The Next Generation Science Standards

Science education is essential for helping students navigate the natural world and become good stewards of our planet. It helps children tap into their innate curiosity by teaching them how to ask the right questions, collect data, test ideas, and apply new knowledge to solve complex problems.

As the world changes, science has become even more integral to addressing complicated dilemmas and shaping a better future for all. To ensure students are prepared with the proper knowledge and skills, leading educational experts from 26 U.S. states, alongside several organizational partners, developed the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Since these new standards were released over a decade ago, they have been adopted by the majority of states in the U.S., empowering millions of students not only to pursue and excel in STEM careers but in any discipline they choose. That’s because the NGSS fosters critical thinking and communication skills relevant to any career or life path.

One vital cornerstone of the NGSS is phenomena (i.e., natural, observable events in our universe that science can help explain, understand, or predict). Phenomena-based learning boosts student engagement by helping students apply their learnings to real-world contexts. Instead of simply learning about something, classes are challenges to figure out why something is occurring — like, for example, why shadows lengthen throughout the day, tides change, or rainbows appear.

To explain phenomena, students in NGSS classrooms develop and apply three dimensions of science learning: 

1. Disciplinary core ideas
2. Science and engineering practices
3. Crosscutting concepts

Let’s delve into each of these three dimensions further.

The NGSS defines disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) as "The key ideas in science that have broad importance within or across multiple science or engineering disciplines.” These fundamentals make up the NGSS curriculum, and each represents a concept designed to guide student thinking, link to other ideas, and help students develop a greater understanding of their world.

Following the constructivist learning theory, which says learners construct knowledge as they experience the world and incorporate new ideas into pre-existing knowledge, core ideas build on each other as students progress through units and grade levels.

DCIs are grouped into four domains:

• Physical Science
  This includes matter and its interactions, motion and stability, energy, and waves and their applications in technology.
  
  
• Life Science
  This includes the structures and processes of molecules to organisms, ecosystems and their interactions, inheritance and variation of traits, and biological evolution.
  
  
• Earth and Space Science
  This includes earth’s place in the universe, earth’s systems, and earth and human activity.
  
  
• Engineering
  This includes engineering design, engineering technology, and the application of science.

According to the NGSS, science and engineering practices (SEPs) exist to “describe what scientists do to investigate the natural world and what engineers do to design and build systems.” These practices help students act as scientists and engineers in the classroom by developing essential skills.

There are eight SEPs:

• Asking questions and defining problems
  Instead of teaching science through isolated lessons and tasks, educators introduce science through real-world events, then challenge students to question why phenomena occur and define problems so they can begin working toward a solution.
  
  
• Developing and using models
  Models — like charts, graphs, simulations, physical replicas, and formulas — simplify complex and help students better understand real-world phenomena. They can use these models to collect information, test their hypotheses, and understand the relationships between various parts or elements. For example, a solar system model helps students visualize how the Earth rotates around the sun.

• Planning and carrying out investigations
  Instead of simply explaining a concept, investigations allow students to experience a concept in real life, giving them an opportunity to create an experiment that tests their own hypothesis. For example, students might design, build, and test mini parachutes for figurines to investigate forces like wind resistance.

• Analyzing and interpreting data
  It’s crucial every student learns how to use data to support their arguments, and when students collect data through their own experiments, they engage more deeply with the problem. Teachers can further challenge students by asking them to present data and then encourage class-wide discussions about each student or group’s findings.

• Using mathematics and computational thinking
  When students collect and analyze data, they have to leverage their math and computational skills. This gives them practice applying and building these essential competencies and helps them better understand the relevance of those skills in a practical context. For example, using math helps them understand the relationship between variables — like the changes in the temperature of water in a shallow container versus a deep container after an hour in the sun.

• Constructing explanations and designing solutions
  It’s important that students not only understand the scientific method but also how to apply it to explain real problems and begin developing solutions. For example, the CER (claim, evidence, reasoning) model helps students practice critical thinking and effective communication by making a claim, providing evidence, and explaining their logic.

• Engaging in argument from evidence
  Another tenet of the NGSS is inquiry-based instruction — a teaching approach in which students are empowered to become problem-solvers and make connections, often through engaging in dialogue with other students, while teachers act as facilitators. In the science classroom, this often means students learn from conducting their own experiments, the knowledge shared by their peers, and the discussions their findings provoke.
  
  
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
  The more experience students gain in collecting data, using evidence to support their claims, and critiquing other arguments, the better they’ll become at evaluating the quality of information, identifying misinformation, sharing knowledge, and engaging in respectful discourse. These skills are essential in any career and will help students become well-informed citizens.

The crosscutting concepts (CCCs) refer to the fundamental principles that determine how students define and understand connections between the four categories of the DCIs. According to the NGSS, when these concepts are made explicit, “They can help students develop a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world around them.”

There are seven crosscutting concepts:

• Patterns
  Patterns refer to repeating series of numbers, events, or designs, such as the lunar cycle or a DNA structure.
  
  
• Cause and Effect
  Understanding that an action yields a specific result is the basis of all experiments and a crucial aspect of science.
  
  
• Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
  A scale refers to a representation with the same properties of an object, like using centimeters to denote miles on a map. Proportion refers to relationships between elements, like saying a train that travels 250 miles per hour is moving at a speed of 50 miles per hour. Quantity is an amount of something, such as volume, mass, time, speed, or temperature.
  
  
• Systems and System Models
  Systems are composed of parts that work together to carry out a function. A Rube Goldberg machine is a good example of a system model.
  
  
• Energy and Matter
  Energy is the ability or power to do work that causes change, while matter is anything that has mass and can take up space.
  
  
• Structure and Function
  An object’s structure is its shape and composition, and its function is its purpose. For example, an airplane’s wing shape improves its aerodynamics because a wing’s function is to lift and hold a plane in the air.
  
  
• Stability and Change
  Stability refers to the tendency to remain the same, while change refers to making something different. Understanding how and why change occurs is vital because change is inevitable in the natural world.
  

Research shows that these standards significantly improve teachers' and students' experiences and positively affect students' interest in STEM topics.

A study from Northeastern University found that the NGSS increases student collaboration, boosts test scores, improves vocabulary and classroom discourse, enhances student engagement, and leads to less classroom distraction and better behavior. Meanwhile, an evaluation report shows that, in schools that have implemented the NGSS, students are more excited about science, experience more inclusive participation, and show evidence of learning at a higher level.

Of course, while the NGSS offers plenty of valuable tools and resources to help educators succeed with three-dimensional learning, these standards are not a curriculum — they are a roadmap. Teachers are still responsible for designing their lessons to meet the NGSS. And while this allows for greater flexibility in implementing standards, it can also present a few challenges.

To help, Propello offers a customizable, student-centered science curriculum designed for the NGSS. This way, you can meet (and even exceed) standards while empowering the next generation of STEM experts, critical thinkers, and capable communicators.