Environmental Education and the Next Generation Science Standards

Peter J. McLarenScience and Technology SpecialistRhode Island Department of Education

2013 NEEEA and Sustainable Schools Summit Newport, RI

A drink from a firehose!

Agenda

How were the NGSS developed?– The process– The role of research

What’s different about the NGSS?– The three dimensions– The involvement of states– What does a standard look like?– Conceptual shifts

What do the NGSS look like? How can I use the NGSS? Where can we find NGSS resources?

How were the NGSS developed?

How well do you know the Common Core?How Well Do I Understand the NGSS?

I don’t. Should I?

I’ve heard of the NGSS, but don’t really know how it impacts students.

I’m familiar with the NGSS, but I have questions and would like more specifics.

I’m very familiar with the NGSS. I may be able to help others understand what it is and its impact.

Developing the Standards – A Partnership

7/2011 – April, 2013

1/2010 - 7/2011

1990s

1990s-2009

Step IIStep I

Next Generation Science Standards: Building on the Past; Preparing for the Future

A State–Led Process:NGSS Lead State Partners

NGSS Writers Distribution

What’s Different About These Standards?

A Framework for K-12 Science Education

Three-Dimensions:

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Crosscutting Concepts

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Download FREE PDF of Framework at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13165

Vision For Science Education

“The Framework is designed to help realize a vision for education in the sciences and engineering in which (all) students, over multiple years of school, actively engage in science and engineering practices and apply crosscutting concepts to deepen their understanding of the core ideas in these fields.”

A Framework for K-12 Science Education, pp. 8 - 9

Standards and performance expectations that are aligned to the framework must take into account that students cannot fully understand scientific and engineering ideas without engaging in the practices of inquiry and the discourses by which such ideas are developed and refined.

At the same time, they cannot learn or show competence in practices except in the context of specific content.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education, p. 218

Vision of the Framework

Goals for Teaching & Learning Coherent investigations of

core ideas across multiple years of schooling

More seamless blending of practices with core ideas

Performance expectations that require reasoning with core disciplinary ideas – explain, justify, predict, model,

describe, prove, solve, illustrate, argue, etc.

Core Ideas

Practices

Crosscutting Concepts

Performance Expectation

Dimension 1: Scientific and Engineering Practices

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

2. Developing and using models

3. Planning and carrying out investigations

4. Analyzing and interpreting data

5. Using mathematics and computational thinking

6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

7. Engaging in argument from evidence

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Excellence In Environmental Education Guidelines for Learning

Strand 1 - Questioning, Analysis and Interpretation Skills

• Questioning• Designing Investigations• Collecting information• Evaluating accuracy and

reliability• Organizing information• Working with models and

simulations• Drawing conclusions and

developing explanationsStrand 3 - Skills for

Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues

Strand 4 - Personal and Civic Responsibility

Comparison

NGSS Practices

1. Asking questions (for

science)

and defining problems (for

engineering)

2. Developing and using

models

3. Planning and carrying out

investigations

4. Analyzing and interpreting

data

5. Using mathematics and

computational thinking

6. Constructing explanations

(for science)

and designing solutions (for

engineering)

7. Engaging in argument from

evidence

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and

communicating information

Science and Engineering Practices- Not just Teaching Strategies Science and Engineering Practices are how

scientific knowledge is acquired; Students can only fully understand scientific

and engineering ideas by engaging in the practices of inquiry and the discourses;

While Practices should be used in instruction, all students need to demonstrate achievement in their use and application

Use of practices naturally lend themselves to formative assessment of learning and understanding

1. Patterns

2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation

3. Scale, proportion, and quantity

4. Systems and system models

5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation

6. Structure and function

7. Stability and change

Dimension 2: Crosscutting Concepts

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

PatternsSystems and

System Models

Scale, Proportion,

and QuantityStability and Change

Structure and Function

Matter and Energy

Life Science Physical ScienceLS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures

and Processes

LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

PS3: Energy

PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

Earth & Space Science Engineering & TechnologyESS1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

ESS2: Earth’s Systems

ESS3: Earth and Human Activity

ETS1: Engineering Design

ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society

Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas

Influence of Engineering, Technology, and Science on Society and the Natural WorldK-2 Connections

Statements3-5 ConnectionsStatements

6-8 ConnectionsStatements

9-12 ConnectionsStatements

•Every human-made product is designed by applying some knowledge of the natural world and is built by using natural materials. •Taking natural materials to make things impacts the environment.

•People’s needs and wants change over time, as do their demands for new and improved technologies.

•Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits, decrease known risks, and meet societal demands.

•When new technologies become available, they can bring about changes in the way people live and interact with one another.

•All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.

•The uses of technologies are driven by people’s needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions.

•Technology use varies over time and from region to region.

•Modern civilization depends on major technological systems, such as agriculture, health, water, energy, transportation, manufacturing, construction, and communications.

• Engineers continuously modify these systems to increase benefits while decreasing costs and risks. •New technologies can have deep impacts on society and the environment, including some that were not anticipated.

•Analysis of costs and benefits is a critical aspect of decisions about technology

NGSS Appendix J

MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of ecosystem services could include water purification, nutrient recycling, and prevention of soil erosion. Examples of design solution constraints could include scientific, economic, and social considerations.]MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).]HS-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.*[Clarification Statement: Examples of data on the impacts of human activities could include the quantities and types of pollutants released, changes to biomass and species diversity, or areal changes in land surface use (such as for urban development, agriculture and livestock, or surface mining). Examples for limiting future impacts could range from local efforts (such as reducing, reusing, and recycling resources) to large-scale geoengineering design solutions (such as altering global temperatures by making large changes to the atmosphere or ocean).]

Some examples of engineering integrated into NGSS

Environmental Education as a Means of Delivery of NGSS

Interdisciplinarity & Transferability Learning progressions described in Framework –

climate is embedded from K-12 in all domains of science – not just specific domains

S&EP and CC not only cut across all of the Core Disciplinary Ideas they are also relevant in many other disciplines – outside the sciences

The skills students gain by having their curriculum address the S&EP and CC are transferable to many other careers

What does a standard look like?

Developing and Using Models• Modeling in 6–8

builds on K–5 experiences and progresses to developing, using, and revising models to describe, test, and predict more abstract phenomena and design systems.

• Develop and use a model to describe phenomena. (MS-ESS2-6)

ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes• Variations in density due to

variations in temperature and salinity drive a global pattern of interconnected ocean currents. (MS-ESS2-6)

ESS2.D: Weather and Climate• Weather and climate are

influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and

regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns. (MS-ESS2-6)• The ocean exerts a major

influence on weather and climate by absorbing energy from the sun, releasing it over time, and globally redistributing it through ocean currents. (MS-ESS2-6)

Systems and System Models• Models can be used

to represent systems and their interactions—such as inputs, processes and outputs—and energy, matter, and information flows within systems. (MS-ESS2-6)

What questions would lead students to investigations to support student understanding of this Performance Expectation?

Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how patterns vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land distribution. Emphasis of atmospheric circulation is on the sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing winds; emphasis of ocean circulation is on the transfer of heat by the global ocean convection cycle, which is constrained by the Coriolis effect and the outlines of continents. Examples of models can be diagrams, maps and globes, or digital representations.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the dynamics of the Coriolis effect.]

To Build Instruction from this PE…

What investigations could be designed around the Disciplinary Core Ideas for students to build upon their understanding?

What practices would be used within these investigations to engage students?

How can crosscutting concepts be used to make connections across disciplines?

How does the rotation of the Earth cause currents?

Rotation causes a force that is creates at the poles and least at

equator (Coriolis Effect)

Models. Computer Simulations

How does the ocean release energy absorbed

by the sun?

Mechanical Energy (waves) Thermal energy (wind)

Lab investigations, Computer simulations

What do the patterns of ocean currents tell us?

Relation between wind currents and equator heated and polar

cooled “conveyor belt”

Analyze data. Computer models

What causes winds? Uneven heating and cooling between land and oceanSimulations. Models

Questions Investigations Explanations

Water molecules expand…hold more salt…becomes more dense

How does temperature and salinity affect

density?

Lab investigations of temp and salinity of

water.

Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that

determine regional climates.

5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include adding air to expand a basketball, compressing air in a syringe, dissolving sugar in water, and evaporating salt water.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the atomic-scale mechanism of evaporation and condensation or defining the unseen particles.]

Let’s see what this might look like in the classroom?

What does developing models look like in the classroom?

Fused Knowledge (Songer, 2012)

Core Disciplinary /Crosscutting: the relationship between the temperature and the total energy of a system depends on the types, states, and amounts of matter present.

Practice Pose models to describe mechanisms at unobservable scales.

Fused Knowledge (C+P)Students use a simulation model to address the question, How does the energy of a system affect the temperature of a substance?

Instructional Bundling – MS Earth and Space Science

Instructional Units should be developed with these performances as the end point or target.

Instruction should also connect these performances with the Disciplinary Core Idea

Instructional Unit: Weather and Climate

ESS3: Earth and Human ActivityESS2: Earth’s Systems

MS-ESS2-5. Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.

MS-ESS2-6. Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth’ cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Progressing to Understanding•Students develop understanding over time

•Standards are developed cohesively

NGSS Appendix E

Quality Instruction in the NGSS

Pairing Practice with Disciplinary Core Idea are necessary to define a discrete set of blended standards, but should not be viewed as the only combinations that appear in instructional materials

Quality instruction (and instructional materials) must be able to flexibly apply the science practices students need to experience their use, separately and in combination, in multiple disciplinary contexts.

The Practices are inextricably interlinked While the NGSS couples single practice with content, this is intended to

be clear about the Practice sampled within that context Quality materials and instruction cannot isolate a single practice with a

single piece of content.

Standards, Curriculum, and Instruction

Standards Learning goals Adopted by the state Curriculum

Plans for meeting standards Developed/adopted locally

Instruction

Strategies teachers use to promote student understanding

Implemented in the classroom

Assessment

Emphasis on classroom formative and summative assessment

Degree of Grain Size

Performance Expectations

Instructional Units

Lessons

Develop Understanding of Core Ideas,Not Lessons Successful classroom implementation of the NGSS will require

students to understand and apply the Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practice, and Crosscutting Concepts through the development of ideas across time.

Successful implementation of the NGSS will require viewing instruction and assessment as the “bundling” of performance expectations into coherent lessons and assessments

Unsuccessful classroom implementation of the NGSS will continue the use of the three dimensions as separate entities and lessons.

Unsuccessful implementation will reflect individual practices and performance expectations as standalone lessons or units

Words of Advice

Teaching, or attempting to teach, individual performance expectations lead to a disjointed and stunted view of science.

Developing instructional materials and instruction should be viewed as leading to understanding the larger core idea

Coherent instructional materials and instruction should focus on a Disciplinary Core Idea (or set of them) rather than discrete pieces that are never tied together.

Making the Transition

Conceptual Shifts in the NGSS

1. K-12 Science education should reflect the interconnected Nature of Science as it is practiced and experienced in the real world.

2. The Next Generation Science Standards are student performance expectations – NOT curriculum.

3. The science concepts build coherently from K-12.

4. The NGSS focus on deeper understanding of content as well as application of content.

5. Science and Engineering are integrated in the NGSS from K–12.

6. NGSS content is focused on preparing students for the next generation workforce.

7. The NGSS and Common Core State Standards ( English Language Arts and Mathematics) are aligned.

Systems of Science Education Affected by Implementation of NGSS

Curriculum Instruction Assessment Materials and Resources Professional Development Pre-Service Education and Higher Ed Arts and

Sciences Informal Education Inclusion of Business

Rhode Island’s Transition to the NGSS

Adoption

May, 2013: The Rhode Island Board of Education adopt the NGSS

Transition

SY2013-2016: RI districts and schools begin to revise curriculum and instruction

Full Implementation

SY2016-2017: All RI schools are using new standards

We are here.

Appendices for the NGSS

A Conceptual ShiftsB Responses to May Public FeedbackC College and Career ReadinessD All Standards, All StudentsE Disciplinary Core Idea Progressions in the NGSSF Science and Engineering Practices in the NGSSG Crosscutting Concepts in the NGSSH Nature of Science in the NGSSI Engineering Design in the NGSSJ Science, Technology, Society, and the EnvironmentK Model Course Mapping in Middle and High SchoolL Connections to Common Core State Standards in MathematicsM Connections to Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts

Let’s All Celebrate!!!

Questions and Discussion

Stay Connected

RIDE NGSS Website– http://www.ride.ri.gov/InstructionAssessment/Science/

NextGenerationScienceStandards.aspx Next Generation Science Standards

– http://www.nextgenscience.org/ NGSS@NSTA

– http://ngss.nsta.org/– http://ngss.nsta.org/access-standards/

NGSS - Next Generation Science Standards– http://www.bozemanscience.com/next-generation-science-standards/

Council of State Science Supervisors– http://www.csss-science.org/bcsse/

RI Science Teachers Association– www.rista.us

The National Academies Press– www.nap.edu

Thank You!

Peter McLarenPeter.mclaren@ride.ri.gov401-222-8454

Twitter@peterjmclaren

Science and Technology SpecialistRhode Island Department of Education