So.... What is the NGSS?

If you didn't get a chance to read my previous post, you need to know there are new state standards for science in effect this year.

There are some well written parent guides to the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) at the link below:

NGSS Parent Guides

The focus of this post is to share some info about the classroom side of the NGSS. The NGSS standards are broken down into three areas. The people behind the implementation of the NGSS  like to call it 3D learning.

• Science and Engineering Practices
• Disciplinary Core Ideas
• Cross-cutting Concepts

  Let's take a quick look at what these things mean.

Science and Engineering Practices

If you will notice in the graphic, this is a list of some things a student will do in class. These are tasks associated with actual scientific work. Things like investigating, calculating, writing, drawing, and designing. 

Disciplinary Core Ideas

The DCIs are the content the student will know. This is where us older folks go to in our mind when we think of science class. Biology terms, memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements, that sort of stuff. They have new reference codes, but science content is still science content. 

Crosscutting Concepts

This is where the we put the first two together and make connections between them. This is the "how" the students will think. Don't worry we aren't trying to brainwash them. It is more about how to use comcepts to put science work, and content together to construct their understanding.   The graphic lists 7 concepts that are common to all sciences, and can apply to other fields of study as well. Take patterns for example. There are patterns in the ebb and flow of the tides (geological science), patterns in honeycomb (biology), patterns in weather (atmospheric physics), patterns in the elements' properties (chemistry), patterns in art (mandalas), patterns in language (poems), patterns in music (harmonic sequence), and patterns in math (Fibonacci sequence). You probably can think of more right now.

This part of the 3D learning is where students will bloom. The road to get there may be a little tough, but when they start to think using concepts, everything starts to come together, and they will feel accomplished. 

This is what I am looking forward to seeing.