Transitioning to the NGSS
New Jersey Department of Education
Evolution of State Science Standards
1990s
1990s-2009
7/2010 – April 2013
1/2010 - 7/2011
How are they different?
Characteristics of a Core Idea
1. Have broad importance across multiple sciences or engineering
disciplines or be a key organizing principle of a single discipline.
2. Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex
ideas and solving problems.
3. Relate to the interests and life experiences of students or be
connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or
technological knowledge.
4. Be teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels
of depth and sophistication. That is, the idea can be made
accessible to younger students but is broad enough to sustain
continued investigation over years.
Core Ideas
Physical Science
• Matter & Its Interactions (PS1)
• Motion and Stability: Forces &
Interactions (PS2)
• Energy (PS3)
• Waves & Their Application in
Technologies for Information
Transfer (PS4)
Earth & Space Science
• Earth’s Place in the Universe
(ESS1)
• Earth’s Systems (ESS2)
• Earth & Human Activity (ESS3)
Life Science
• From Molecules to Organisms: Structures
& Processes (LS1)
• Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and
Dynamics (LS2)
• Heredity: Inheritance & Variation of Traits
(LS3)
• Biological Evolution: Unity & Diversity
(LS4)
Engineering Design
• Defining and Delimiting Engineering
Problems (ETS1.A)
• Developing Possible Solutions (ETS1.B)
• Optimizing the Design Solution (ETS1.3)
Example: Cells Theory
Essential functions of plant and animal cells are carried out by organelles.
Is the Jell-O Model Sufficient?
How does a cell help organisms survive?
(States, 2012) NGSS Appendix E: Disciplinary Core Idea Progressions
Coherence with Post-Secondary
Scientific and Engineering Practices
• Asking questions and defining problems
• Developing and using models
• Planning and carrying out investigations
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Using mathematics, information and computer technology,
and computational thinking
• Constructing explanations and designing solutions
• Engaging in argument from evidence
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Practices
All NGSS standards are defined using science and
engineering practices.
learners build their understandings by posing questions,
designing investigations, building explanations and
models of findings, and engaging in argumentation to
conduct principled comparisons of competing ideas and
reach consensus
Science and Engineering Practices
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
Crosscutting Concepts
Describe how (_________) is observable in the image?
1. Systems and system models
2. Energy and matter
3. Structure and function
Framework
Crosscutting Concepts pp. 83-102
Next Generation Science Standards
Foundation Boxes
Appendix G: Crosscutting Concepts
An Analogy between 3-Dimensional Learning
and Cooking
Basic Ingredients
(Core Ideas)
Kitchen Tools &
Techniques
(Practices)
Preparing a Meal
(Three dimensional Learning)
Herbs, Spices, &
Seasonings
(Crosscutting
Concepts)