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For NGSS, Implementation is Critical

5/17/2015

4 Comments

 
I just finished reading the NSTA Press book, Reimagining The Science Department, and I found some disturbing information in it.  The authors reference Joseph Schwab's 1962 work entitled, "The Teaching of Science as Enquiry."  In this work, Schwab suggested some of the science instruction reforms that NGSS is attempting today--in 1962.  Schwab's work set the stage for a movement from content driven science instruction to a more practice oriented, constructivist science instruction through inquiry.  

As I reflect on this, I am concerned about the fate of NGSS.  If we haven't reformed our methods of teaching science since 1962 when this work was published, how can we expect NGSS to reform science teaching?  It's because of the fate of science teaching since 1962 that I think we are in a dangerous time for the NGSS. 

If we aren't careful, NGSS implementation will turn into a rearrangement of units and a shuffling of content.  We'll throw out some units because they aren't addressed in the NGSS and we'll add some (like analog/digital wave technology) because they are now in the NGSS.  We'll feel very successful because we've aligned what we teach with the new standards.  

If content alignment is all we do, if we only change what we teach, students will still leave our classrooms with a view of science as a body of disjointed knowledge that they need to learn (aka memorize).  If, as science leaders, we only expose our teachers to the NGSS and miss The Framework and the background research from Ready, Set, Science and Taking Science to School,  we may be guilty of leading teachers to think that the NGSS is only and shift in content.  

The Framework makes it clear that we're called to change, not only what we teach, but also how we teach.  We are called to teach science as a way of knowing, to allow students to use the 3 dimensions of science to explain phenomena in their world or to solve problems in their world.  We're called to build coherence vertically and horizontally. We're called to help (and require) students to act and think like scientists.  

Teachers need exposure to this vision of the NGSS as found in those documents.  Science leaders need to provide that exposure in manageable portions.  Let's commit to the vision of The Framework and make it a reality of all of our students.  It is possible that the future of our nation depends on it.  We need scientists and engineers, but even more, we need a science literate population and science literate politicians.  

What will you do this week to help spread the vision of The Framework? 

4 Comments
Renee Boss link
5/17/2015 04:22:42 am

Terrific post & I remain hopeful that teachers like you can help change what happens in classrooms. As to your question about what I will do to help spread the vision? I'm working with a new group of teachers around Next Generation Instructional Design with full intentions of changing not only what gets taught--but more importantly--as you state above--how it gets taught. I'm driven by my own sons who enjoy science and also by the fact that I'm an educator on a mission to see that we move beyond the test prep approach to education currently running rampant in our system.

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Christine Pratt
5/17/2015 11:13:47 pm

Great post BUT -- In this age of instant digital media, the infatuation that our society has with sensational headlines, and a seeming unwillingness to understand the whole story, I worry about the title of your post. Let's not start using terms such as "perilous times" in the same breath as NGSS. This just gets people jazzed up. The NGSS are not going to bring about a sea change in science instruction. The people implementing it will. We need the new standards to stick around and not become embroiled in the same rhetoric as the Common Core.

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David Grossman link
5/18/2015 07:52:56 am

Christine--great point. I agree that the title needs to highlight the positives instead of sensationalizing. Thanks for bringing that up. I have revised the title.

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Trish Shelton link
5/22/2015 10:48:21 pm

Thank you for this reflection. The focus on the Framework is critical and I love that many educators have been emphasizing the benefits of returning to it often for reflection and growth. It is so important to remember the Framework was written to reflect the latest research pointing to how students best learn science and that research is the source of the vision. Thank you for that focus and reflection!

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