NGSS Appendix D and
7 Case Studies
Demographics in a Nutshell
• Poverty: “Majority of U.S. public school students are in
poverty” (51%), New York Times, January 16, 2015
•
Race and ethnicity: “U.S. school enrollment hits majorityminority milestone” (in fall 2015), Education Week,
February 1, 2015
•
Disability: 13% of students received special education
services in 2012-13
•
English language:
 21% of students speak a language other than English
at home in 2011
 9% of students participate in ELL programs in 2012-13
Teaching science for diversity is teaching science for all
Economically
Disadvantaged:
Grade 9 Physical Science
Racial and Ethnic Groups:
7 Case Studies
Grade 8 Life science
Disabilities:
Grade 6 Space Science
• Developing Conceptual Models to Explain Chemical
Processes
• Constructing Explanations to Compare the Cycle of
Matter and the Flow of Energy through Local Ecosystems
• Using Models of Space Systems to Describe Patterns
English Language Learners: • Developing and Using Models to Represent Earth’s
Surface Systems
Grade 2 Earth Science
Girls:
Grade 3 Engineering
Alternative Education:
Grade 10 & 11 Physical
Science
Gifted and Talented:
Grade 4 Life Science
• Defining Problems with Multiple Solutions within an
Ecosystem
• Constructing Explanations about Energy in Chemical
Processes
• Constructing Arguments about the Interaction of
Structure and Function in Plants and Animals
ELL Case Study
English Language
Learners:
Grade 2 Earth Science
Developing and Using Models to
Represent Earth’s Surface Systems
Emily Miller, NGSS Diversity and Equity Team Member
As you listen to ELL case study, identify
1. NGSS 3-dimensional learning
• Performance expectations




2-ESS2-1
2-ESS2-2
2-PS1-1
K-2-ETS1
Earth’s Systems
Earth’s Systems
Matter and its Interactions
Engineering Design
• Science and engineering practices
• Crosscutting concepts
• Disciplinary core ideas
2. Connections to CCSS for ELA and math
3. Science and language with ELLs
ELL Case Study: Is All Soil the Same?
1) The investigation is carried out by a class of
2nd grade students with 80% English
language learners.
While observing the soil in the school yard,
they ask if all soil is the same. Some
students think that sand is an example of
different soil. They develop a conceptual web
and discuss how they would be able to find
out.
ELL Case Study: Is All Soil the Same?
2) The students ask their families the driving
question in an interview for a homework
assignment. They share the answers with
their peers. They discuss the soil in different
parts of the country and home countries
where students come from.
A grandmother from Laos visits the class
and, through a school translator, describes
the rich soil in the rice field and wonders how
corn grows in the sandy soil in Wisconsin.
Making Home
Language and
Culture
Connections
ELL Case Study: Is All Soil the Same?
3) Based on the evidence that soil is different
around the world, the students wonder if it is
different in the neighborhood.
After choosing three different locations using
an aerial map and a topographic map, they
investigate whether soil within walking
distance of the school is the same.
Using an Aerial Map
and a Topographical
Map in the
Community
Field Notes
School Yard Coniferous Hill Urban Marsh
ELL Case Study: Is All Soil the Same?
4) The students develop “expert groups,” and
each group works on a soil profile model of one
area in the neighborhood.
Each group investigates (a) what makes up the
soil (sand, silt, clay, and organic materials) in
the area and (b) how quickly the soil filters
water.
The groups present their models to the whole
class. They talk about patterns they observe
across maps.
Modeling Soil Profiles to Explain Patterns
Urban Marsh
Coniferous Hill
School Yard
ELL Case Study: Is All Soil the Same?
5) The students are given three unidentified soil
samples that came from sites within walking
distance of the school.
They use the models to develop claims,
based on evidence, as to where the soil
came from.
Reasoning to Identify Soil Types
Using Evidence to
Support Claims
Writing Claims and Evidence on the White board
ELL Case Study: Is All Soil the Same?
6) One of the locations the students investigate is the
mucky and smelly soil under a highway (urban
marsh). It has a lot of trash and sand in it. They
argue that the trash ends up in the soil because of
the wind blowing the trash there and the sand is
washed into the soil from the highways.
The students care about this soil because it is right
next to the apartments where many students live.
This finding leads the students to consider solutions
to this problem, which is engineering.
Engineering
Solutions to
Trash Problem
Demographic
Groups
Student
Engagement
Classroom
Support
Strategies
School
Support
Systems
Home and
Community
Connections
Economically
Disadvantaged
Students
Racial and Ethnic
Groups
students’ sense of
place
project-based learning school resources and students’ funds of
funding
knowledge
multimodal
experiences
multiple
representations;
culturally relevant
pedagogy
role models and
mentors
Students with
Disabilities
accommodations and
modifications
differentiated
instruction;
Universal Design for
Learning;
Response to
Intervention
accommodations and family outreach
modifications
English Language
Learners
discourse practices
language and
literacy support
home language
support
home culture
connections
Girls
relevance;
real-world application
curricular focus
school structure
Students in
Alternative Education
safe learning
environment
individualized
academic support
Gifted and Talented
Students
strategic grouping;
self–direction
opportunities
fast pacing;
challenge level
after-school
opportunities;
career & technology
opportunities
school identification
programs
relevance;
real-world
application
family outreach
community
involvement;
culturally relevant
pedagogy
Family outreach
ELL Case Study:
Developing and Using Models to Represent Earth’s Surface Systems
. . . Ms. H. tried to center her science investigations in culturally relevant contexts, in this
case their neighborhood. (This “place-based” strategy established connections between
school science and the students’ community and lives.)
Ms. H. encouraged students to gather physical evidence for their claim that “soil was
different in different places.” They decided that the best way to support their claim was to
observe soil taken from different places near the school. (Practice: Planning and Carrying
Out Investigations.) They used a topographical map and an aerial photo map of the
neighborhood to determine soil sites that seemed different: a hill, the marsh, and the school
yard. They noticed that the sites had different trees—deciduous trees, no trees, and coniferous
trees—and they also had different elevations. (DCI: K-2-ESS2.B Earth’s Systems.) It was at
these sites that the students collected and investigated the soil, forming the basis for
comparisons based on evidence and the soil profile diagrams each group constructed.
The following week, Ms. H. helped her students think in terms of patterns when exploring
similarities and differences in the soil in the neighborhood. (CCC: Patterns.)
Performance Expectations (PEs)
2-ESS2-1 Earth’s Systems
2-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems
2-PS1-1 Matter and its Interactions
K-2-ETS1 Engineering Design
Science and Language
• Raise the bar for content (academically
rigorous)
• Raise the bar for language (language
intensive)
• Call for a high level of classroom
discourse for all students, including ELLs
CCSS for ELA and Literacy
ELA Practices (or capacities)
Key Features
1. Demonstrate independence
2. Build strong content knowledge
3. Respond to the varying
demands of audience, task,
purpose, and discipline
4. Comprehend as well as critique
5. Value evidence
6. Use technology and digital
media strategically and capably
7. Understand other perspectives
and cultures
Reading: Text complexity and the
growth of comprehension
(Handout 2, CCSS ELA, 2010, p. 7)
Writing: Text types, responding to
reading, and research
Speaking & Listening: Flexible
communication & collaboration
Language: Conventions, effective
use, and vocabulary
CCSS for Math
Mathematical Practices
Core Ideas
1. Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them
2. Reason abstractly and
quantitatively
3. Construct viable arguments and
critique the reasoning of others
4. Model with mathematics
5. Use appropriate tools strategically
6. Attend to precision
7. Look for and make use of structure
8. Look for and express regularity in
repeated reasoning
K-5
(Handout 3, CCSS Math, 2010, pp. 6-8)
Counting & Cardinality (K)
Operations & Algebraic Thinking
Number & Operations
Fractions (3)
Measurement & Data
Geometry
6-8
Ratios & Proportional Relationships
Number System
Expressions & Equations
Functions (8)
Geometry
Statistics & Probability
9-12
Number & Quantity
Algebra
Functions
Modeling
Geometry
Statistics & Probability
NGSS
Science & Engineering
Practices
1. Ask questions (for science) and define
problems (for engineering)
2. Develop and use models
3. Plan and carry out investigations
4. Analyze and interpret data
5. Use mathematics and computational
thinking
6. Construct explanations (for science)
and design solutions (for engineering)
7. Engage in argument from evidence
8. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate
information
Framework for K-12 Science Education (National
Research Council, 2012, pp. 41-82)
Crosscutting Concepts
1. Patterns
2. Cause and effect
3. Scale, proportion and quantity
4. Systems and system models
5. Energy and matter
6. Structure and function
7. Stability and change
Disciplinary Core Ideas
1. Physical Sciences
2. Life Sciences
3. Earth and Space Sciences
4. Engineering, Technology and
Applications of Science
Math
Science
M4. Models
with mathematics
S2: Develop & use models
S5: Use mathematics &
computational thinking
S1: Ask questions and define
M1: Make sense of problems
problems
and persevere in solving them
S3: Plan & carry out investigations
M2: Reason abstractly &
quantitatively
S4: Analyze & interpret data
M6: Attend to precision
S6: Construct explanations &
E2: Build a strong base of knowledge
design solutions
M7: Look for & make
through content rich texts
use of structure
E5: Read, write, and speak
M8: Look for &
grounded in evidence
make use of
E6: Use
S8: Obtain,
M3 & E4: Construct viable
regularity
technology
evaluate, &
arguments and critique
in repeated
& digital media
communicate
reasoning of others
reasoning
strategically &
information
S7: Engage in
capably
E3: Obtain, synthesize,
argument from
M5: Use appropriate
and report findings clearly
evidence
tools strategically
and effectively in response
to task and purpose
Commonalities
Among the Practices
in Science, Mathematics
and English Language Arts
E1: Demonstrate independence in reading complex
texts, and writing and speaking about them
E7: Come to understand other perspectives
and cultures through reading, listening,
and collaborations
Based on work by Tina Chuek ell.stanford.edu
ELA
www.nsta.org/ngss
ELLs: Old Paradigm
Content
Vocabulary
Language
Grammar
Native-like fluency
Source: Linquanti & Hakuta, 2012;
ell.stanford.edu
ELLs: New Paradigm
Content
Discourse
Modeling
Explanation
Argumentation**
Text (complex text)
Text structure
Sentence structure
Vocabulary
Grammar
Language
Source: Linquanti & Hakuta, 2012;
ell.stanford.edu
Language
Discourse
Text (complex text)
Explanation
Argumentation
Text structures
Sentence structures
Vocabulary
Grammar
ELA
Development of Language-Focused
Three-Dimensional Science
Instructional Materials to Support
English Language Learners in Fifth Grade
Okhee Lee
Lorena Llosa
(New Jersey Research Site)
Guadalupe Valdés
Helen Quinn
(California Research Site)
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant DRL-1503330).
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position, policy, or endorsement of
the funding agency.
Questions
Thank you!