In the next few months, a consortium of state and local
governments, the National Research Council (NRC), the National Science Teachers
Association, and other stakeholders will finalize a set of national science
standards, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which they anticipate most
states will adopt. The 26 lead state partners in the development of the
standards, including Arizona, California, and Massachusetts, have promised to
seriously consider adoption of the common standards.
The NGSS come at a time when students in the United States
ranked 17th in science among 31 nations administering the most
recent (2009) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and when only
18 percent of high school seniors perform at a proficient level in science. They
come at a time when science education is not only essential to remaining
competitive in the global economy, but vital in people’s everyday lives in
which they must interpret scientific information to make important decisions
about technology, the environment, and many other aspects of their lives.
The standards are being based on the NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education.
The Framework reflects advances in
science in the past 15 years, as well as the most current research regarding
how students learn science. It is also internationally benchmarked, meaning it
is informed by a thorough examination of the science standards of top
performing countries. The Framework
establishes in detail three interconnected dimensions: scientific and
engineering practices (e.g., developing and using models, planning and carrying
out investigations, analyzing data), cross-cutting concepts (e.g., recognizing
patterns, cause and effect, matter and energy), and core content.
While the NGSS aren’t finalized yet, key facets of the
standards are clear:
·
Scientific and engineering processes and
cross-cutting concepts will be taught in conjunction with all core content throughout
the year. Evidence suggests that active engagement in scientific and
engineering processes and cross-cutting concepts helps deepen students’ understanding
of core content and better reflects how science is done in the real world.
·
Emphasis will be on depth rather than breadth.
In other words, instruction will focus on the essential core ideas and develop them
progressively and coherently across K-12. This will help students acquire a
deeper understanding that allows them to apply these core ideas to gain new knowledge.
·
Science and engineering will be integrated so
that students understand the relationship between the two and how they are
applicable to their everyday lives and to solving current world challenges such
as developing clean energy and preventing and treating diseases.
·
Science standards will coordinate with Common
Core State Standards for English language arts (ELA) and math so that science
is an integrated part of students’ overall education.
ATI is prepared to help states that adopt the common standards
implement them. Currently, our science libraries contain over 17,000 items, and
these items assess a vast range of science and engineering practices,
cross-cutting concepts, and core content. Many ATI science assessment items are
constructed to engage students using textual and graphical resources. These Item Families reflect the NGSS emphasis
on integration of processes, cross-cutting concepts, and core content by
allowing these three dimensions to be assessed in concert. Item Families range in style from reports of scientific experiments
to expository texts to diagrams. For example, an assessment may present a
student with background information and results of an experiment and then ask
the student a series of questions, some which assess the student’s mastery of
scientific practices and cross-cutting concepts, others that assess the
student’s comprehension of core content related to the experiment.
ATI has over 200 science Instructional
Dialogs that can be used for instruction before or interventions after
assessment. They address a variety of content and skills, from the scientific
method to natural resources to chemical bonding. A K-2 Dialog titled Animals and Their Parents exemplifies
the NGSS emphasis on integration of the three dimensions, as well as the
integration between science and other core subjects. The Dialog actively
engages students in the processes of making observations and predictions and analyzing
data (e.g., “Based on this picture of an adult cheetah, what do you think a
baby cheetah looks like?”), as well as the cross-cutting concepts of recognizing
patterns and identifying stability and change, as they learn about some of the
common similarities and differences between young animals and their parents. The
Dialog coordinates with ELA curriculum by drawing upon the electronic picture
book The Mouse, the Rooster, and the Cat.
At the beginning of the Dialog students are asked to identify some of the ways
the mouse protagonist physically resembles its mother. As the Dialog progresses,
they observe physical differences and compare the mouse and its mother in terms
of behavior too (i.e. the mother helps protect the little mouse).
Once the NGSS are finalized, ATI science content specialists
will promptly map existing assessment and instructional content to the new
standards and begin work developing new content to supplement and enhance it. The most recent draft of the Next Generation Science Standards are available at http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards
Michelle Ross
Science Content Coordinator
Assessment Technology Incorporated
