With the creation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) came the question of “What does NGSS-based instruction look like in my classroom, and where will I find the instructional resources for teaching the new standards?” So NSTA put out a call and pulled together a group of 55 educators, myself included, called NGSS@NSTA Curators. The job of the Curators is to search for and vet lessons, activities, simulations, models, and other type of materials that might be used for instruction and meeting these new standards. I’m excited to note that we recently surpassed more than 200 resources now posted on the NGSS@NSTA Hub, and there are many more to come.

We began our work shortly after the standards were finalized in 2013 and have spent many hours searching and evaluating materials related to the different standards. At the NGSS@NSTA Hub, you can simply click on a standard and get a list of resources related to that standard. You can also see a full list of the resources by science subject. For each resource, we explain how it meets the performance expectations, practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. If there are areas that are weak, we give tips and suggestions for strengthening the three-dimensional relationships. We also provide additional information on how well the overall resource meets the three-dimensional aspect of the performance expectation, the instructional nature of the resource, how well it provides a way to monitor student learning, and if it involves technology, how well the interaction is.

While no resource is perfect, these resources give educators a starting point for lessons, so they can begin to see how the new standards can be taught in the classroom. As more people use the standards in their teaching, more NGSS-aligned resources will begin to appear and be added to our growing collection. My fellow Curators and I hope these resources provide the assistance and insight needed to begin teaching the new standards in classes now. Go take a look today!

Lynda Sanders is an NGSS@NSTA curator and leads the Earth and Space Systems team. She has taught eighth-grade science for 27 years and currently teaches eighth-grade and Earth/space science at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon. She served as President of the Oregon Science Teachers Association (OSTA) in 2009–2010 and again in 2011–2012.

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