Science

NGSS and Pedagogical Shifts (See Standards)

There are five major conceptual shifts from previous standards to NGSS.

1. Science teaching and learning should be three-dimensional, reflecting science and engineering in the real world.

2. Science concepts and practices build from K through 12, with an emphasis on focus, coherence, and scientific literacy. Science education is a priority at all grade levels.

3. Content is not a collection of isolated facts to be memorized, rather a body of knowledge to be discovered through understanding phenomena and designing solutions to engineering problems.

4. Engineering is integrated into NGSS as an application of scientific knowledge to solving practical problems and real-world challenges.

5. The NGSS are designed to prepare students for college, career, and citizenship and overlap with Hawai‘i Common Core Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy standards in meaningful and substantive ways. With NGSS and Common Core, Hawai'i has a set of comprehensive standards that provides a solid K–12 foundation for all students.

In the classroom, NGSS-based teaching and learning may look very different as teachers use a range of strategies to address these instructional shifts. Some differences that may observed are described below.

PRACTICES

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

2. Developing and using models

3. Planning and carrying out investigations

4. Analyzing and interpreting data

5. Using mathematics and computational thinking

6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

7. Engaging in argument from evidence

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

CROSSCUTTING CONCEPTS OF THE FRAMEWORK 

1. Patterns.

2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation.

3. Scale, proportion, and quantity.

4. Systems and system models.

5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation.

6. Structure and function.

7. Stability and change.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

1. Physical Sciences

   • PS1: Matter and its interactions

   • PS2: Motion and stability: Forces and interactions

   • PS3: Energy

   • PS4: Waves and their applications in technologies for information transfer

2. Life Sciences

   • LS1: From molecules to organisms: Structures and processes

   • LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics

   • LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits

   • LS4: Biological evolution: Unity and diversity

3. Earth and Space Sciences

   • ESS1: Earth’s place in the universe

   • ESS2: Earth’s systems

   • ESS3: Earth and human activity

   • Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

   • ETS1: Engineering design

   • ETS2: Links among engineering, technology, science, and society