sucks.

"plummeting"? "what the left wants"?- Baseless claims.
43% of Republicans believe in evolution.
67% of Democrats believe in evolution.
<http: www.pewresearch.org="" fact-tank="" 2014="" 01="" 03="" republican-views-on-evolution-tracking-how-its-changed=""/>

About 22 percent of California’s eighth-graders tested on a national science test passed, ranking the Golden State among the worst in the nation, according to figures released Thursday.

Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, show that too few students have the skills that could lead to careers in the field, educators said.

Nationally, 31 percent of eighth-graders tested scored proficient or advanced. Both the national and state scores improved slightly over scores from two years ago, the last time the test was administered.

The state ranked 47th, only above Mississippi, Alabama and the District of Columbia. But many local educators call into question the significance of the results, saying that the small sample size, and other factors can skew the results.

A Yale University professor conducted a cross-analysis of intelligence and political affiliation, expecting to find that people who identified with the tea party knew less about science than the average person.

Instead, he discovered the opposite: tea party members have higher than average rates of scientific comprehension.

That may come as no surprise to members of the movement, which champions limited government and the Constitution. But what will shock tea partiers is this: Not only did the professor publicize the results, but he readily admitted that he had changed his pre-conceived notions about his political opponents.

Dan Kahan, professor of law and psychology at Yale, took a data point that he described as “scientific comprehension” and cross-referenced it with different political affiliations. He found that in general, Democrats and liberals scored better than Republicans and conservatives. However, when he limited his analysis to people who self-identify with the Tea Party, he found them to be highly knowledgeable about science.

“Identifying with the Tea Party correlates positively … with scores on the science comprehension measure,” he wrote.

Kahan readily admitted that this result contradicted his expectations — he assumed that Tea Party members would score manifestly worst on measures of scientific knowledge.

Why do you think the left wants this? It seems to me that it's more aligned to the desire of those on the right. Because education can raise people beyond their childhood economic status, at which point they can diminish the life advantages of those who are born into wealth and privilege.