An Introduction to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

1. An Introduction to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Educational Service Center North Thursday, May 8, 2014 Heinrich Sartin Elementary Science Specialist, ESC North heinrich.sartin@lausd.net

2. Today's Agenda • Objectives for the Day • Norms for Professional Learning Communities • Engineering Design in the NGSS (Engineering Challenge) • Background, Rationale, and Timeline for the NGSS • Organization of the NGSS (Performance Expectations & Dimensions) • The Nature of Science (Black Boxes Task) • Science and Engineering Practices (Explanation Task) • Connections to the Common Core State Standards • Evaluation

3. Objectives • Learn about the rationale for adopting the NGSS • Understand how the NGSS are different from the California Science Standards • Become familiar with how the NGSS are organized • Learn about how the NGSS are connected to the CCSS • Understand what teachers can do now to prepare for full implementation of the NGSS

4. Professional Learning Community Norms • Honor time by being efficient and effective • Ensure that each person’s voice is heard • Avoid sidebar conversations • Disagree agreeably • Stay tuned in and on task • Assume good intentions • Focus on students • Turn off cell phones or switch to vibrate

5. Engineering Design Task • Cut a hole in an index cardthat is large enough to pass your entire body through • Your finished product needs to be a continuous piece of paper that has not been reattached in any way • Work with a partner to accomplish this task • You have 20 minutes

6. Reading: Appendix I (pp. 1-4) • Guiding Questions for Reading • What connections do you find between the “index card hole” task and the Engineering Design elements in the NGSS? • Can you think of examples of engineering design in the FOSS modules? • Why is it a good idea to include engineering design in these new standards?

7. Current CA Science Standards Grade 1 Earth Science Students know… …that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.

8. Current CA Science Standards Grade 1 Investigation and Experimentation Students will… …record observations and data with pictures, numbers, or written statements.

9. Current CA Science Standards Grade 4 Life Science Students know… …producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem.

10. Current CA Science Standards Grade 4 Investigation and Experimentation Students will… …formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect relationships

11. Timeline for Implementation • The current California Science Standards will continue to be in effect for 2014-15 and 2015-16 • Formal instructional shifts will begin in 2016-17 • Full implementation will begin in 2017-18 with anticipated adoption of new instructional materials • The CST will continue to be administered in grade 5 during 2014-15 (possibly through 2016-17)

12. Why New Standards? The U.S. ranks 27th out of 29 developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving undergraduate degrees in science and engineering. Source: National Research Council

13. Why New Standards? “The percentage of students who pursue careers in STEM-related fields is currently too low for the nation’s needs. Moreover, an ever-larger number of jobs require skills in these areas, along with those in English language arts and math.” Source: A Framework for K-12 Science Education

14. Why New Standards? “Within five years, there will be 2.4 million STEM job openings.” Source: New York Times

15. Why New Standards? Nearly 90 percent of high school graduates say they’re not interested in a career or a college major involving science, technology, engineering or math, known collectively as STEM, according to a survey of more than a million students who take the ACT test. Source: New York Times

16. Why New Standards? The number of students who want to pursue engineering or computer science jobs is actually falling, precipitously, at just the moment when the need for those workers is soaring. Source: New York Times

17. Why New Standards?

18. What is the Origin of the NGSS?

19. NGSS Flowchart State Assessments State Curricula National Framework NGSS Standards Professional Development Instruction

20. Organization of the NGSS Performance Expectations are statements that describe what students should be able to do at the end of instruction and incorporate one or more Scientific and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts.

21. Organization of the NGSS

22. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 1 - Scientific and Engineering Practices The practices describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems.

23. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 1 - Scientific and Engineering Practices 1. Asking questions and defining problems 2. Developing and using models 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data 5. Using mathematics and computational thinking 6. Developing explanations and designing solutions 7. Engaging in argument 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

24. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas • The NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas: • Have broad importance across multiple sciences or engineering disciplines; • Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems; • Relate to the interests and life experiences of students or are connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technological knowledge; • Are teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of depth and sophistication.

25. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas • Four Domains • Physical Sciences • Life Sciences • Earth and Space Sciences • Engineering, Technology and Applications of Science

26. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas Physical Sciences • PS1 - Matter and its interactions • PS2 - Motion and stability: Forces and interactions • PS3 - Energy • PS4 - Waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer

27. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas Life Sciences • LS1 - 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

28. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas Earth and Space Sciences • ESS1 - Earth’s place in the universe • ESS2 - Earth’s systems • ESS3 - Earth and human activity

29. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science • ETS1 - Engineering design • ETS2 - Links among engineering, technology, science and society

30. NGSS - Three Dimensions Dimension 3 – Crosscutting Concepts Crosscutting Concepts have applications across all domains of science. As such, they are a way of linking the different domains of science. These concepts need to be made explicit for students because they provide an organizational schema for interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world.

31. NGSS - Three Dimensions Patterns Cause and effect Scale, proportion and quantity Systems and system models Energy and matter Structure and function Stability and change Dimension 3 – Crosscutting Concepts

32. NGSS - Three Dimensions Integrating the Dimensions • To facilitate students’ learning, the dimensions must be woven together in standards, assessments, curriculum, and instruction. • Performance Expectations combine Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts into a single statement of what is to be assessed. They are not instructional strategies or objectives for a lesson.

33. Performance Expectations Because Performance Expectations and the foundation boxes in the NGSS describe learning outcomes, they are the basis for using backward design for the development or adaptation of curriculum and instruction. Simply stated, the performance expectation can and should be the starting point of backward design. Roger bybee, ngss writing leadership team

34. NGSS - Three Dimensions Integrating the Dimensions Crosscutting Concepts Disciplinary Core Ideas Practices

35. Reading: Scientific and Engineering Practices, pp. 42-44 • Guiding Question for Reading • Why is it important for students to engage in scientific and engineering practices?

36. Black Boxes I found some black boxes. Each one has a round object inside. They are permanently glued and taped shut, so I can’t open them. Can you help me figure out what the inside of the these boxes look like? Engaging Scenario

37. Black Boxes Focus Question #1 What does the inside of your box look like? • Work in teams of two • Write a short description of what you think the inside of the black box looks like and include a detailed drawing with labeled parts • Focus on shape and location

38. Black Boxes Sharing Ideas Locate the chart paper for your box (A-D) and draw your team’s idea of what the inside of your black box looks like.

39. Black Boxes Collaboration & Consensus Get together with another team that has the same black box (A-D) and come to consensus about what the inside of your black box looks like.

40. Black Boxes Consensus Drawing Choose a representative from your combined group of four to draw a revised plan of your black box.

41. Black Boxes Focus Question #2 How did working with other scientists change your original thinking about your black box?

42. Black Boxes Debriefing the Experience • The term “black box” is a general term scientists and engineers use to describe a system that works in mysterious or unknown ways. • For most people, a TV is a black box. Electricity goes in and a picture miraculously appears on the screen. A telephone is another example of a black box. • What are other examples of black boxes?

43. Black Boxes Debriefing the Experience • Which Science and Engineering Practices were involved? • Which Disciplinary Core Ideas were involved? • Which Crosscutting Concepts were involved? • How does this activity connect to CCSS ELA and math standards and practices?

44. A Closer Look at one of the Scientific and Engineering Practices Read about Practice 6 “Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions” pp. 67-70

45. Ice and Alcohol

46. Group Performance Task • You and your partner will create a system that consists of a plastic cup filled with isopropyl alcohol (100 ml) and four ice cubes. • In your science notebook, make observations and detailed drawings (with labeled parts) of the system and changes to the system over time (15 minutes). • Formulate questions and construct an explanation for the behavior of the system. • Develop evidence that supports your explanation for the causes of the changes in the system.

47. Individual Performance Task Write an explanation for the causes of the changes (effect) to the system. (A few volunteers will share their explanations.) Teacher Reflection Write a reflection on the type of instruction that would lead students to develop high-quality evidence-based explanations. Group Discussion Which elements of this activity reflect the nature of science?

48. Ice and Alcohol Debriefing the Experience • Which Science and Engineering Practices were involved? • Which Disciplinary Core Ideas were involved? • Which Crosscutting Concepts were involved? • How does this activity connect to CCSS ELA and math standards and practices?

49. Scientific Explanations The goal of science is to construct explanations for the causes of phenomena. Students are expected to construct their own explanations, as well as apply standard explanations they learn about from their teachers or reading. Source: NGSS Appendix F

50. Connections to the CCSS • The timing of the release of NGSS comes as most states are implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts and Mathematics. • The NGSS are aligned with the CCSS to ensure a symbiotic pace of learning in all content areas. The three sets of standards overlap in meaningful and substantive ways and offer an opportunity to give all students equitable access to learning standards. Source: NGSS Appendix A