NRC Conceptual Framework for the Common Core Science Standards

Walter G. SecadaSchool of Education and Human Development

University of Miami, FL

Background

• Reception for the Common Core in Reading and in Mathematics

• The NRC Committee on a Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards (2010)

• Strong representation of traditional content: Chemistry, Physics, and Life Sciences

• Inclusion of (a) Earth and Space Sciences and (b) Engineering

Background

• Learning sciences• Mathematics as a cross-cutting discipline• Equity• Professional development (for preservice and

inservice teachers)• “Design teams” worked in the background• Expert presentations on many different topics• Draft report which drew broad reactions, including

intelligent design and inclusion of social sciences

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

The overarching goal of our framework for K-12 science education is to ensure that by the end of 12th grade, all students have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of science; possess sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on related issues; are careful consumers of scientific and technological information related to their everyday lives; are able to continue to learn about science outside school; and have the skills to enter careers of their choice, including (but not limited to) careers in science, engineering, and technology. (page ES-1)

Major Points

• Practices, Cross-cutting concepts, Concepts and Prototypes/Designs should be integrated

• K-12 in grade bands• Learning progressions• Assessments with well-defined boundary

conditions• Inclusion of Engineering as application of

natural sciences

Scientific and Engineering Practices(comes first and in lieu of “inquiry”)

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

2. Developing and using models3. Planning and carrying out investigations4. Analyzing and interpreting data5. Using mathematics and computational thinking6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing7. solutions (for engineering)8. Engaging in argument from evidence9. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

A science/engineering contrast:Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

The goal of science is the construction of theories that can provide explanatory accounts of features of the world. A theory becomes accepted when it has been shown to be superior to other explanations, in the breadth of phenomena it accounts for, and its explanatory coherence and parsimony. Scientific explanations are explicit applications of theory to a specific situation or phenomenon, perhaps with the intermediary of a theory-based model for the system under study. The goal for students is to construct logically coherent explanations of phenomena that incorporate their current understanding of science, or a model that represents it, and are consistent with the available evidence.

Engineering design, a systematic process for solving engineering problems, is based on scientific knowledge and models of the material world. Each proposed solution results from a process of balancing competing criteria of desired functions, technological feasibility, cost, safety, esthetics, and compliance with legal requirements. There is usually no single best solution but rather a range of solutions. Which one is the optimal choice depends on the criteria used for making evaluations.

Crosscutting Concepts

1. Patterns2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation3. Scale, proportion, and quantity4. Systems and system models5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and

conservation6. Structure and function7. Stability and change

Disciplinary Core IdeasPhysical Sciences

PS 1: Matter and its interactionsPS 2: Motion and stability: Forces and interactionsPS 3: EnergyPS 4: Waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer

Disciplinary Core IdeasLife Sciences

LS 1: From molecules to organisms: Structures and processesLS 2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamicsLS 3: Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traitsLS 4: Biological evolution: Unity and diversity

Disciplinary Core IdeasEarth and Space Sciences

ESS 1: Earth’s place in the universeESS 2: Earth’s systemsESS 3: Earth and human activity

Disciplinary Core IdeasEngineering, Technology, and the Applications

of Science

ETS 1: Engineering designETS 2: Links among engineering, technology, science, and society

Note: The scientific concept’s analog is the engineering prototype

Core and Component Ideas in the Life Sciences (Example)

Core Idea LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and ProcessesLS1.A: Structure and FunctionLS1.B: Growth and Development of OrganismsLS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in OrganismsLS1.D: Information Processing

Core Idea LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and DynamicsLS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in EcosystemsLS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in EcosystemsLS2.C: Ecosystems Dynamics, Functioning, and ResilienceLS2.D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior

Core Idea LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of TraitsLS3.A: Inheritance of TraitsLS3.B: Variation of Traits

Core Idea LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and DiversityLS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and DiversityLS4.B: Natural SelectionLS4.C: AdaptationLS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans

What does integration mean?

• You should not lift out and teach things piece meal even if you are trying to give them salience

• Disciplinary concepts are both artifacts of and platforms for further development in (a) practices and (b) cross-disciplinary (i.e., cross cutting) concepts

• Many ways of bundling practices, cross-cutting and disciplinary practices; cannot do all at once but, over time, encounter all in many different mixes

• Do fewer things and do them well

Grade Bands

• Kg-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12• Content gets covered in adequate depth and is

not cut up into bits that result in surface coverage

• Content builds on prior learnings• Better defined expectations and end point

assessments• More time for integration across three strands

Learning Progressions

• Deepening understandings across all three• Curriculum should be organized so as to match

and further develop student understanding: o Differentiated knowledgeo Integrated knowledgeo Elaborated knowledgeo Related knowledge

Cause and Effect Learning Progression

In the earliest grades, as students begin to look for and analyze patterns—whether in their observations of the world or in the relationships between different quantities in data (e.g., the sizes of plants over time)—they can also begin to consider what might be causing these patterns and relationships and design tests that gather more evidence to support or refute their ideas. By the upper elementary grades, students should have developed the habit of routinely asking about cause-and-effect relationships in the systems they are studying, particularly when something occurs that is, for them, unexpected. The questions “How did that happen?” or “Why did that happen?” should move toward “What mechanisms caused that to happen?” and “What conditionswere critical for that to happen?” (pp. 4-4 to 4-5)

Cause and Effect Learning Progression

In middle and high school, argumentation starting from students’ own explanations of cause and effect can help them appreciate standard scientific theories that explain the causal mechanisms in the systems under study. Strategies for this type of instruction include asking students to argue from evidence when attributing an observed phenomenon to a specific cause. For example, students exploring why the population of a given species is shrinking will look for evidence in the ecosystem of factors that lead to food shortages, over-predation, or other factors in the habitat related to survival; they will provide an argument for how these and other observedchanges affect the species of interest.

Boundary StatementsPS1.A: “How do particles combine to form the variety of

substances one observes?”

[Grade Kg-2] By the end of grade 2. Matter exists as different substances (e.g., wood, metal, water),and many of them can be either solid or liquid, depending on temperature. Substances can be described and classified by their observable properties (e.g., visual, aural, textural), by their uses, and by whether they occur naturally or are manufactured. Different properties are suited to different purposes. A great variety of objects can be built up from a small set of pieces. Objects or samples of a substance can be weighed and their size can be described and measured. (Boundary: Volume is introduced only for liquid measure.) (pg. 9-4)

Boundary StatementsPS1.A: “How do particles combine to form the variety of

substances one observes?”

[Grade Kg-2] Boundary Statements. In this grade band, crosscutting concepts are referred to when they support development of the idea under study, but they are not stressed as separate ideas. For example, students may be asked to recognize patterns in the use of particular materials, but the idea that patterns are an important phenomenon to investigate is not stressed. Similarly, classroom discussion may focus on the components of a machine (e.g., a bicycle, a toaster) and on the roles they play, but the idea of a system is not stressed. The ideas of parts too small to see, gases other than air, evaporation, and condensation are not stressed either, and the conservation of matter when burning or evaporating is not introduced. Mass and weight are not distinguished when examining matter quantity, and volume is introduced only for liquids. (pp. 9-5 to 9-6)

An Assessment Example

Tasks Students support claims as to whether something is a solid or a liquid by providing descriptive evidence. Note: It is inappropriate at this grade level to use a substance, such as sand, that is made of visible scale particles but flows as the test material for this question. Test examples should be readily classifiable.Criteria Descriptive evidence that a material is a solid would include the object’s definite shape; for a liquid it would be that the material takes the shape of the container or that the material flows to the lowest part of the container.

An Assessment Example

Disciplinary Idea Matter exists as many different substances (e.g., wood, metal, water). Solids and liquids have different properties, which can be used to sort them. Some substances can be either solid or a liquid, depending on the temperature. Substances can be observed, weighed, and measured in other ways.

Practice Argumentation (e.g., using criteria for solids and liquids to make the case that a substance is one or the other).

Crosscutting Concepts Patterns (A great diversity of solid and liquid materials exist, but certain features are similar for all solids and all liquids).

Other Issues

• Equity• Professional Development• Tweaking the system