In a previous post, I touched on the resources I’m using to familiarize myself with NGSS.  In addition to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) app, I’m finding quite a few additional online resources to assist in bettering my understanding of the NGSS.
The NGSS page on the NSTA website  has lists of resources and professional (PD) opportunities, including online short courses, books and publications, upcoming and archived web seminars, and journal articles.
Have a question? Pick your colleagues brains on NSTA’s members–only NGSS email list or the NGSS discussion forum. I posed a question to the list and within a few minutes had several helpful responses! The forum has 20+ topics so far, and it’s interesting to follow how the conversations evolve.
Also on the NSTA website is the NGSS and Supporting Materials page. This links to documents to guide your reading and understanding of the standards. The matrices are real gems: PDF Matrix of NGSS Organized by Topic, PDF Matrix of NGSS Organized by Disciplinary Core Ideas, PDFs of Individual Standards. These matrices, developed by NSTA, have a K-12 perspective. There is also a one-page matrix of the topics and core ideas by suggested grade level (my personal favorite—I can see how everything fits into the big picture).
Paul Andersen (of Bozeman Science) has created a video series on the NGSS. Check out his collection and learn about the concepts that were originally delineated within A Framework for K–12 Science Education. Andersen’s video series covers eight practices, seven crosscutting concepts, and 44 disciplinary core ideas. Paul presents and illustrates basic content and suggests a progression of teaching for students grades K-12. The series of 60 videos (most between 5 and 10 minutes) are available at the Bozeman Science YouTube channel or the website. (If you’re on the website, take a look at the videos on other science topics for use in the classroom. These well–designed videos could be used as a supplement or as direct instruction in a “flipped” model.)
And I’ve ordered my copy of Translating the NGSS for Classroom Instruction from NSTA Press (available later this Fall). I’m looking forward to seeing how the lessons and units can be aligned to the standards.

This October, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Bridging to the Next Generation Science Standards—What’s in It for Me?” at our Conference on Science Education in Portland, OR, October 24-26, 2013. NSTA recognizes that we are at a pivotal point in science education with the release of the NRC Framework and the Next Generation Science Standards. This strand is intended to move educators along the continuum from awareness to an understanding of the NRC Framework and NGSS to implement instructional strategies that help students acquire the skills and knowledge to thrive in a global economy.

This October, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Bridging Elementary and Secondary Science and the Common Core” at our Conference on Science Education in Portland, OR, October 24-26, 2013. Adopted by most states, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) must be supported by all content areas, and NSTA recognizes how important this is. Science is a valuable tool for moving forward with Common Core instruction. Science requires the use of strong communication and mathematical skills and will help students improve within these areas. This strand will increase participants’ understanding and ability to link science with the CCSS.

It’s the Sunday round on TV and the leader lands short of the green. He (or she) pulls out a wedge and gives the ball a mighty whack. The ball lands well past the pin, then suddenly starts spinning backwards! Before you know it, the ball has snugged up to the hole. How do they do that???

In a word—grooves. Find out more about the role of grooves in the Science of Golf: Friction and Spin. This NBC Learn video series, produced in partnership with the United States Golf Association (USGA) and Chevron, will fill you in on the science behind both amazing (and errant) golf shots. The series will also give you a leg up on the technology, engineering, and math associated with the sport for real-world, engaging STEM activities.

Like other NBC Learn video series, the Science of Golf is available cost-free on www.NBCLearn.com. The companion NSTA-developed lesson plans give you a lot of ideas for how to use the videos as a centerpiece, or simply incorporate them into what you already do. This particular one includes guidance for both a hands-on inquiry and investigation using media resources.

We really look forward to hearing about how they worked for you in real-world classrooms. Just leave a comment.

–Judy Elgin Jensen

Image of grooves on a Cleveland wedge courtesy of dennisborn.

Video

SOG: Friction and Spin discusses the importance of being able to impart spin to a golf ball and how friction with the club head is the force that makes this possible.

STEM Lesson Plan—Adaptable for Grades 7–12

The lesson plan provides ideas for STEM exploration plus strategies to support students in their own quest for answers and as well as a more focused approach that helps all students participate in hands-on inquiry.

The SOG: Friction and Spin lesson plan describes how students might investigate a question about how one might design a way to impart backspin and use this backspin to control the motion of the ball after it lands on a surface. A media research option guides students in exploring how groove technology became a point of controversy after a USGA ruling.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans: [contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

This November, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Merging Literacy into Science Instruction” at our Conference on Science Education in Charlotte, NC, November 7-9. NSTA recognizes that the growing demands on the school day mean that educators sometimes cannot afford to teach science as a separate subject. This strand focuses on authentic ways to integrate the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects with science instruction. Through sessions given at this conference, attendees will learn to help their students become adept at using such Common Core skills as gathering information, evaluating sources, citing materials accurately, and reporting findings from their research and analysis of sources in a clear and cogent manner.
Sessions organized around this strand include a featured presentation on Friday, November 8, 9:30–10:30 a.m. (“Speaking, Listening, and Learning in Science—Supporting Conceptual Change Through Science Talk”) by Page Keeley, Educator, Writer, and Public Speaker, and 2008–2009 NSTA President. More sessions on merging literacy into science instruction include the following:

• Solar Energy—Let the SUNSHINE In!
• Disciplinary Literacy in Middle School Science: Reading, Writing, and Talking as Active Learning Processes
• Introducing the ChemMatters Compilation Project
• Rev It Up! Energize Science and Literacy Connections
• Science and Literacy: A Natural Fit
• Literacy and iPads—Where Technology Meets the Science Textbook
• Science Vocab Out of the Box: Unique Ways to Help Students Master Vocab
• Nanotechnology in Elementary and Middle School, Oh My

Want more? Check out more than 400 sessions and other events with the Charlotte Session Browser/Personal Scheduler at http://www.nsta.org/conferences/2013cha/.

The California State Board of Education unanimously adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) this week, making it the sixth state to do so. The decision not only represents a move forward for evidence-based science instruction but also highlights the control and flexibility individual states have in terms of the NGSS.
The NGSS was developed by states and was designed for states. Despite erroneous claims that NGSS (and the Common Core) are unfair mandates from the federal government. California was one of twenty-six states that oversaw the development of NGSS and they made decisions about its structure.
These lead states collectively made decisions about the overall scope and structure of the standards. For example, they agreed that while the standards should specify what students must learn each year in the elementary grades, states should have flexibility in what topics are studied each year in middle school and high school.
Some educators believe that students are best served when they study some life science, some Earth science, and some physical science each year. Such an approach allows simpler ideas in each discipline to be studied in earlier grades and more complex ideas in each discipline to be studied in later grades.  Topics can be sequenced to build upon and one another over several grades. In addition, this approach presents students with the full variety of science every year.
Others believe that students are best served when they focus on a particular topic every year. as this allows students to see the coherence of ideas within that discipline. In addition, since teachers often have expertise in one discipline but not others, this approach makes it more likely that students are taught by someone with a deep conceptual understanding of the topic.
My point here isn’t about which of these approaches is best; both have their merits. Instead, I want to point out that the developers of NGSS recognized that these decisions are better left to the states.  Appendix K of the standards provides model course maps for either of these configurations. More important, the appendix walks through the process of how the NGSS writers developed the model course maps so that states would have guidance about how to do the process themselves.
What does this have to do with California? The board deferred until November on deciding the sequencing of science topics in middle school. Currently in California, the sixth grade curriculum focuses on Earth science, the seventh grade curriculum focuses on life science, and eighth grade curriculum focuses on physical science.  A panel of experts in the state recommended an integrated approach where students in each grade would study some of each discipline.
To reiterate the point: When a state chooses to adopt NGSS, THE STATE IS MAKING A CHOICE. NO ONE IS MAKING THE STATE DO ANYTHING.
Furthermore, when the state chooses to adopt NGSS, there are many other choices that must be made. One of these is to choose how courses will be structured in middle school. But there are other choices as well about assessments, professional development, and curriculum materials.
Choosing NGSS is just the first step in a process that can lead better instruction for all students.
So I congratulate California for choosing to adopt NGSS, and I am happy for the students in California because regardless of whether they are taught only one science discipline each year of middle school or a blend of several disciplines each year, they will now have the opportunity to study science more deeply with these standards.
I encourage other states to make the same choice for the benefit of their children.