Throughout my career as an educator, I’ve had many opportunities to select instructional materials. One experience is particularly memorable because I learned then that how you select instructional materials can be as important as what materials are selected. 

By that point in my career, I had selected materials for other content areas, but I had been the only teacher making the choices, and the process was simple: Pick the text I like most, and submit it to the district. 

This time, however, the process was a bit more complicated because I was part of a team making the selection. The biology team reluctantly gathered our sub lesson plans and headed to the district office. Using the district’s evaluation criteria, we spent all day reading and evaluating stacks of sample materials. By the end of the day, we narrowed our selections down to two options. 

The first option was not surprising: It was the newer version of what we were currently using, and we were ecstatic about the resources that would be at our fingertips. Every page was filled with great photos, graphics, and icons, along with thoughtfully formatted text on glossy pages; technology supports were integrated throughout; accompanying video clips were provided; lab books and student worksheets were coordinated with the student text; and a tall stack of fancy color transparencies (yes, this was a few years ago) were at our disposal. These resources and more were coordinated with an equally glossy wraparound teacher’s edition. 

The second option seemed much less desirable. It lacked DVDs; provided only a few color transparencies; included neither links to additional online information, nor glossy visuals; and had fewer hints and tips embedded on the pages. In addition, the teacher’s guide was a separate volume with little except text to support instruction. 

You might be wondering why we would choose this textbook as a finalist when it was so obviously lacking the resources the first one offered. We did so because the district’s review process challenged us to closely examine our choices. When we did, we realized that the second book was organized in a way that better aligned with the type of teaching we were striving for—one that supported students in making sense of the world around them, rather than just memorizing increasingly complex scientific information. It was less flashy, but more relevant to students.

Publisher sales pitches we heard the following month reaffirmed our thoughts and we chose the second text. Because my district had a process and criteria that allowed us to focus on what mattered most while giving us the autonomy to make a wise decision, we were able to select the materials that would help us improve our instruction.

If we hadn’t undertaken a facilitated, criterion-based review, we would have ended up with the same type of materials as before and experienced the same frustrations in the classroom. The selection process helped us identify what we really needed to change in the classroom and motivated us to make the right choice to achieve those goals. Additionally, because we came to this realization through the process rather than having it imposed on us, we owned the implementation of the materials and used it as an opportunity to advance instruction in our classrooms.

This experience was a watershed moment for me because it helped me understand that a robust process for selecting instructional materials can pay significant dividends over time.

Based on my experiences in the classroom, at the state level, and now at Achieve, I have five big lessons that I’ve learned about selecting instructional materials. Many of you are seeking instructional materials that are truly designed for teaching the NGSS, materials that don’t just have an alignment sticker or use the NGSS colors. You want materials that will make your classroom one in which students develop and use all three dimensions of the standards to make sense of phenomena and design solutions to problems. As you evaluate materials and make selections, keep these lessons learned in mind:

1. Selecting instructional materials should be a part of a broader implementation plan. Materials are key, but can’t do everything and they’ll have a bigger impact if they are embedded in a larger initiative. If you don’t know where to start, check out these state and district implementation resources. 
2. Don’t do it alone. It’s helpful to have other local educators to work with, but for those in rural areas with few science colleagues, or those struggling to find willing colleagues, communities on Twitter, Facebook, and in the NSTA Learning Center can serve as a sounding board for ideas and a source of support and feedback. 
3. Be clear on what you need. It’s a common mistake to think that materials are the first step to implementation, but if you don’t know what materials designed for teaching the NGSS look like, you might select ones that appear to be aligned, but aren’t. Check out the criteria and support in the NGSS Lesson Screener (for lessons), the EQuIP Rubric for Science (for units), and PEEC (for year-long materials) here. In particular, read about the NGSS Innovations in PEEC that highlight what is new in these standards and how instructional materials can reflect that. Many producers of materials are making claims about NGSS alignment. Be skeptical consumers.
4. Try out a unit designed for the NGSS in your classroom. To determine and understand the types of materials you’ll need, try a few in your classroom to decide what support is most helpful. You can find a variety of units identified as quality units designed for the NGSS here, and more are being posted regularly. 
5. Understand the power of the process. Develop a selection process that brings teachers together to build a common understanding of what good materials are, and use carefully selected criteria to analyze the materials You’ll ultimately choose the materials best suited for your students, and teachers will be better prepared to implement them. 

While high-quality materials are needed, that’s only one of the factors to consider. The materials need to be part of a broader science implementation plan that includes, among other things, professional learning to support ongoing improvement in instruction. But how these materials are selected can help address several implementation issues simultaneously if it is done well. Because this is likely the most significant science-specific expenditure your district will make, it’s worth devoting the time and resources needed to select materials in a thoughtful, strategic way. Use this process as a lever for change to improve science instruction for every student in your district.

 

---

 

Matt Krehbiel is the Science Director at Achieve, Inc. Reach him at mkrehbiel@achieve.org and follow him on twitter at @ksscienceguy. Come learn more about selecting instructional materials designed for the NGSS during his session at the NSTA National Conference in Atlanta. The session, Looking for NGSS-Focused Instructional Materials?, is part of the day-long NGSS@NSTA Forum focused on instructional materials.

 

This article was featured in the February issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.

Visit NSTA’s NGSS@NSTA Hub for hundreds of vetted classroom resources, professional learning opportunities, publications, ebooks and more; connect with your teacher colleagues on the NGSS listservs (members can sign up here); and join us for discussions around NGSS at an upcoming conference.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

2018 National Conference

• Atlanta, March 15–18

NGSS Workshops

• Dive Into Three-Dimensional Instruction in Atlanta, March 14–15

2018 STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA

• Philadelphia July 11–13

2018 Area Conferences

• Reno, October 11–13
• National Harbor (MD), November 15–17
• Charlotte, Nov. 29-Dec. 1

Follow NSTA

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) encourage three-dimensional thinking in students. 3-D thinking, and the process of developing scientific explanations, are curiosity-driven: They involve wondering, posing questions, and making observations; reading books to discover what others have learned; planning investigations; gathering and analyzing information; reflecting on what was learned in light of new evidence; and proposing explanations and predictions. Developing explanations requires critical and logical thinking, considering alternative explanations, and being willing to change one’s ideas when new evidence requires it.

Not only do scientists develop their explanations, but so do good readers, and information gathered from text is an important source of evidence. Therefore, developing explanations serves as one of the central strategies in the learning and teaching of science and literacy in the Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® program developed by Amplify. Teachers can access the free 33 strategy guides that promote the development of explanations.  Those strategy guides can be accessed on the Seeds of Science website. 

A Cycle for Developing Explanations While Conducting Science Investigations.

Much has been written about using the science and engineering practices and instructional models when teaching students to develop explanations (American Association for the Advancement of Science Benchmarks for Science Literacy 1993; Chinn and Malhotra 2002; Hapgood, Magnusson, and Palincsar 2004; Krajcik et al 1998; White and Frederiksen 1998). The Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading cycle for developing explanations is grounded in this research and can help students better understand how the explanatory process can be applied to answer important questions in science.

Each unit incorporates selected aspects of developing in-depth explanations. Explanatory skills are developed by having students interpret visual representations, use visual evidence to make inferences, model how to write science explanations, and connect science and everyday words to enhance observations or derive meaning from data.  Additionally, one unit for each grade-level span engages students in a scientific investigation to encourage reflection on the cycle and how it is used to develop new ideas in science. Students participate in each phase of the cycle as they investigate scientific questions posed by the teacher or generated by students and design their investigations and make scientific explanations. This encourages the use of many science and engineering practices, including asking questions and defining problems; engaging in argument from evidence; analyzing and interpreting data; constructing explanations and defining solutions; and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

The units also introduce students to a cycle for developing explanations to help them understand that scientists don’t march through the steps in a particular order, but often alternate among steps as they refine their ideas and use growing evidence and experience to modify their plans.

One widespread student misconception is that only one “scientific method” exists. Scientists engage in science learning through observations, running trails, asking questions, designing and revising investigations to test another aspect of the problem, and collaborating with colleagues  to enhance their explanations. Recognizing this aspect of science also acknowledges scientists’ creativity and their individual contributions to an expanding body of scientific knowledge. Students use this creative process to develop their explanations and enhance their understanding about how things work. Students can also use their educational gifts to express this in many other ways.

Stages of Developing Explanations.

Evidence provides a foundation for developing explanations. The Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading program helps students develop critical-thinking skills while devising well-supported explanations based on evidence. The program uses a defined trajectory with increasing sophistication to help students employ evidence to form logical explanations.

Initially, students search for evidence to support their ideas. Next, they use that evidence to make inferences and create explanations and predictions, while following the logical course of the data. They then seek additional evidence to support their ideas, thereby expanding their confidence in the conclusions that can be made. Finally, students are ready to substantially change their ideas and explanations when confronted with conflicting evidence that they know is substantial and persuasive.

The chart below shows the relationship of individual explanatory skills to the foundational process of making and revising explanations based on evidence.

Seeds/Roots Stages of Developing Explanations

Stage of Developing Explanations (increases in sophistication from bottom up)	Explanatory Skill
4. Change explanations based on new evidence.	Critiquing models, comparing and contrasting explanations, revising explanations, evaluating evidence, making connections
3. Probe for additional evidence.	Posing questions, investigating scientific questions, planning an investigation, conducting systematic observations, conducting experiments, using models, organizing and representing data
2. Make inferences from firsthand and/or secondhand evidence and create an explanation.	Making inferences, determining cause and effect, making predictions, creating hypotheses, making explanations from evidence, visualizing and using mental models, comparing and contrasting, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, summarizing, accessing and applying prior knowledge, sorting and classifying based on evidence
1. Search for evidence to support ideas.	Making observations, using tools to extend senses, recording data, using features of informational text to locate information, taking notes, sorting

 

Teachers can find a variety of resources for this process at http://scienceandliteracy.org. Under the Teacher Resources heading, you will find strategy guides for growing skills in developing explanations, understanding the connections between science and everyday words, teaching scientific explanations, and showing how scientists make inferences.

References
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1993. Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chinn, C. A., and B. A. Malhotra. 2002. Epistemologically authentic inquiry in schools: A theoretical framework for evaluating inquiry tasks. Science Education, 86(2), 175–218.

Hapgood, S., S. J. Magnusson, and A. S. Palincsar. 2004. Teacher, text and experience: A case of young children’s scientific inquiry. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(4), 455–505.

Krajcik, J., P. Blumenfeld, R. Marx, K. Bass, J. Fredericks, and E. Soloway. 1998. Inquiry in project-based science classrooms: Initial attempts by middle school students. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7(3–4), 313–350.

Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading. Retrieved from http://scienceandliteracy.org.

White, B. Y., and J. R. Frederiksen. 1998. Inquiry, modeling, and metacognition: Making science accessible to all students. Cognition & Instruction, 16(1), 3–118.

---

 

Jim McDonald is a Professor of Science Education at Central Michigan University in the Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development.  He advises the NSTA preservice student chapter at CMU, is director of the Central Michigan GEMS Center, and is currently President of the Council for Elementary Science International, an NSTA affiliate organization.

 

 

This article was featured in the February issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.

Visit NSTA’s NGSS@NSTA Hub for hundreds of vetted classroom resources, professional learning opportunities, publications, ebooks and more; connect with your teacher colleagues on the NGSS listservs (members can sign up here); and join us for discussions around NGSS at an upcoming conference.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Future NSTA Conferences

2018 National Conference

• Atlanta, March 15–18

NGSS Workshops

• Dive Into Three-Dimensional Instruction in Atlanta, March 14–15

2018 STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA

• Philadelphia July 11–13

2018 Area Conferences

• Reno, October 11–13
• National Harbor (MD), November 15–17
• Charlotte, Nov. 29-Dec. 1

Follow NSTA

 

As a former elementary science specialist, I am familiar with the elementary teacher’s skill set. They excel at managing a classroom, are very organized, and love a great mentor text—a text that is an example of good writing. However, many don’t feel confident enough when teaching science to consider themselves science experts. Helping elementary teachers begin to become comfortable with the NGSS and similar three-dimensional standards and able to search for resources to support them consumed my days and nights as a science supervisor in a new district.

To fully understand what teachers experienced in the past, I trudged my way through the “science sheds,” as they were so fondly dubbed. I likened what I found to an episode of Hoarders Buried Alive, with a dash of the science kits from years past. The shed contained good stuff, but teachers either didn’t know how to use it, or were so overwhelmed with the vast teacher’s edition that they could just barely teach the allotted 40 minutes a week of science.

I didn’t want to give teachers another science kit with materials that would sit for years untouched and unused. I especially didn’t want to give them anything without ensuring they have a true understanding of the science content and the NGSS’s three dimensions. To begin to make the approach to NGSS elementary teacher–friendly, I introduced them to a resource guaranteed to be in their comfort zone:the Picture-Perfect Science book series published by NSTA Press.

I worked my way through each lesson in the series and arranged them by topic, disciplinary core idea, and grade level using the NGSS Correlation document from the Picture Perfect website, which was a great resource. The lessons contain many features to help teachers begin to make the instructional shift to NGSS. They are written in a 5E format—Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate— based on the BSCS 5E instructional model (Bybee 1997). This progression provides a great introduction for teachers.  

The lessons also give teachers a brief content overview that is not overwhelming and complicated, so teachers can become comfortable with the subject. Guided questions are also included to help students think about the topic in a way that a simple hands-on experiment alone may not. The guided questions also highlight the Crosscutting Concepts, enabling students to think about the topic in a different way.

In addition, each lesson includes at least two trade books that are used to either engage students in the topic or elaborate on the topic. The trade books include stories that allow elementary teachers to do what they are comfortable with: teaching using trade books. What I also appreciated about the lessons was the simple planned activities that teachers facilitate as a part of the Explore section. Each activity is relevant and easy to follow, and best of all, includes the Science and Engineering Practices. The beginning of each lesson highlights the objectives (see the sample page of Roller Coasters).

The lesson objectives on the page under Content Standard A: Scientific Inquiry correlate well with the Science and Engineering Practices outlined in NGSS.

Having determined that the series offers a teacher-friendly approach I decided to purchase each volume of Picture Perfect Science and the accompanying trade books. I created the matrix below for the K–3 teachers in my district to help them organize lessons and prevent the overlap of teaching the lessons in each grade level. We also used built-in PD time to review the lessons and discuss the correlations to NGSS. After that, we added them to our shared pacing calendar and collection of shared lessons that continues to grow as we progress through our first year of implementation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When introducing Picture Perfect to my staff, I gave them one lesson to try at each grade level. I invited myself into classrooms and modeled for teachers how to read, stop, ask questions, and not answer them. The Explore section of the lessons was key: Teachers observed students thinking about science concepts and sharing their ideas. Within a few weeks, teachers felt comfortable implementing the lessons themselves and told me how much they appreciated them. They would say, “I really like the 5E model; I think I will use it for all my science lessons” or “My class loved Sheep in a Jeep!”

 

My next search will be for nonfiction texts to enhance students’ knowledge…Stay tuned!

---

Kristen Crawford has worked in the science education field for more than 20 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island; a master’s of art in teaching with a concentration in elementary science education from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey; and a master’s of science in educational administration from the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Crawford has played leadership roles in science education, serving as a K–6 science specialist in New Jersey’s River Edge School District and as a math and science supervisor there. She participated in focus groups for the New Jersey Department of Education’s Science Division during the state’s adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards. Crawford has taught in the NASA Endeavor STEM certificate program for seven years and has provided professional development for the Kean University Math Science Partnership program. She currently writes curriculum, provides professional development, and serves as K–12 science supervisor in New Jersey’s School District of the Chathams.

 

This article was featured in the February issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.

Visit NSTA’s NGSS@NSTA Hub for hundreds of vetted classroom resources, professional learning opportunities, publications, ebooks and more; connect with your teacher colleagues on the NGSS listservs (members can sign up here); and join us for discussions around NGSS at an upcoming conference.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

2018 National Conference

• Atlanta, March 15–18

NGSS Workshops

• Dive Into Three-Dimensional Instruction in Atlanta, March 14–15

2018 STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA

• Philadelphia July 11–13

2018 Area Conferences

• Reno, October 11–13
• National Harbor (MD), November 15–17
• Charlotte, Nov. 29-Dec. 1

Follow NSTA

Why don’t antibiotics work like they used to? is an NGSS-aligned storyline developed by the Next Generation Science Storylines Project that focuses on natural selection and other mechanisms of evolution.  Wayne Wright and I (Holly Hereau) teach science at Thurston High School in Redford, Michigan. We implemented this storyline with our 11th-grade honors biology and general biology classes in spring 2017 and again in fall 2017 with a revised version following professional development on how to support a classroom culture of “figuring out”.

The first part of the curriculum is anchored on the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance. Students meet Addie, a little girl who is on the brink of death after contracting methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The class decides that the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria should be investigated. Students have many interesting ideas and share their questions with the class. Students create a Driving Question Board (DQB) that helps them determine what kinds of questions must be answered to help them explain this problem. The questions they ask can be organized into two types: questions about what is happening inside Addie’s body and questions about what is occurring outside her, including which environments she was in and what symptoms are occurring in other infected people (the growing prevalence of cases over time).

Students first decide to answer questions focused on bacteria transmission, including where bacteria exist and how to prevent their transmission to humans. Students perform investigations and observe that the “invisible” bacteria can become “visible” if they are moved to an environment such as a petri dish containing food.

The students also plan investigations to discover where bacteria can be found, how bacteria might be transmitted to humans, and what might be used to eliminate those bacteria. Armed with these findings, they explore the effects different concentrations of antibiotic might have on the bacteria. They then plan another investigation to discover if bacteria found growing in different environments (in the presence or absence of antibiotic) might respond differently if introduced to a new environment with the same antibiotic concentration. Time-lapse videos, informational readings, computer simulations, and student-created mathematical models help them comprehend how bacteria reproduce, compete for resources, and interact with antibiotics. With this knowledge, students understand that the scenarios in the computer simulations and in our petri dishes help explain what was happening inside Addie.

Students create and repeatedly revise a model that ultimately shows trait variation in a population of bacteria; individuals with certain traits are shown to survive and reproduce better than others when exposed to antibiotics. This causes the next generation of bacteria to have a higher proportion of individuals with the advantageous trait than the previous generation did. Students extend this model to explain how this mechanism (natural selection) is responsible for populations of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics over time. The students use this knowledge to create an infographic that educates the community about why proper antibiotic use is so important.

The second part of the curriculum focuses on determining if the student model explains how other living things have changed over time. To do so, students explore two populations of birds: a junco population on the University of California, San Diego campus and another that migrates between the campus and Mt. Laguna. These bird populations have changed due to non-random mating, migration, and mutations. Video clips help students gather information about the differences in these populations and inspire the class to create a DQB. The questions fall into these categories: Are their traits learned or inherited? What role does the environment play in how the birds have changed, and why they stay? Are the birds the same type/species of Junco?  How different are the juncos? Are they different enough to be two different species?

As they did earlier, students determine what kinds of investigations are needed to answer the questions on our DQB. The class analyzes data sets that have been excerpted from peer-reviewed journal articles and watch video clips showing different aspects of the birds’ characteristics, behavior, and environment. To conclude the unit, we collected all of our evidence and find we can use our expanded model to explain how all life on Earth has changed over many millions of years.

Alignment to NGSS

Teacher Guide

The curriculum and materials are well planned and cohesive.  For each lesson, the teacher guide includes the question to be answered by the lesson, the Performance Expectation(s) we’re working toward, the DCIs and CCCs addressed during the lesson, and the related phenomena. Each lesson also provides “where we’ve been” and “where we’re going” statements that coherently tie lessons together. Finally, the guide has a a list of materials needed for the lesson, including direct links to videos, articles, or student activity sheets, and a brief description of background knowledge that would be helpful for the teacher to know.

The teacher guide also provides a detailed plan with pacing cues and suggested prompts to keep discussions productive, a dedicated space for teacher support and notes, and guidance and specific strategies for class discussions. Most important, the guide offers examples of student work that enable teachers to envision student products. The guide’s clarity and organization make daily preparation uncomplicated and allows all teachers to use this unit, including those without prior NGSS experience or strong content background knowledge.

To make sense of the phenomenon in this storyline, students ask questions, conduct investigations, and create and revise conceptual and mathematical models; they construct arguments by supporting ideas with evidence as they engage in discourse with their peers—allowing them to give and receive plentiful feedback from one another and from the teacher. A wide range of texts, infographics, Centers for Disease Control articles, scientific journals, graphs, and data sets are used to help students make connections, extend their learning, and formulate new questions as they discover what they still need to investigate. The literacy pieces embedded in the unit are strategically employed to enable students to answer questions beyond the scope of each text.

We revised the unit to encourage students to return more frequently to the DQB to reflect on what they have determined and what they still need to investigate. The prompts embedded in student activity sheets provide actionable evidence to determine learning outcomes, and teachers can check these to ascertain what students can do with their knowledge.

The first time we taught this lesson, we did not have access to the pre- and post-tests and had limited familiarity with 3-D assessment, so we felt we needed to supplement this unit with quizzes. The second time we taught the unit, we had access to the pre- and post-tests, along with training on 3-D assessment writing, which allowed us to be more mindful about identifying and selecting specific prompts from student activity guides to use as formative checks. We are currently contributing suggested questions for a revised teacher guide so teachers can be more purposeful about the ways they choose to use prompts.

We also added a video/Public Service Announcement that our students created as part of their final assessment; this allowed students to get more practice with providing formal critical feedback to groups. We were fortunate to work with Trisha Shelton, who introduced us to Alan Marnett and Benchfly— an online platform that gave our students the ability to exchange critical feedback with students from a school in Kentucky, as well as students in other classes at our school. This added a level of importance and authenticity to their PSA. We hope to continue to use this platform to give students experience with the skills necessary for success in our current digital landscape.

Other Important Considerations

Next Generation Science Storylines are created by some of the best thinkers in the science education field, along with many talented classroom science teachers. Their goal is for teachers to implement NGSS, and they know this will only happen if teachers feel they have access to a quality curriculum. However, teachers need a few key activities to help students benefit the most from these storylines.

• Productive Talk. Creating a safe culture in your classroom where productive talk can happen is imperative for the successful implementation of any NGSS Students need to feel secure about sharing their ideas and questions. It is important for all voices to be heard and that discussion is equitable in the classroom. This has led us to consider “untracking” our school’s science classes so students can learn from all of their peers.
• Driving Question Board. This unit, like all Next Generation Science Storylines, requires teachers to understand how to use a DQB. Effective use of a DQB subtly guides students in the direction they take with questioning and discussion. When teachers use the DQB correctly, students will essentially drive the direction of the unit.
• Support. Because we participated in a summer workshop focused on learning while teaching, we now have a deeper understanding of how productive talk and DQBs are so important; this informed the teaching of this storyline and the rest of our classes accordingly. A key idea we realized is not only how crucial it is for teachers to have training in NGSS, but also for them to simultaneously have access to and try high–quality NGSS-aligned materials. Concrete examples that allow teachers to experience how NGSS classrooms will look and feel will be important for universal teacher acceptance. Ultimately, learning to teach with NGSS is more powerful than simply learning about

We are very excited about this unit and the Storyline Project overall and encourage other teachers to become familiar with them. These lessons are purposeful, memorable, and meaningful to students. Coincidentally, after completing this unit, a letter went home to families in our district to inform them that one of our ninth-grade students was being treated for MRSA! We heard from several teachers in the building that our students were helping to “dial back the panic” by educating others about what MRSA is and how to stay MRSA-free.

We can’t say thank you enough to everyone we directly worked with during implementation—Brian Reiser, Michael Novak, Tara McGill, Trish Shelton, Kelsey Edwards, Aliza Zivic, and Trey Smith—as well as others who worked behind the scenes.  This team is passionate about making quality NGSS curriculum accessible to all teachers, so all students can have equitable science experiences. We strongly believe that these materials provide a viable pathway to reach that goal.

 

References

Next Generation Science Exemplar. “Learning with NGSX.” Accessed February 8, 2018, http://ngsx.org/index.php/public/learning-ngsx/

Next Generation Science Standards. “EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science.” Accessed February 8, 2018, https://www.nextgenscience.org/resources/equip-rubric-lessons-units-science

Next Generation Science Storylines. “Tools for creating and working with storylines.” Accessed January 29, 2018, http://www.nextgenstorylines.org/tools/

Next Generation Science Storylines. “Why don’t antibiotics work like they used to?” Accessed January 29, 2018, http://www.nextgenstorylines.org/why-dont-antibiotics-work-like-they-used-to

---

Holly Hereau

Holly Hereau is a biology and environmental science teacher at Thurston High School in Redford, Michigan, and at Macomb Community College, in Warren, Michigan. She is currently training to become an NGSX facilitator and is a new member of Achieve, Inc.’s, Science Peer Review Panel. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Grand Valley State University and studied Entomology at Michigan State University before earning a master’s degree in education at the University of Michigan. In addition to NGSS implementation, she is passionate about providing experiential and place-based learning opportunities for students. Connect with her on Twitter at @hhereau.

Wayne Wright

Wayne Wright is an NGSS enthusiast! He’s taught science for nine years; five of them at Thurston High School in Redford, Michigan. Wright recognizes that the shift in the NGSS mindset has revolutionized his classroom and changed how students experience science. Since diving into NGSS, he has given a talk at MIStemTalk17, presented at the Science Leaders meeting at Wayne RESA, and has hosted for a week the NGSS_Tweeps Twitter account. Wright also has been working with Northwestern University on the Learning While Teaching pathway and piloting their antibiotic resistance storyline, and with Michigan State University piloting the program, Carbon Time. He is currently working to become a NGSX facilitator. Follow him on Twitter @wewright1234

This article was featured in the February issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.

Visit NSTA’s NGSS@NSTA Hub for hundreds of vetted classroom resources, professional learning opportunities, publications, ebooks and more; connect with your teacher colleagues on the NGSS listservs (members can sign up here); and join us for discussions around NGSS at an upcoming conference.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

2018 National Conference

• Atlanta, March 15–18

NGSS Workshops

• Dive Into Three-Dimensional Instruction in Atlanta, March 14–15

2018 STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA

• Philadelphia July 11–13

2018 Area Conferences

• Reno, October 11–13
• National Harbor (MD), November 15–17
• Charlotte, Nov. 29-Dec. 1

Follow NSTA