NGSS Storylines - Paradigms for Teaching and Learning Physics

Introduction

What is a Storyline?

A storyline is a coherent sequence of lessons, in which each step is driven by students' questions that arise from their interactions with phenomena. A student's goal should always be to explain a phenomenon or solve a problem. At each step, students make progress on the classroom's questions through science and engineering practices, to figure out a piece of a science idea. Each piece they figure out adds to the developing explanation, model, or designed solution. Each step may also generate questions that lead to the next step in the storyline. Together, what students figure out helps explain the unit's phenomena or solve the problems they have identified. A storyline provides a coherent path toward building disciplinary core idea and crosscutting concepts, piece by piece, anchored in students' own questions. (ngssstoylines.org)

Often the importance of a particular problem or idea is clear to the teacher, but not to the students. For example, the teacher knows how learning about the cell will help with important biological questions; but for students, they are learning about cells because that's the title of the current chapter in the textbook. The teacher may know how a particular chemistry experiment will teach students something about conservation of matter; but to the students, they are doing the experiment because they are following the directions. In a storyline, students should be involved in co-constructing the question we are working on, and should see the activity as helping make progress on that question. In a storyline, the coherence is from the students' perspective, not just the teacher's.

Often the reason a particular problem or idea is important is clear to the teacher, but not to the students. For example, the teacher may know how a particular physics experiment will help understand something about conservation of physics, but to students, they are doing the experiment because they are following the directions. In a storyline, students should be involved in co-constructing the question we are working on, and should see the activity as helping make progress on that question. In a storyline, the coherence is from the students' perspective, not just the teacher's.

Bundling of Performance Expectations to tell a story 

Collaborative Document

The Performance Expectations associated with the topic Energy help students formulate an answer to the question, “How is energy transferred and conserved?” The disciplinary core idea expressed in the Framework for PS3 is broken down into four sub-core ideas: (1) Definitions of Energy, (2) Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer, the (3) Relationship between Energy and Forces, and Energy in Chemical Process and Everyday Life. 

The Performance Expectations associated with the topic Waves and Electromagnetic Radiation are critical to understand how many new technologies work. As such, this disciplinary core idea helps students answer the question, “How are waves used to transfer energy and send and store information?” The disciplinary core idea in PS4 is broken down into (1) Wave Properties, (2) Electromagnetic Radiation, and (3) Information Technologies and Instrumentation. Students are able to apply understanding of how wave properties and the interactions of electromagnetic radiation with matter can transfer information across long distances, store information, and investigate nature on many scales. 

Storyline 1 - Four-course outline

Storyline 2 - California Science Framework - 3-course model

Sample activities

Forces and motion

Forces at a distance

Planetary Motion

Energy Conversion

Nuclear Processes / Universe

Who cares?

Electromagnetic Spectrum