Monday, December 15, 2014

Next Generation Science Standards

Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn, and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.
                                -John Dewey


I learned a lot about the Next Generation Science Standards last week, and found a resource that I thought anybody in elementary education (classroom teacher, outdoor educator, professional development facilitator, principal, anybody) would find really beneficial and cool. Paul Anderson, Montana's 2011 Teacher of the Year, a science teacher at Bozeman High School, created a ton of really good science videos for students and teachers. I spent some time checking out his website, bozemanscience.com, and really liked the videos about the Next Generation Science Standards. They're for teachers, under 10 minutes long, and do a great job explaining science in a way that makes teaching it easier. For me, it was a clear, concise refresher on overarching concepts that apply to many specific content areas in science. For teachers with less of a science background, these videos simply explain what we want kids to know and ways to do that at different levels of development.

I learned about these videos at a curriculum planning workshop I got to attend last week.
I felt really fortunate that, although a parent volunteer and not on staff, I was invited to take part in an elementary science curriculum planning session. This particular session built on some visioning that took place in the fall, where teachers painted a picture of what they wanted elementary science to look like in the school district. I learned that the teachers had a vision of student discovery, exploration, and wonder. And that they care about sustainability. But that they wonder about how to realize their vision despite the demands of testing and day-to-day constraints.

The school district's new science facilitator shared his philosophy of science education for the elementary years and how this blends with the Next Generation Science Standards. He talked about the importance of focusing on broad concepts, like teaching kids how to question; the basics of the scientific method; or learning how to recognize patterns, understand cause and effect, and make predictions about systems. He talked about the need to concentrate on these rather than focusing so much on content at this stage. He talked about designing an experience, trusting in children's innate curiosity and purposeful playfullness.

Well, I think this is exciting stuff, to be sure. As one participant remarked during the workshop--almost all educators enter the profession desiring to create learning experiences like the one John Dewey described in the quote at the top. But this can be difficult due to constraints put on teachers, and downright intimidating to some teachers if they don't have a lot of science education themselves. This is where these science videos come in. They turn the 400 page document (nextgenscience.org) containing the entire framework of science standards into easily understood chunks of information. They simplify complex topics, they're engaging, and I think they will quickly increase teachers' comfort level and ability in teaching science. Check them out, and let me know if you think they're as cool as I do!

Stop there, or read on below for some more tidbits about the curriculum meeting I attended.  This meeting gave me hope for both my son who has a few more years in elementary school, and for his teachers who want the freedom to create learning experiences that help kids maintain an attitude of exploration, discovery, and wonder.

Some of the ideas that resonated with me from the workshop:
  • Young kids learn while playing, and their play almost always has a purpose. Educators can design science-related experiences that tap into learning through play. Check out the Periodic Table of Play to see different ways play can be classified...

  • Currently, we generally begin designing an experience with a consideration of content. (Content is what we want kids to learn, i.e. the parts of a plant or the process of the water cycle.) At the elementary level, content is less important than learning to use scientific practices and learning to understand the broad, cross-cutting concepts which encompass the content students should know when they leave high school. Approaching a learning experience this way makes it more likely students will have a sense of wonder, discovery, and exploration. Basically, the science facilitator's message was this: Get kids comfortable with scientific method and argument and help them understand the cross-cutting concepts. Worry about specific content when kids are of an age where the details will begin to stick. 

  • If you want teachers to feel free to design learning experiences that emphasize Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts, the grading rubric needs to reflect that. We worked on this a bit. Whew. As if I didn't already think teachers jobs were hard...

  • There needs to be some sort of coordination among grade-levels so that the kids' learning in science builds on previous years' learning without too much overlap in content or activities. This is the nitty-gritty, and it will be interesting to see what happens when the planning gets to this stage!