March 2022

LEVERAGING THE NEW YORK STATE SCIENCE LEARNING STANDARDS (NYSSLS) TO SUPPORT CRITICAL THINKING

BY: David Jacob, Regional Science Coordinator

The vision of the next generation of science standards is not just a change in what science disciplinary ideas are taught but how they are taught. Implementing these new science standards is not a content shift but a pedagogy shift. In the United States, 20 states (and the District of Columbia) have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). An additional 24 states, like New York, have adopted a modified version of the NGSS. The science standards are based on the same primary document, the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education for all of these states. The change in science standards for so many states means that approximately 70% of US classrooms use similar instructional goals for the first time in US history.

So, what do these shifts mean for schools in New York? One of the phrases I have heard most frequently at NGSS-focused conferences is that students will move from “learning about” to “figuring out.” The vision is that students will act more like modern scientists by making sense of scientific information than passive learners ingesting facts from science history without applying this information to a problem. Students are expected to actively use the Science and Engineering Practices (SEP) as tools to figure out why a natural phenomenon occurs or how to engineer a solution to a human problem. The vision also wants students to use several thinking lenses called Crosscutting Concepts (CCC) to understand what they are figuring out. These two elements, the SEPs and CCCs, are foundational to the shift in pedagogy.

Interestingly, this vision for science education provides explicit ways students are expected to apply the 21^st century skills we want them to develop (critical thinking, communication skills, creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration, information literacy, technology skills and digital literacy, media literacy, global awareness, Self-direction, social skills, and literacy skills, etc.). These skills are all articulated throughout the language of the NYSSLS.

Below is a simplified example of how a student may “figure out” phenomenon-based tasks in a science classroom.

· A student will collaborate with others to make sense of a simple phenomenon based on Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI).

o For example, what happens on the outside of a cold aluminum can on a warm moist day (MS-ESS2-4)? Water droplets will start forming on the outside of the can. What causes this familiar phenomenon to occur?

· Where does the water come from? (SEP- Asking Questions)

· What kind of test could I design to see to what extent this phenomenon happens? (What if the temperature of the can changed? SEP - Planning Investigations)

· Can I start to make sense of this phenomenon by using visuals to explain what is happening? (SEPs – Developing Models and/or Constructing Explanations).

· After I collect data, how can I process this information (CCCs - Cause and Effect, Patterns, or Energy and Matter)

The vision for the NYSSLS intends students to mimic scientific approaches to problem-solving and for teachers to develop students’ analytical abilities (using the SEPs and CCCs) to approach problem-solving. These approaches are essential for all Americans to develop scientific literacy. Still, the application to other subjects is evident by similar goals in the New York Learning Standards in ELA, Math, and Social Studies. To create lifelong learners, we should design learning experiences that develop sensemaking methodologies that can be applied to multiple situations and disciplines. We can prepare students for rapidly changing world situations by cultivating student sensemaking. As educators, we should be preparing our citizenry to obtain, evaluate, and communicate information that has been analyzed and critiqued in our communities. Students must have the habits of mind to sort through the tremendous amounts of data we have access to, so they can make decisions based on high-quality data and sort the good information from the bad. We can find this same goal in multiple disciplines.

One of the unique features of this shared vision for K-12 Science Education is that both instruction and assessment should have similar structures at the most basic level:

· Present a phenomenon for sensemaking aligned to a specific DCI understanding

· Provide data sources (qualitative photos, graphs, videos, data tables, etc.)

· Students use SEPs and CCCs to make sense of a familiar or novel phenomenon

· Students explain their understanding so that a teacher and/or classroom community can formatively/summatively assess the accuracy of that sensemaking

This oversimplification shows a formula that teachers can apply as they design instruction with students being in the driver’s seat when it comes to learning. When applied to assessment, it demonstrates that the sensemaking tools students learn during instruction and be applied to a cluster of three-dimensional questions around the DCI. This parallel encourages the transfer of knowledge and skills to the assessment given.