Start by "Like"-ing "NGSS Science Education at the Lewis Center for Educational Research" on Facebook and enter the conversation about NGSS.
Next, consider using using one of these Cmaps to help you plan your courses, units and lesson plans: K-5 and 9-12. [Understand that these Cmaps are 'living' documents and are being updated weekly]. These resources were created using Cmap. A Cmap 'NGSS Planning Guide' does not exist (yet) for MS as the AAE/LCER adopted IAT's PBIS MS curriculum which comes 'pre-laid-out' and NGSS correlated for grades 6-8. We distributed the existing PBIS units at each grade level using this plan.
Finally, consider using Symbaloo. Check out this example of a "Webmix" that is being assembled to make the job of planning and lesson writing easier. However, you may not beable to access some of the 'Tile' links on this 'Webmix" because they link internally to other 'Webmixes'.
To get the most out
of this browser based app, establish a free account and "like" the "Webmixes" that are linked to this
"Webmix". To access view and use other 'Webmixes' created for the LCER/AAE in support of the development of NGSS based curriculum, search 'Webmixes' from the Sybaloo site using 'LCER' and 'NGSS' as search term.
Step 1: Introductions & "Awareness": Read the annotated version of "The NSTA's Reader's Guide to THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS" on the M-Drive (email Mr. Huffine for more information)
- Ancillary readings linked within this annotated "Reader's Guide" include [in the order they appear]:
- NGSS Timeline - CDE
- A Framework for K-12 Science Education
- Foreward
- Summary
- Part I: A Vision for K-12 Science Education
- Part II: Dimensions of the Framework
- Part III: Realizing the Vision
- Appendix H, Nature of Science
- Appendix J, Science, Technology, Society, and the Environment
- NGSS "Front Matter" Final (6/2013)
- Appendix D, All Standards, All Students
- 5E Lesson Plan template for NGSS (.doc)
- Appendix A, Conceptual Shifts, NGSS
- Appendix F, Science and Engineering Practices, NGSS
- National Science Education Standards (NSES), guidelines for K-12 science education in United States schools
- Appendix G, Crosscutting Concepts, in the NGSS
- Appendix K, Model Course Mapping in MS & HS for the NGSS (8/30/13)
- Appendix I, Engineering Design in the NGSS
Step 2: As a grade level and band (Elm & MS) or course (HS) determine what sequence of Disciplinary Core Idea(s) (DCIs) and their associated "Performance Expectations"
that you will be using to "define" your grade level or course science
offerings. Below are some selected resources that you will find helpful
as you go about this process which will fundamentally "overhaul" and
"rebuild" your grade level, band and course science offerings. You will want to bookmark them (they have been presented in the order that you may want to consider using
them in):
- A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (
2012 )
- This is an online version
of the the book that can be easily searched for words and concepts that
you will be considering in your planning processes by using the "Search
inside this book" feature in the upper left hand corner.
-
FYI According to page 8 of this document, "By framework we mean a broad description of the content and sequence of
learning expected of all students by the completion of high school—but
not at the level of detail of grade-by-grade standards or, at the high
school level, course descriptions and standards. Instead, as this
document lays out, the framework is intended as a guide
to standards
developers as well as for curriculum designers, assessment
developers,
state and district science administrators, professionals
responsible for
science teacher education, and science educators working in
informal
settings." In light of this statement, do not expect to
distill from the framework a 'definitive' list of core vocabulary, or a list of suggested
laboratory exercises, instead, what you will find is a very general scope
and grade level sequence of ideas.
- That said, here are some lists of vocabulary from the text of the Framework by DCI, which along with the video shorts provided by Paul Anderson @ Bosemanscience, may provide some insight into the direction that DCI is taking:
- Appendix E: Disciplinary Core Idea Progressions
- Appendix K: Model
Course Mapping in Middle and High School for the Next Generation
Science Standards (This document will be replaced with one that will
soon be created by the CDE. At present the CDE endorses the Integrated Learning Progression model as the preferred model for middle grades 6-8. The State Board of Education (SBE) also authorized the Science Expert Panel's (SEP) to develop an alternate Discipline Specific model based on Achieve's domains model in Appendix K. For the latest on this process click here.
- Search DCI Arrangements of Standards
- This is an online version of the NGS performance expectations grouped by
DCI. Search this document to find the performance expectation(s) (PE)
for the Disciplinary Core Idea(s) that you identified using the
framework and will be addressing in your unit, lesson(s) or lab
experience(s). Once you have found the PE(s) in question, the related Crosscutting Concepts, Science and Engineering Practices and DCI's along with any CCSS correlation(s) will be listed below the PE(s). REMEMBER, PE(s) state what students should be able to do
in order to demonstrate that they have met the standard. For you, the
teacher, they are designed to provide a clear and specific target(s) for
the curriculum you develop, the instruction you deliver, the experience
you facilitate and the assessment(s) (both formative and summative) you
develop.
- Search Topical Arrangement of Standards
- This arrangement of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is
similar to those in the resource link cited above. In this version, the writers arranged the DCIs into topics around
which to develop the standards. This structure provided the original
basis of the standards and has continued through the process. The
coding structure of individual performance expectations in this version
is based on the same DCI arrangement as the Framework. The topic names
have been retained in order to allow easy comparisons.
- Search Individual Performance Expectations by Grade/Band level, Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and/or Disciplinary Core Ideas
- Downloadable NGSS PEs for K-12 in Word .doc format. Here is another source for this resource.
After looking at the direction the California Department of Education is going in regards to their preference for an integrated approach to course design for grade 6-8 (the middle grades) the following course drafts were drawn up for a three year middle school integrated science series (understanding that they were designed to provide teachers with a good starting point for future planning purposes):
- MS Integrated Science Course 1 (6th Grade) [.doc]
- MS Integrated Science Course 2 (7th Grade) [.doc]
- MS Integrated Science Course 3 (8th Grade) [.doc]
After considering, at length, Appendix K., and the 'spirit' of the 'framework' (A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (
2012 ) and NGSS 'Topical Arrangements', the following course drafts were drawn up for a three year high school integrated science series (understanding that they were
designed to provide teachers with a good starting point for future
planning purposes):
- HS Integrated Science Course 1 (9th Grade) [.doc]
- MS Integrated Science Course 2 (10th Grade) [.doc]
- MS Integrated Science Course 3 (11th Grade) [.doc]
Step 3: Consider
the overall direction that the "6-12 Science Team" will take from this
point on by writing SMART goals which will be used articulate our teams
shared direction based on the AAE's mission (in development) and vision
(in development). The following resources will be helpful to you
personally and to the team regarding writing and using SMART goals:
- PowerPoint "What are SMART Goals?" an overview
- SMART Goal development worksheet (.doc )
- SMART Goal questionnaire (.doc / .pdf)
- SMART Goal assessment and plans (.doc / .pdf)
- SMART Goal setting plan (.doc / .pdf)
Step 4: "The Transition Phase": After deciding the sequence Disciplinary Core Idea(s) (DCIs) and Performance Expectations (PEs) that will define your grade level (K-8) or course offering (9-12):
- Create a sequence of units that will encompass the PE's that were selected.
- How we do this for grades 6-8 will depend upon the course description drafts (provided above, refer to Step 2; that were created based on a sequence that has been adopted by the CDE based on Appendix K . At present the CDE endorses the Integrated Learning Progression model as the preferred model for middle grades 6-8. The State Board of Education (SBE) also authorized the Science Expert Panel's (SEP) to develop an alternate Discipline Specific model based on Achieve's domains model in Appendix K. For the latest on this process click here. Following this same approach, drafts for a three course high school series using an integrated approach were also created (refer to Step 2).
- Next, create the lesson plan (containing the selected Disciplinary Core Idea(s) [DCIs], Crosscutting Concepts [CCCs] and Science & Engineering Practices
[SEPs] that have been tied to each PE) that provide your students with
the concepts, experience, and ability to connect what they are learning
to what they have learned. Here is draft example (.pdf) of what one such lesson plan might look like.
-
The following resources [along with the ones already provided] will be helpful in this process:
-
At this point, it would be in your best
interest to find, download [on the M-drive in the MS/HS Science folder
]and "scan through" (with the intent of reading at a later date) an
annotated .pdf of an e-book entitled "Translating the NGSS for Classroom Instruction".
[This text can be used for discovering how to start developing NGSS based lessons and
curriculum.]
-
Lesson Planning Resources: What follows are some resources that will be helpful as you develop lesson plans based on NGSS 'PE's"
-
PHeT Simulation NGSS Correlation Guide (.doc)
- As you work on this process and begin to introduce students to lessons that you have developed, you may find these document, designed to be made into classroom poster, helpful:
Step 5: After creating unit and lesson plans, consider how you will assess student learning. Here are some guidelines that you will want to consider:
-
The PE's for each DCI's that you address will be what is used for creating assessments.
-
Pending the decisions made by our team and the LCER's AAE PLC, plan on basing most of your formative assessments and all of your summative assessments on the PE's for each DCI's that you address.
Step 6: Initial "Implementation"with Modification : More to follow on this step coming later.
- At this point you most likely will benefit from viewing this, the best attempt at "cobbling" together a "timeline" (.pdf , .doc) for California educators regarding the State's planned "roll out" of resources, funding and assessments from CDE.
> In the mean time... Here are some reading resources that are "Worthy of Your Time"