When the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013, Figure 1) were released, they represented a significant shift in K-12 science education in the United States. The standards aim to provide a comprehensive framework that emphasizes scientific content knowledge and the practices of science and engineering. If implemented correctly, the NGSS will have students “acting like scientists” and “doing science” while “learning science.”
Below, let’s quickly explore the dimensions of the NGSS, how they differ from previous standards, and how we can integrate science and engineering practices into our teaching.
What are the NGSS?
This set of standards is designed to prepare students for college and future careers in STEM by helping them develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and have more positive experiences in learning science. The NGSS are structured around three key dimensions:
1. Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs): These are the fundamental concepts—what we teach them from day-to-day—across various science disciplines such as life sciences, physical sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering.
2. Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs): The skills that students need to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design. This is where you can help them “act like scientists.”
3. Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs): They represent themes that connect the various disciplines of science, helping students apply their knowledge and connect important concepts across disciplines.
In practice, these dimensions work together to create a cohesive learning experience that emphasizes both knowledge acquisition and practical application. Together, they form performance expectations that represent what students should know and be able to do, which signifies mastery of the content. One of the best analogies to describe the NGSS is to think of it like a rope (Figure 2). For the rope to be strong and supportive, each dimension must be represented; to fully reach a performance expectation, the dimensions should be interwoven into our instruction; and to properly assess our students, we should incorporate three-dimensional assessments to provide opportunities for knowledge and application.
Comparison to Previous Standards
The transition from older science standards—the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2002) (Figure 3)—to NGSS marked a shift in focus from being content-centric to performance-based.
Additionally, those earlier standards often emphasized memorization of facts, isolated content areas, and focused on teaching content at specific grade levels. In contrast, the NGSS prioritizes performance expectations that require students to demonstrate their understanding through application and problem-solving emphasis, there are learning progressions where students build depth of knowledge over time, they help students make connections between content areas, and they prioritize performance expectations that require students to demonstrate their understanding through application and problem-solving (Figure 4).
Furthermore, previous science education standards separated content learning from the practices of science, while the NGSS integrates these skills. When done correctly, integrating the three dimensions promotes a more inquiry-based approach, and students learn by doing. The NGSS also emphasizes the role of science in everyday life and encourages students to engage with real-world problems, which fosters critical thinking. This shift aimed to increase scientifically literate students who can think critically about issues affecting society today.
Integrating the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs)
In my mind, the first dimension of the NGSS is the SEPs due to the setup of the standards—they are listed first—and how I first began making sense of them in 2013 (Figure 5). Of course, they also represent the fun stuff that we should be doing with our students, which is appealing to me!
The SEPs represent eight different skills and processes used across disciplines, which include:
1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems: Students learn to formulate questions based on observations and define problems that can be investigated scientifically.
2. Developing and Using Models: This practice involves creating representations of systems or phenomena to understand their components and interactions.
3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations: Students design experiments or investigations to test their hypotheses or explore scientific questions.
4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data: This involves examining data collected during investigations to draw conclusions or make predictions.
5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking: Students apply mathematical concepts and computational tools to analyze data or model phenomena.
6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions: This practice focuses on developing explanations for observed phenomena or designing solutions to problems based on evidence.
7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence: Students learn to support their claims with evidence while also considering alternative explanations.
8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information: This involves researching scientific information, evaluating its credibility, and effectively communicating findings.
The inclusion of SEPs during instruction is vital to the learning experience, as they will make your teaching, and selected activities, student-centered. For example, if you ask them to develop a model, that is hands-on or minds-on (or both) and if you have them plan and carry out an investigation, they are thinking, collaborating, experimenting, and collecting data. We should be very intentional in our planning to include students in the process of learning with the SEPs.
Here are some ideas to incorporate SEPs into various settings to engage students in learning science and in doing science.
- Align your lesson plans (or a series of lessons) using the performance expectations (PEs) as a guide. Using the desired grade band in your discipline, identify and address specific PEs throughout a unit. For example, when teaching about ecosystems, include activities where students can ask questions about species interactions (Practice 1) while also analyzing data on population changes (Practice 4).
- A commonly used activity demonstrating these skills is the predator-prey relationship between wolves and deer. See an example at WolfQuest.org.
- Are you open to designing lessons that encourage student inquiry? Rather than simply lecturing on chemical reactions, have students actively explore different chemical reactions by observing visible changes (e.g. color changes, gas production, precipitate forming) and recording data. Various activities that will have students predicting outcomes (Practice 1), carrying out investigations (Practice 3), and/or analyzing results (Practice 4) include:
- A “mystery mixture” investigation – See an example!
- A “metal reactivity series” lab activity – See an example!
- Do you use models? Modeling (Practice 2) is essential in science education, and this SEP is possible through the use of physical models, the creation of mental models, or through three-dimensional modeling with digital tools. Models act as a tool to help students grasp abstract ideas through tangible representations and engage in inquiry by building, testing, and refining their models.
- If you teach plate tectonics, an example of a physical model would include having students create plate boundaries, where they can make predictions, conduct testing, and analyze data (Practice 4). See an example!
- The use of mental models provides a simplified way to better understand complex phenomena, and they can help communicate science concepts to others. Examples where mental modeling is useful include concepts or processes that are difficult to observe, such as atomic structure, the water cycle, and evolution through natural selection.
- Finally, a more high-tech approach is to use digital modeling. This can enable interactive manipulation, allow for the visualization of complex systems, being able to predict potential outcomes in the real world, and help us achieve many goals. Explore more benefits of using this modeling with your students through eLearning Industry.
- By encouraging collaboration and using group work (small and whole groups), students can engage in argumentation (Practice 7) by discussing their findings and different interpretations of data with peers. When I was a high school science teacher, I attended a Modeling Instruction workshop through the American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) and used this pedagogy in my classroom. One of the best strategies (and tools) that I discovered during this training was the whiteboard—not a tiny, individual board, but a large whiteboard that allowed multiple students to collaborate, show their work, and represent their thinking.
This collaborative effort was often followed by a “board meeting” where each group would display their whiteboard to the other groups. The purpose of this activity was to share results and thinking—which improved communication skills; students would critique and question—developing critical thinking; and they would argue from (and use the) evidence.
Any science teacher can use whiteboards and experience the immediate benefits of making student thinking the focal point of science education. The following resources will provide additional background on Modeling Instruction (Figure 6, ACS Publications) and various whiteboarding strategies.
The NGSS represent a transformative approach to science education that prioritizes depth of understanding over breadth of content. By integrating the three dimensions—disciplinary core ideas with science practices and crosscutting concepts—the NGSS provides a coherent approach to science education that prepares students for real-world scenarios.
We can all play a crucial role in this shift by adopting inquiry-based methods and creating student-centered classrooms that emphasize performance expectations aligned with the science and engineering practices outlined by the NGSS. If we can inspire our students to become consumers of scientific knowledge and contributors to scientific discourse, they will be equipped with the necessary skills for success in future classes and careers in STEM.
About the Author
William (Bill) Thornburgh, Ph.D., taught high school chemistry, biology, and environmental science for 10 years. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Science Education at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. William teaches middle grades and secondary science methods and assessment in education.
Connect with William on LinkedIn | X (@DrBillEKU)
References
https://www.nextgenscience.org
https://www.nsta.org/science-standards
https://thewonderofscience.com/standards
