NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards

“Rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education.”

The New Standard of Science Teaching

Released in 2013, the NGSS provides foundational guidance for three-dimensional science education, as set out by the National Research Foundation’s A Framework for K–12 Science Education. The collaborative, state-led process developed an internationally benchmarked framework for learning, designed to cultivate a deep understanding of science across disciplines in students.

The rationale for creating the Next Generation Science Standards centered on three key areas: improving learning outcomes, providing global ranking and recognition, and preparing a new generation of workers for the rapidly growing science and technology sectors. To raise learning outcomes for K–12 students, critical thinking and communication skills had to be improved—abilities key to the future success of all students, regardless of whether they would choose to pursue college or STEM careers.

Central to the NGSS are the three dimensions of Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs), and Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs). These tenets create a perspective of science as both a body of knowledge and as an ever-evolving, evidence-based and theory-building endeavor—continually expanding, refining, and revising knowledge.

Crosscutting Concepts

Crosscutting concepts apply in all of the science disciplines, and subsequently bind them together. They include patterns, similarity, and diversity; cause and effect; scale, proportion and quantity; systems and system models; energy and matter; structure and function; and stability and change. The explicit learning of these concepts ensures that students develop a perspective of the world that is grounded in scientific knowledge and provides a foundation of interrelated knowledge across subjects and topics.

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Science and Engineering Practices

“Practices” within the NGSS refers to the behaviors that scientists and engineers engage in during investigations. One of the primary intentions of the standards framework is to better exemplify inquiry in science and the range of cognitive, social, and physical practices that it requires. Although engineering design is similar to scientific inquiry, there are significant differences. For example, scientific inquiry involves the formulation of a question that can be answered through investigation, while engineering design involves the formulation of a problem that can be solved through design. Strengthening the engineering aspects of the NGSS highlights the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in everyday life.

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Disciplinary Core Ideas

Drawing attention to the most important aspects of science, Disciplinary Core Ideas are at the center of the curriculum, with instruction and assessments drawing on them from each of the four domains: physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering, technology and applications of science.

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The Origins of NGSS

The Origins of NGSS

Born from the need for shared and internationally applicable standards, the NGSS were intended to combat scientific ignorance across the country and develop a greater interest in the scientific disciplines among students. To achieve this, the NRC organized a committee of individuals that included two Nobel laureates, cognitive scientists, science education researchers, and science education standards and policy experts. Frameworks were then developed for disciplinary fields across physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space science98is, and engineering. Further reviews and guidance were provided by an advisory committee composed of nationally recognized leaders in STEM, science education, and business and industry—this, alongside two public drafts, resulted in the final version being published in April 2013.

The NGSS Across the US: Who Uses it?

Currently, 20 states—alongside the District of Columbia—use the Next Generation Science Standards: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. These states represent just over 36% of students, with a further 35% of students belonging to states that have developed their own iterations of the NGSS based on the recommendations set out by the NRC. As a result, more than 70% of students receive science instruction based upon the standards, while the remaining 30% of students’ learn in states—Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia—that do not engage with the framework at all.

How does Twig Science Match the NGSS?

Find out how Twig Science matches the NGSS Framework by taking students through phenomena-based modules, incorporating 3–D Assessments, and covering the DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs.

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