Catch the NGSS Bug! (+Free Lesson Plan Cootie Catcher!)

The Next Generation Science Standards for the next generation of scientists

official ngss website

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are a brand-spanking new set of standards that address the skills and knowledge professional-scientists and citizen-scientists will need in the coming years.

They were created and adopted by the individual states to fulfill four key needs:

1. Reduction of the United States' competitive economic edge
2. Lagging achievement of U.S. students
3. ​Essential preparation for all careers in the modern workforce
4. Scientific and technological literacy for an educated society

So how did the writers of the standards decide what skills would be most important?

A Framework for ​K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas 

An internationally-renowned, interdisciplinary committee of 18 scientists, science educators, and science education standards and policy experts studied current science research and science learning research in order to identify all of the science that K-12 students should know.

If you're interested in getting all of the down-and-dirty details, the full Framework (a whopping 400 page document) can be downloaded here:

Framework (Full Doc)
File Size:	6682 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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If you'd prefer a significantly shorter (and, dare I say, significantly more entertaining as well) explanation, then please read on.

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Three Dimensional Learning

The Framework breaks down science learning into three major dimensions:

1. Disciplinary Core Ideas

Disciplinary Core Ideas are broad ideas that meet at least two of the following four criteria:

1. Broad importance across multiple sciences or engineering disciplines (or extreme importance in a specific discipline)
2. Provides a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems
3. Relates to the interests and life experiences of students or is connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technological knowledge
4. Teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of depth and sophistication. That is, the idea can be made accessible to younger students but is broad enough to sustain continued investigation over years.

The Core Ideas are grouped into four major domains--similar to "subjects": 

• Physical science
  
• Earth and space science
  
• Life science
  
• Engineering, technology, and applied science

The first step of building a STEM lesson plan is deciding the broad topic of your study by picking one of the four domains to focus on.

2. Crosscutting Concepts

The second piece of our three-dimensional puzzle provides the bridges that link all of the domains together.

These are the ideas and practices that cut across the science disciplines.

When planning a STEM lesson, crosscutting concepts help narrow down your topic.

3. Scientific and Engineering Practices

These refer to the major practices that scientists employ as they investigate
and build models and theories about the world, as well as a key set of engineering
practices that engineers use as they design and build systems.

Why "practices" instead of "skills"?

Practices require skills and knowledge​.

When you're building a STEM lesson plans, you can use the NGSS Scientific and Engineering Practices to determine how you will study a topic.

For example:

​If you decide to address the Practice "planning and carrying out investigations," the approach you will take will likely involve having your little one design an experiment, then present the results of their experiment.

​​On the other hand, if you addressed the same topic but with a different Practice, such as "engaging in argument from evidence", the inquiry will likely happen in the form of research, discussions, and debates.

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How to use the cootie catcher...

As you and your child play the cootie catcher game, use the worksheet to track your answers. Now you'll notice beneath the four Disciplinary Core Ideas there are more specific components. You can use these to narrow down your lesson's focus!

Once you have all three dimensions picked, work together to formulate an essential question.

What's an "Essential Question"?

An essential question is the question that drives the lesson. It is the question your child is working to answer as they work through the lesson. The final product of the lesson should provide an answer to the essential question. /endrobotvoice

Basically, an essential question ties together the dimensions and guides your investigation.

Once you have your essential question, you're ready to start doing some science (or engineering, if that's what you're into)!

You can use the Notes section to jot down--well, notes. Did anything in particular spark your child's interest? Use this to focus in on your lesson topic even more!

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Your turn to teach me something...

How do you organize your homeschool year? Do you use a pre-defined set of standards? Or do you take learning opportunities as they appear? 

Comment below and let me know!