Chris DeWaldScience Instructional Coordinator

Montana Office of Public Instruction

A Framework for K-12 Science

Education• Science is composed of

3 Dimensions– Disciplinary Core Ideas– Science and

Engineering Practices– Crosscutting Concepts

NGSS Shifts1. K-12 science education should reflect the

interconnected nature of science as it is practiced and experienced in the real world

2. The NGSS are student performance expectations – NOT curriculum

3. Science concepts in the NGSS build coherently from K -12

4. The NGSS focus on deeper understanding as well as application of content

5. Science and engineering are integrated in NGSS, from K – 12

6. The NGSS are designed to prepare students for college, career, and citizenship

7. The NGSS and Common Core State Standards are Aligned

Science & Engineering Practices• Asking questions and defining problems• Developing and using models• Planning and carrying out investigations• Analyzing and interpreting data• Using mathematics and computational thinking• Constructing explanations and designing

solutions• Engaging in argument from evidence• Obtaining, evaluating and communicating

information

Streamlining the Practices

Crosscutting Concepts• Patterns• Cause and effect: mechanism and explanation• Scale, proportion and quantity• Systems and system model• Energy and matter: flows, cycles, conservation• Structure and function• Stability and Change

Disciplinary Core Ideas“…an important role of science education is not to teach “all the facts” but rather to prepare students with sufficient core knowledge so that they can later acquire additional information on their own”

• Life Sciences• Physical Sciences• Earth and Space Sciences

Taken from A Framework for K-12 Science Education

DCI Criteria• Have broad importance across multiple sciences or

engineering disciplines or be a key organizing principle of a single discipline.

• Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems.

• Relate to the interests and life experiences of students or be connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technological knowledge.

• Be 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.

Life Sciences• From molecules to organisms: Structures and

processes• Ecosystems: Interactions, energy and dynamics• Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits• Biological evolution: Unity and diversity

Physical Sciences• Matter and its interactions• Motion and stability: Forces and interactions• Energy• Waves and their applications to technologies for

information transfer

Earth and Space Sciences• Earth’s place in the universe• Earth’s systems• Earth and human activity

Web Resources – Click on the Image

http://www.opi.mt.gov/groups/scied/