A New Framework for K-12 Science Education Maria C. Simani, Ph.D. Executive Director, California Science Project maria.simani@ucr.edu
Outline 1. About CSP and NRC 2. Motivations for developing the new science framework 3. Key features of the framework 4. Implications, reflection and examples of the new vision 5. Timeline and future steps of the process Please interrupt and ask me questions at any time!
About the California Science Project • One of the 9 California Subject Matter Projects • A statewide network of subject-specific professional development programs for K-12 teachers • Authorized by California Statute in 1988 • 18 CSP sites housed on UCs, CSUs and independent universities campuses • Provide support to the CA Department of Education • Local site: the Inland Area Science Project http://csmp.ucop.edu/csp/
The New Framework • Released July 2011 by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences • Defines what students should know for their lives and roles as citizens in a scientifically complex world
Vision: Science for All Students • STEM permeate nearly every facet of modern life • STEM also hold the key to meeting many of humanity’s most pressing current and future challenges • Yet too few U.S. workers have strong backgrounds in these fields and many people lack the fundamental knowledge of them – national need • Understanding of science and engineering is critical to participation in public policy and good decision-making -- From the Executive Summary of A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
Why a new science framework and new standards now?
Why a new science framework now? • Last CA adoption of science standards: 1998 (14 years ago…) • The framework provides intellectual guidance for the standards • Our knowledge about learning and teaching science has advanced during the past decade • Opportunity to improve current teaching practice • Include advances in scientific knowledge • Resolve the problem of too many disconnected topics, not treated in enough depth
Who wrote the new framework? • Board on Science Education at the National Research Council
Content Design Team
The process: a coherent vision Phase 1 - completed Phase 2 – in progress Phase 3 – planning Structure of the Report • Part I: A Vision for K-12 Science Education • Part II: Dimensions of the Framework • Part III: Realizing the Vision (more about the timeline later) http://www.nextgenscience.org/
http://www.nextgenscience.org/
Achieve - Process Phase 2 • Set timeline for the project • Translation of conceptual framework into standards accomplished by a 26-state design teams (41 members) • Independent review team at the state level (~60 members/state) • Revision of draft standards includes public input (2 opportunities) • NRC Study Committee check of fidelity of standards-framework • Includes Engineering and Technology in addition to Science experts • Partnership development is a must for ensuring coherence Unique aspects of the conceptual framework
The 3 Dimensions of the Framework
Scientific and Engineering Practices used by Scientists and Engineers 1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering) 2. Developing and using models 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data 5. Using mathematics, information and computer technology, and computational thinking 6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering) 7. Engaging in argument from evidence (claim vs. evidence) 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Do your students engage in the practice of scientific argumentation? Do your students… • Use modeling for understanding? • Compare alternative explanations and evaluate evidence for each, and attempt to reach consensus? • Go beyond explaining an important scientific idea by justifying what evidence and logical reasoning support that idea? • Science is both a body of knowledge and the processes that develop and refine that knowledge
Crosscutting Concepts Provide students access to connection of knowledge 1. Patterns 2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation 3. Scale, proportion, and quantity 4. Systems and system models 5. Energy and matter (flows, cycles, and conservation) 6. Structure and function 7. Stability and change
What does qualify as a core idea? A scientific core idea for K-12 science instructions is an idea that: • Has broad importance across multiple science or engineering disciplines or is a key organizing concept for a single discipline • Provides a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems • Relates to the interests and life experiences of students or can be connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technical knowledge • Is teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of depth and sophistication
Physical Sciences Less is More; Depth vs. Breadth PS 1: Matter and its interactions PS 2: Motion and stability: Forces and interactions PS 3: Energy PS 4: Waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer
Life Sciences Less is More; Depth vs. Breadth LS 1: From molecules to organisms: Structures and processes LS 2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics LS 3: Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits LS 4: Biological Evolution: Unity and diversity
Earth and Space Sciences Less is More; Depth vs. Breadth ESS 1: Earth’ s place in the universe ESS 2: Earth’ s systems ESS 3: Earth and human activity
Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Science Less is More; Depth vs. Breadth ETS 1: Engineering design ETS 2: Links among engineering, technology, science, and society
How is the new framework different? • Incorporates a decade of research based approaches and findings on how students learn science most effectively • Focused on limited number of core ideas and practices. • Calls for full integration of content knowledge and the practices needed to engage in scientific inquiry • Standards will emphasize all three dimensions not strictly content knowledge.
How will the new framework be used? • Identifies the key scientific ideas and practices all students should learn by the end of high school • Serve as the foundation for new generation of K-12 science standards. • A guide for curriculum, professional development and assessment designers, teacher educators, and others who work in K-12 science education
Realizing the vision: Next Generation Science Standards Integrating the 3 dimensions in standards, assessment, curriculum, instruction • Students cannot fully understand science core ideas without engaging in the practices of inquiry and the discourses by which such ideas are developed and refined • Students should explore science core ideas by making connections to cross cutting concepts • Students show competence in practices within the context of specific content • Performance expectations will be linked to standards and require integration and will describe to some extent how students should be assessed.
Example: what is food? Biofuels as a source of energy for transportation vehicles.
Curriculum example of engineering practices: Designing Solutions • You will be the design engineer of a small vehicle. It will have to go straight, far, and fast and carry a load. • As the design engineer you will be using science knowledge of force and motion to learn about how forces affect motion, and conduct investigations to determine how best to achieve the challenge. • You will design and test the vehicle, modify and re-test it to achieve the best possible performance. • Like professional design engineers, you will report on your results and progress. (from NSF-funded curriculum, 2009)
Guiding assumption of the framework “Science is not just a body of knowledge that reflects current understanding of the world; it is also a set of practices used to establish, extend and refine that knowledge. Both elements – knowledge and practice--- are essential.”
Implication for Teaching and Learning 1. Both elements knowledge (core ideas and crosscutting ideas) and practices are essential and must be integrated into current instruction and curriculum 2. Avoid the teaching and learning of the competencies of inquiry in isolation. 3. Knowledge and practices are aligned and provide progress from grade to grade. 4. Assessment of student performance should focus on use of knowledge through the practices – developing and applying scientific ideas to make sense of phenomena
Timeline for NGSS 1. July 2011 - New framework released 2. November 2011 – NGSS 1 st partner states review 3. February 2012 – NGSS 2 st partner states review 4. March/April 2012 – NGSS 1 st public review 5. More state and public reviews… 6. December 2012 – NGSS final draft 7. March 2013 – CA State Board presentation for Adoption 8. July 2013 – (if 7) Adoption of NGSS 9. Text books aligned....?
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