Environmental Education in the U.S. is examined and analyzed from various points of view: goals, purposes, historical background and present situation. Through these viewpoints, we can summarize that E.E. in the U.S. was motivated by environmental problems in the 1960's and 70's. Indeed, all of American culture and history has strongly influenced E.E. in the U.S. On the other hand, the desired outcomes in science education during the same decades were getting worse. From around 1980, more and more problems in science, mathematics and computer science were identified. The stimulus for reform was caused by the so-called 'Economic Sputnik, or 'Japan Shock'. The second part of this paper, focusing on recent changes in science education in the U.S. are summarized by the concept of the 'STS Approach'. Though RUBBA (1987) insists that 'STS Education' is very similar to E.E., the development of the 'STS Approach' was quite different from that of E.E. YAGER (1990) recommends the term 'STS Approach' instead of 'STS Education, and has proposed this broader definition of 'STS Approach' can provide a picture of the needed reform in crises including the goals or purposes, curriculum development, teaching methods, evaluation,strategies and different teacher roles in science education. Most of the current U.S. educational reforms have not resulted in real improvement. However,the 'STS Approach', when broadly conceived, may be most powerful educational activity for the enrichment of future science education.
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