• Natural phenomena are observable events that occur in the universe and that we can use our science knowledge to explain or predict. The goal of building knowledge in science is to develop general ideas, based on evidence, that can explain and predict phenomena.

• Engineering involves designing solutions to problems that arise from phenomena, and using explanations of phenomena to design solutions.

• In this way, phenomena are the context for the work of both the scientist and the engineer.

Source: Using Phenomena in NGSS-Designed Lessons and Units

• Despite their centrality in science and engineering, phenomena have traditionally been a missing piece in science education, which too often has focused on teaching general knowledge that students can have difficulty applying to real world contexts.

• Anchoring learning in explaining phenomena supports student agency for wanting to build science and engineering knowledge. Students are able to identify an answer to "why do I need to learn this?" before they even know what the “this” is. In contrast, students might not understand the importance of learning science ideas that teachers and curriculum designers know are important but that are unconnected from phenomena.

• By centering science education on phenomena that students are motivated to explain, the focus of learning shifts from learning about a topic to figuring out why or how something happens. For example, instead of simply learning about the topics of photosynthesis and mitosis, students are engaged in building evidence-based explanatory ideas that help them figure out how a tree grows.

• Explaining phenomena and designing solutions to problems allow students to build general science ideas in the context of their application to understanding phenomena in the real world, leading to deeper and more transferable knowledge.

• Students who come to see how science ideas can help explain and model phenomena related to compelling real world situations learn to appreciate the social relevance of science. They get interested in and identify with science as a way of understanding and improving real world contexts. Focusing investigations on compelling phenomena can help sustain students’ science learning.

Source: Using Phenomena in NGSS-Designed Lessons and Units

• The most powerful phenomena from an educational perspective are culturally or personally relevant or consequential to students. Such phenomena highlight how science ideas help us explain aspects of real world contexts or design solutions to science-related problems that matter to students, their communities, and society.

• An appropriate phenomenon for instruction should help engage all students in working toward the learning goals of instruction. The phenomenon needs to be useful for teachers to help students build the target pieces of the DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs. 

• The process of developing an explanation for a phenomenon should advance students' understandings. If students already need to know the target knowledge before they can inquire about the phenomenon, then the phenomenon is not appropriate for initial instruction (although it might be useful for assessment).

• Students should be able to make sense of anchoring or investigative phenomenon, but not immediately, and not without investigating it using sequences of the science and engineering practices. With instruction and guidance, students should be able to figure out, step by step, how and why the phenomenon works.

• An effective phenomenon does not always have to be flashy or unexpected. Students might not be intrigued by an everyday phenomenon right away because they believe they already know how or why it happens. It takes careful teacher facilitation to help students become dissatisfied with what they can explain, helping them discover that they really can't explain it beyond a simple statement such as "smells travel through the air" or a vocabulary word, such as "water appears on cold cans of soda because it condenses."

Source: Using Phenomena in NGSS-Designed Lessons and Units