Next Generation Science Standards

Next Generation Science

Standards

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Are the NGSS a part of the CCSS?

No federal

The new standards are funded entirely from grants, such as those from the Carnegie Foundation

Why new Science Standards?

Reduction of the United States’ competitive economic edge:

Shrinking share of patents: Foreign competitors filed over half of U.S.

Technology patent applications in 2010

Diminishing share of high-tech exports:U.S. share of high-tech exports is on the decline, while European’s has held steady and China’s

has surpassed us.


Lagging Achievement of U.S. Students:– U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and

25th in math on the 2009 PISA. Less than 10% scored at the top on only 2 of the 6 performance levels.

– U.S. is 12th in HS graduation rate among 36 OECD countries for which data is available.

– Over 1/3 of 8th graders scored below basic on 2009 NAEP Science assessment

– 78% of HS grads did not meet readiness benchmarks for one or more entry level college courses in MA, Sci, Reading and English


Essential preparation for all careers in the modern workforce:– Many of the fastest growing occupations are

those where science and math play a central role.– National Association of State Directors of Career

Technical Education Consortium:• 14 of 16 career clusters call for 4 years of

science, with remaining 2 calling for 3 years• All 16 call for 4 years of math Conclusion: To keep options open and

maximize opportunities, All students should follow a rigorous program in both science and mathematics.


Scientific and technological literacy for an educated society:– Beyond employability looms a larger question of

what it take to thrive in today’s society.• Pandemics to energy shortages• Health care and retirement planning

– 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy indicates that fewer than 1 in 3 college graduates can interpret data tables about blood pressure and physical activity

These facts tell us…

• Classsroom experiences need to show the importance of Science in the real world

• U.S. needs to employ more engineering in its science curriculum

NGSS Architecture

Integration of practices, crosscutting concepts,

and core ideas.

Connections to CCSS Literacy

• Determine Central Ideas (RST 2)

• Evidence (RST 1 & WHST9)• Analysis (RST 5) • Evaluate Hypotheses (RST 8)• Synthesize Information (RST 9)• Writing Arguments (WHST 1)• Use of Technology (WHST 6)• Speaking and Listening (SL 1-

6)

Core IdeasCore Ideas

Physical Sciences

• PS 1: Matter and Its Interactions

• PS 2: Motion and Stability

• PS 3: Energy

• PS 4: Waves and Their Applications

Life Sciences• LS 1: From Molecules to

Organisms: Structures and Processes

• LS 2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

• LS 3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

• LS 4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Earth and Space Sciences

• ESS 1: Earth’s Place in the Universe

• ESS 2: Earth Systems

• ESS 3: Earth and

Human Activity

Engineering, Technology andApplications of Sciences

• ETS 1: Engineering Design

• ETS 2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science and Society

Crosscutting Concepts

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Cause and

Effect

Systems and System Models

Energy and Matter

Structure and Function

Stability and Change

Scientific and Engineering

Practices

Scientific and Engineering

Practices

Why are there seasons?Why did the structure collapse?

How is electric power generated?What do plants need to survive?

Asking Questioning. . .

. . . Defining Problems

Developing and Using

Models

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Analyzing and Interpreting

Data

Using Mathematics and Computational

Thinking

Constructing Explanations

(Science) and . . .

. . . Designing Solutions (Engineering)

Engaging in Argument

from Evidence

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating

Information

The Overarching Goal of K-12 Science Education Frameworks…

All students…..• Have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of

science.• Possess sufficient knowledge of science and engineering

to engage in public discussions on related issues.• Are careful consumers of scientific and technological

information related to their everyday lives.• Are able to continue to learn about science outside

school.• Have the skills to enter careers of their choice, including

careers in science, engineering, and technology.

Three Guiding Principles of the Science Frameworks

Children are Born Investigators:

• Research shows that children entering Kindergarten have surprisingly sophisticated ways of thinking about the world.

• They learn from direct experiences with their environment, everyday activities, pursuing hobbies, watching television, playing with friends.

• Research shows that the capacity of young children, from all backgrounds and all socioeconomic levels, to reason in sophisticated ways is much greater than has been long assumed.

• Educators can build on what children already know and can do, whether it is a misconception or not.

• Implications are for teachers to help students build progressively more sophisticated explanations of natural phenomena in grades K-5, rather than only focusing on factual information in these grades.


Focusing on Core Ideas and Practices:

• Determine a limited set of core ideas to avoid coverage of multiple disconnected topics

• Allow for deep exploration of important concepts

• More Time for students to develop meaningful understanding

• To actually practice science and engineering


Understanding Develops Over Time

K-12 Learning Progressions:• Describes how students’ understanding matures

over time and the instructional supports and experiences that are needed for this to happen.

• Supports increasingly sophisticated learning• Each component idea in the frameworks has a

set of grade band “endpoints” by the end of grades 2, 5, 8, and 12.

PS1.A: Structure and Properties of MatterHow do particles combine to form

the variety of substances one observes?Grade Band Endpoints for PS1.A

By the end of grade 2.

Matter exists as different substances (e.g., wood, metal, water), and many of them can be either solid or liquid, depending on temperature. Substances can be described and classified by their observable properties (e.g., visual, aural, textural), by their uses, and by whether they occur naturally or are manufactured. Different properties are suited to different purposes. A great variety of objects can be built up from a small set of pieces. Objects or samples of a substance can be weighed and their size can be described and measured. (Boundary: volume is introduced only for liquid measure.)

Grade Band Endpoints for PS1.A


Matter of any type can be subdivided into particles that are too small to see, but even then the matter still exists and can be detected by other means (e.g., by weighing or by its effects on other objects). For example, a model showing that gases are made from matter particles that are too small to see and are moving freely around in space can explain many observations including: the impacts of gas particles on surfaces (e.g., of a balloon) and on larger particles or objects (e.g., wind, dust suspended in air), and the appearance of visible scale water droplets in condensation, fog, and, by extension, also in clouds or the contrails of a jet. The amount (weight) of matter is conserved when it changes form, even in transitions in which it seems to vanish (e.g., sugar in solution, evaporation in a closed container). Measurements of a variety of properties (e.g., hardness, reflectivity) can be used to identify particular substances. (Boundary: At this grade level, mass and weight are not distinguished, and no attempt is made to define the unseen particles or explain the atomic-scale mechanism of evaporation and condensation).



All substances are made from some 100 different types of atoms, which combine with one another in various ways. Atoms form molecules that range in size from two to thousands of atoms. Pure substances are made from a single type of atom or molecule; each pure substance has characteristic physical and chemical properties (for any bulk quantity under given conditions) that can be used to identify it. Gases and liquids are made of molecules or inert atoms that are moving about relative to each other. In a liquid, the molecules are constantly in contact with others; in a gas, they are widely spaced except when they happen to collide. In a solid, atoms are closely spaced and may vibrate in position but do not change relative locations. Solids may be formed from molecules, or they may be extended structures with repeating subunits (e.g., crystals). The changes of state that occur with variations in temperature or pressure can be described and predicted using these models of matter. (Boundary: Predictions here are qualitative, not quantitative.)



Each atom has a charged substructure consisting of a nucleus, which is made of protons and neutrons, surrounded by electrons. The periodic table orders elements horizontally by the number of protons in the atom’s nucleus and places those with similar chemical properties in columns. The repeating patterns of this table reflect patterns of outer electron states. The structure and interactions of matter at the bulk scale are determined by electrical forces within and between atoms. Stable forms of matter are those in which the electric and magnetic field energy is minimized. A stable molecule has less energy, by an amount known as the binding energy, than the same set of atoms separated; one must provide at least this energy in order to take the molecule apart.


You can see the learning progressions and how learning becomes more sophisticated from 2nd grade through 12th grade

8 Practices for K-12 ClassroomsWhat Students Should Be Able

To Do!

• Asking Questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

• Developing and Using Models

• Planning and Conducting Investigations

• Analyzing and Interpreting Data

8 Practices for K-12 Classrooms

• Applying Mathematics, information and computer technology, and computational thinking

• Constructing Explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

• Engaging in argument from evidence

• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Practice 1: Asking Questions and Defining Problems

Questions are the engine that drive science and engineering.

• Science asks

– What exists and what happens?– Why does it happen?– How does one know?

• Engineering asks:– What can be done to address a particular human need or want?– How can the need be better specified?– What tools and technologies are available, or could be developed, for

addressing this need?

• Both science and engineering ask:– How does one communicate phenomena, evidence, explanations, and

design solutions?

Learning Progression for Asking Questions and Defining ProblemsStudents at any grade level should be able to ask

questions of each other about the texts they read, the features of the phenomena they observe, and conclusions they draw from their models or scientific investigations.

For engineering, they should ask questions to define the problem to be solved and to elicit ideas that lead to the constraints and specifications for its solution.

As they progress across the grades, their questions should become more relevant, focused, and sophisticated.

Learning Progression for Asking Questions and Defining ProblemsFacilitating such evolution will require a classroom culture:• that respects and values good questions• offers opportunities to refine questions and questioning

strategies• incorporates the teaching of effective questioning

strategies across all grade levels.

As a result, students will become increasingly proficient….• at posing questions that request relevant empirical

evidence • at refining a model, an explanation or an engineering

problem• at challenging the premise of an argument or the

suitability of a design.

Goals for Asking QuestionsBy grade 12 students should be able to:

• Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds—for example: Why are there seasons? What do bees do? Why did that structure collapse? How is electric power generated?

• Distinguish a scientific question (e.g., Why do helium balloons rise?) from a nonscientific question (Which of these colored balloons is the prettiest?).

• Formulate and refine questions that can be answered empirically in a science classroom and use them to design an inquiry or construct a pragmatic solution.

• Ask probing questions that seek to identify the premises of an argument, request further elaboration, refine a research question or engineering problem, or challenge the interpretation of a data set—for example: How do you know? What evidence supports that argument?

• Note features, patterns, or contradictions in observations and ask questions about them.

• For engineering, ask questions about the need or desire to be met in order to define constraints and specifications for a solution.

The Three Dimensions of the Science Frameworks

1. Scientific and Engineering Practices

• Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (forengineering)

• Developing and using models• Planning and carrying out investigations• Analyzing and interpreting data• Using mathematics and computational thinking• Constructing explanations (for science) and designing

solutions (for engineering)• Engaging in argument from evidence• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

2. Crosscutting Concepts

• Patterns– Observed patterns of forms and events guide

organization and classification, and they prompt questions about relationships and the factors that influence them.

• Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation– Investigating and explaining causal relationships;

testing these relationships across given contexts and using the results to predict and explain events in new contexts.

• Scale, proportion, and quantity– Changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a

system’s structure and performance

2. Crosscutting Concepts(continued)

• Systems and system models– Defining the system under study and making a model of that

system provides tools for understanding and testing ideas.

• Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation– Tracking fluxes of energy and matter into, out of, and within

systems helps one understand the systems’ possibilities and limitations.

• Structure and function– How an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure

determine many of its properties and functions.

• Stability and change– Conditions of stability and determinants of rates of change or

evolution or a system are critical elements of study.

3. Disciplinary Core Ideas

Physical Sciences– PS 1: Matter and its interactions– PS 2: Motion and stability: Forces and interactions– PS 3: Energy– PS 4: Waves and their applications in technologies for information

transfer

Life Sciences– LS 1: From molecules to organisms: Structures and processes– LS 2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics– LS 3: Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits– LS 4: Biological evolution: Unity and diversity

Earth and Space Sciences– ESS 1: Earth’s place in the universe– ESS 2: Earth’s systems– ESS 3: Earth and human activity

Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Science– ETS 1: Engineering design– ETS 2: Links among engineering, technology, science, and society

What does deep understanding look like instructionally?

Instruction must go from just…..

Explaining conceptsProviding definitions and answersStating conclusionsProviding closureHeavy reliance on Lecturing

• There are tork gooboos of puzzballs, including laplies, mushos and fushos. Even if you bartle the puzzballs that tovo inny and onny of the pern, they do not gruntle any lipples. In order to geemee a puzzball that gruntles lipples,you should bartle the fusho who has rarckeled the parshtootoos after her humpfly fluflu.

• How many gooboos of puzzballs are there?• What are laplies, mushos, and fushos?• Even if you bartle the puzzballs that tovo inny and onny of

the pern, they will not what?• How can you geemee a puzzball that gruntles lipplies?

When a teacher focuses on deeper levels of understanding he or

she…..Observes students as they apply new concepts and

skills.Assesses students’ knowledge and skills throughout

their learning both formally and informally.Looks for evidence that students have changed their

thinking or behaviors.Allows students to assess their own learning.Asks open-ended questions such as “Why do you

think….: What evidence do you have? What do you know about …? How would you explain….?”

When students are involved in the assessment process – they are required to think about their own learning, articulate what they understand and what they still need to learn – achievement improves.

Black & Wiliam, 1998; Sternberg, 1996; Young, 2000

What happens to student thinkingwhen teachers focus on deeper understanding?

Answer open-ended questions by using observations, evidence, and previously accepted explanations.

Demonstrate understanding or knowledge of concept or skill through application.

Evaluate his or her own progress and knowledgeAsk related questions that would encourage future

investigations

Documents

Next Generation Science Standards