Balancing NGSS Alignment with Local Needs

C. Kohn

March 10, 2023

Overview

1. Introductions - Who am I?
2. What does research indicate?
3. What are we doing at WUHS?
4. Is it working?
5. Q&A

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Disclaimers

1. Education is complex – ‘one size fits all’ solutions do not exist in our work.
2. While our work is research-based, it is far from perfect.
3. All the authors are full time teachers with tight limits on time and resources.
4. Everything you will see is still a working draft. It can improve and will change.
5. We are knowingly making tradeoffs with NGSS to ensure feasibility.

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Who am I?

• - Background & Degrees (UW & MSU)
• - Teaching Experience (WUHS, MSU)
• - Research Experience (UW BioCore, DoE’s GLBRC, MSU, GRF @ NSF).

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What does research indicate?

Ed research, NRC’s The Framework for K12 Science, and NGSS

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Why teach science?

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MOST ARE SIMPLY �“DOING SCHOOL”

“Doing school” �refers to rote and shallow learning performances that have no real purpose outside of school. �(e.g., emphasis on right answers)

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“Getting students to explain, argue with one another, critique, and build on ideas is a long game that requires a willingness for teachers to…set aside familiar classroom tasks.”

Productive Disciplinary Engagement: student participation that results in discipline-specific improvements to sophistication.�(Engle & Conant, 2002)

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NRC’S FRAMEWORK

• The NRC’s Framework for K12 Science Ed (2012).
• A meta-analytic consensus of decades of research.
• Found that traditional K12 science did little to prepare students for careers or for informed citizenship.
• Summarizes how to learn science to enable informed decision-making (Schwarz, et al., 2016).
• The science standards of nearly all states are based on this work (including WI).

The National Research Council (NRC) includes the world's most distinguished scientists. Membership is considered one of the highest honors among scientists.

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NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NGSS)

• NGSS: A state-led initiative develop research-based science education standards.
• NGSS prompts students to question, investigate, and use evidence-based argumentation in order to enable responsible citizenship.�
• The Framework and NGSS both argue that effective science education must be three-dimensional, or a seamless combination of:
1. Disciplinary Core Ideas (what scientists know).
2. Science & Engineering Practices �(what scientists do).
3. Crosscutting Concepts (how scientists think).

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What Scientists Know

What Scientists Do

How Scientists Think

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WHAT IS 3D SCIENCE LEARNING?

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A Key Problem with NGSS? Limited Adoption

• NGSS has changed the rhetoric about science teaching, but classroom practices & outcomes have changed very little (Banilower et al., 2018; Cohen and Mehta, 2017; ACT, 2020).
• Local factors have more impact on teacher decisions than standards (Lin et al., 2021).
• For NGSS to be successful, implementation must address the needs of both students and educators (Kohn et al., 2022).

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What About Existing Research-Based NGSS-Aligned Curricula? (i.e., why reinvent the wheel?)

• Most existing options have limited emphasis on needs for local success.
• Lessons from Carbon TIME.
• Higher learning gains depend on both local and standards-based success, but these can be difficult to simultaneously enact.
• Local success: (a) managed classrooms with engaged students; (b) covering required content; and (c) fair and efficient grades/assessments. (Covitt et al., 2022)

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What are we doing at Waterford?

Using R&D to balance local needs with standards alignment.

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WATERFORD BIOLOGY CURRICULUM

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Example Lesson

• Ecosystems Unit, Packet 1
• Phenomenon & Questions - Why are there more wolves than moose on Isle Royale?
• Scientific Practices: analyzing data, evidence-based argumentation, developing explanations.
• Investigation: Fox Meadow Simulation; Tabletop Ecosystems.
• Life Connections: health, nutrition, agriculture.

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Does it Work?

What does our research tell us?

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Student Data

We systematically analyzed anonymous student data using validated metrics & rubrics (Lin et al., 2022). Four key takeaways:

1. ~90% achievement of instructional goals; student failure rates plummeted.
2. Our diagnostic tools are effective in identifying and supporting at risk students, reducing achievement gaps.
3. Widespread acquisition of both academic and career-based skills.

Level 4: Students fully trace matter and energy through chemical/biological processes at multiple scales in space and time (equivalent to NGSS performance expectations).

Level 3: Students show awareness of important scientific principles and of models but have difficulty connecting across scales and applying principles consistently.

Levels 1 and 2: Students' explanations and arguments focus on actors (e.g., animals, plants, people) and enablers (e.g., food, water, sunlight).

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Comparisons to Other Curricula

• Based on validated metrics & rubrics (Lin et al., 2022), our materials are comparably effective to other research-based options.
• In particular, we used Carbon TIME data (Covitt & Anderson, 2018) for our basis of comparison.

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Level 4: Students fully trace matter and energy through chemical/biological processes at multiple scales in space and time (equivalent to NGSS PEs).

Level 3: Students show awareness of important scientific principles and of models but have difficulty connecting across scales and applying principles consistently.

Levels 1 and 2: Students' explanations and arguments focus on actors (e.g., animals, plants, people) and enablers (e.g., food, water, sunlight).

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Teacher Data

Four key takeaways:

1. Core science courses are now being re-written using these methods.
2. Widely expected that these methods will likely improve ACT performance (inherent in the design).
3. Agreement that students are more engaged and invested in education.
4. Perceived as more feasible to teach and aligns with district initiatives.

“The way it's set up really does allow you to follow that process. It's scaffolded, the steps are sequenced.”

“The students are able to have a say in it, not just regurgitate… They're able to talk.”

“I was the most skeptical going in...but it's definitely what I feel we should be doing.”

“They hands-down preferred the approach we're doing to [the former] approach.”

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NARST Proposal

• We will be presenting at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) in April.
• Our data suggest we can achieve the goals of NGSS in a manner that aligns with local needs (feasibility, cost, etc.).
• Our findings have prompted other research publications with similar conclusion (e.g., Covitt et al., 2022).

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What’s Next?

1. Revision of remaining science courses (voluntarily undertaken by staff despite extra work/stress).
2. Continued data collection to confirm preliminary findings.
3. Open-source publication for other districts.
4. Addressing concerns & shortcomings (the ‘fun’ aspect, outliers, more experimental design & mathematical thinking, etc.).

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Questions?

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