Next Generation Science Standards in a Historical Context - Part I:

Beginning immediately, educators and administrators throughout the country will undertake one of the most challenging reform efforts in the history of science education in America. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are built around Three-Dimensional (“3-D”) Learning and incorporate major conceptual shifts in how science instruction will be delivered. The 3-D learning strategy includes Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs: what students should know), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs: what students should be able to do with what they know), and the Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs: how we transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries to make cognitive connections as we learn how to think like a scientist and an engineer).

Science standards are nothing new. Since the 1890s, an infinite number of them have been crafted and refined specifically for American students. However, the conceptual shifts proposed by the NGSS call for the following:

·        learning the practices of science and engineering (one of the most important departures from past standards) through rich content experiences rather than merely identifying appropriate science content,

·        performance expectations (not multiple choice answers) that will inform the basis of curriculum, instruction, and assessment,

·        investigating science phenomena collaboratively, not reading content in solitude and memorizing science factoids,

·        a deeper understanding of key science ideas, rather than shallow exposure to simple easy-to-assess science topics,

·        a strategic alignment with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English/Language Arts (E/LA), since digesting informational texts in the fields of science requires a working knowledge of how to deploy the critical language skills traditionally taught in E/LA (reading, writing, listening, speaking, note-booking, asking questions, engaging in discourse, dialogue, and presenting arguments with evidence) in realistic science contexts. The CCSS Mathematics standards are also aligned to the NGSS, recognizing that “number sense,” computational thinking, and understanding how to collect, calculate, analyze, and interpret data are among the most critical skills applied in research and scientific investigations, and

·        an integration of science and engineering,

 

The mantras for the new standards (both the NGSS and the CCSS) are “Synergies not silos” and “Where are the connections?”