The Next Generation Science Standards are teaching our students to be scientifically literate. They are teaching our students life skills whether they be used now, in high school, college, or their careers, they are teaching them to
-Ask questions
-Define problems and investigate
-Analyze data
-Compose an explanation and create a solution
These standards are creating a context for learning where teaching is no longer out of context and is based on research of how students learn as well as benchmarked against competitive countries whose students are proving to perform well in both science and math. These standards are pushing them to be globally competitive.
When I researched the Next Generation Science Standards, I heard the phrase “speed of science” and thought to myself that life in general seems to be changing so rapidly. We should not just simply consider how technology is continuously changing, but how our world is as well. These standards if utilized will help to better prepare them for that. I had the unique opportunity to teach two 6th grade classes both English and Science last year and I think that it helped open my eyes to cross content real world application. I had the opportunity to easily bring what we were learning about in English into Science as well as what we were learning about in Science into English. We should no longer be separating content areas and it is honestly sad this used to be the case and still is in some circumstances.
“Being a critical consumer of information about science and engineering requires the ability to read or view reports of scientific or technological advances or applications (whether found in the press, the Internet, or in a town meeting) and to recognize the salient ideas, identify sources of error and methodological flaws, distinguish observations from inferences, arguments from explanations, and claims from evidence.”
Teachers need to be flexible to make changes and shift their old ways of instruction or be open-minded to changes that will better prepare their students. It is also crucial for collaboration, which leads me to Admin which after reading many articles and talking with my peers and principal. A large part is the understanding that this is a K-12 process as each standard builds upon the information that was intended to be covered in the last year. It is understood that there should be adequate time provided for planning, becoming comfortable, collaborating, and professional development.
When it comes to understanding the technology side, I found this quote that explains the connection with technology and how this standard could not be utilized without it. I know a large part is staying connected with our coordinator and understanding how the technology can drive the instruction and not letting the technology be the make focus. Find the goal and then discuss with the coordinator what technology would be best to accomplish this, keeping in mind the availability.
Our school has begun using the NGSS. First off I should give a bit of background for our educational goals:
-All students accomplishing delineated grade level academic competencies across disciplines
-Acquire behaviors to work collaboratively and independently
-Development of language skills to effectively communicate ideas in academic and social situations
Some of our focuses for our teachers
-Differentiating instruction
-Collaborative group work
-Academic language using sentence frames
-Common core standards
I see the need for more collaboration in our middle school. I feel that we are making great efforts, but it comes down to time needed to meet, which we have discussed with administration and are now waiting for approval from the board. I know that our HS has made greater connections with Social Studies as well and we are looking at their efforts to guide ours.
-Ask questions
-Define problems and investigate
-Analyze data
-Compose an explanation and create a solution
These standards are creating a context for learning where teaching is no longer out of context and is based on research of how students learn as well as benchmarked against competitive countries whose students are proving to perform well in both science and math. These standards are pushing them to be globally competitive.
When I researched the Next Generation Science Standards, I heard the phrase “speed of science” and thought to myself that life in general seems to be changing so rapidly. We should not just simply consider how technology is continuously changing, but how our world is as well. These standards if utilized will help to better prepare them for that. I had the unique opportunity to teach two 6th grade classes both English and Science last year and I think that it helped open my eyes to cross content real world application. I had the opportunity to easily bring what we were learning about in English into Science as well as what we were learning about in Science into English. We should no longer be separating content areas and it is honestly sad this used to be the case and still is in some circumstances.
“Being a critical consumer of information about science and engineering requires the ability to read or view reports of scientific or technological advances or applications (whether found in the press, the Internet, or in a town meeting) and to recognize the salient ideas, identify sources of error and methodological flaws, distinguish observations from inferences, arguments from explanations, and claims from evidence.”
Teachers need to be flexible to make changes and shift their old ways of instruction or be open-minded to changes that will better prepare their students. It is also crucial for collaboration, which leads me to Admin which after reading many articles and talking with my peers and principal. A large part is the understanding that this is a K-12 process as each standard builds upon the information that was intended to be covered in the last year. It is understood that there should be adequate time provided for planning, becoming comfortable, collaborating, and professional development.
When it comes to understanding the technology side, I found this quote that explains the connection with technology and how this standard could not be utilized without it. I know a large part is staying connected with our coordinator and understanding how the technology can drive the instruction and not letting the technology be the make focus. Find the goal and then discuss with the coordinator what technology would be best to accomplish this, keeping in mind the availability.
Our school has begun using the NGSS. First off I should give a bit of background for our educational goals:
-All students accomplishing delineated grade level academic competencies across disciplines
-Acquire behaviors to work collaboratively and independently
-Development of language skills to effectively communicate ideas in academic and social situations
Some of our focuses for our teachers
-Differentiating instruction
-Collaborative group work
-Academic language using sentence frames
-Common core standards
I see the need for more collaboration in our middle school. I feel that we are making great efforts, but it comes down to time needed to meet, which we have discussed with administration and are now waiting for approval from the board. I know that our HS has made greater connections with Social Studies as well and we are looking at their efforts to guide ours.