Framework for K-12 Science Education

1. Framework for K-12 Science Education Step 1 in Developing The Next Generation Science Standards

2. Why do we need new standards? • Current Standards based on: • National Science Education Standards • From National Research Council (NRC) • Benchmarks for Science Literacy • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) • Both have been around for 15+ years

3. Common Core? • Are these just Common Core State Standards for science? • No • Each State will decide whether or not to use these standards. • The NRC is working closely with states to make sure the standards are what they need.

4. How are the Standards being developed? • Step 1: Develop a Framework • The Result? • Framework for K-12 Science Education • Released in July 2011

5. What is the Framework? • “A sound, evidence based foundation for standards that draws on current scientific research – including research on the ways students learn science effectively – and identifies the science all K- 12 students should know”

6. How was the Framework Developed? • NRC convened an 18 member committee including: • Practicing scientists • Including two Nobel laureates • Science education researchers • Cognitive Scientists • Science education standards and policy experts • Released a public draft in 2010 • Reviewed comments and considered all feedback prior to releasing final draft.

7. What does the Framework say? • “It describes a vision of what it means to be proficient in science; it rests on a view of science as both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model and theory building enterprise that continually extends, refines, and revises knowledge. It presents three dimensions that will be combine to form each standard.”

8. 3 Dimensions

9. Dimension 1: Practices • Behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world • These are not only skills, but also the knowledge that is specific to each practice

10. Dimension 2: Crosscutting Concepts • Concepts that have application across all domains of science. • Defined: • “these concepts should be made explicit to students as they provide an organizational schema for interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world.”

11. Crosscutting Concepts include: • Patterns, similarity and diversity • Cause and effect • Scale, proportion, and quantity • Systems and system models • Energy and matter • Structure and function • Stability and change

12. Dimension 3: Content or Core Ideas • To be considered core an idea must meet two or more of the following: • Have broad importance across multiple sciences or engineering disciplines or be a key organizing concept of a single discipline • Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems • Relate to the interests and life experiences of students or be connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technological knowledge • Be teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of depth and sophistication

13. 4 Domains of Disciplinary Ideas: • Physical Sciences • Life Sciences • Earth and Space Sciences • Engineering, technology, and applications of science

14. Next Generation Science Standards • With the help of the Framework, there will be new, better science standards to help our students succeed not only in school, but also in a university or career.

15. The End • All information collected from: http://www.nextgenscience.org