Adapting to National Standards: The Experience of One Middle School Science Teacher’s Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Abstract

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) advocate K-12 three dimensional (3D) learning, which necessitates a deeper understanding of science and engineering through the weaving of the three NGSS dimensions of practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Currently, little is known about the kinds of experiences science teachers have making sense of the NGSS as they plan and teach to support 3D learning. This two-phased, qualitative case-study investigated the experience of one middle school science teacher working to understand and to weave the three NGSS dimensions into an existing anti-drug health unit. Data analysis focused on interviews, classroom observations, and artifacts. Findings showed: (a) the teacher was uncertain about which NGSS practice/set of practices might best support 3D learning; (b) she used the NGSS practices in limited ways; (c) she was unclear about the significance of the NGSS crosscutting concepts; and (d) the weaving of the NGSS dimensions was a process that occurred in various ways (teacher-led, student-led, over multiple days). These findings suggest that science teachers will need multi-level support to utilize the NGSS dimensions. Developing teacher proficiency in 3D teaching is likely an alternating process. That is, as science teachers develop an understanding of the process of weaving and identifying instances of weaving they will likely gain proficiency in the three NGSS dimensions and their constituent parts and vice versa. To achieve this type of professional learning, teacher-to-teacher peer support within the context of the classroom might be beneficial for science teachers’ undertaking of the NGSS. The study also found various ways in which the teacher used socio-scientific issues and the students’ backgrounds and experiences to contextualize the science ideas as a way to support 3D learning. The use of contextualization along with the NGSS within a health unit provides a unique opportunity to investigate how the NGSS applies to health, an area not explicitly addressed in the NGSS. Engaging students with elements of an applied science, like health, can serve as a vehicle that has relevance for students’ lives in addition to being directly related to many ideas and phenomena highlighted in the NGSS.