Crosscutting Concepts (C3)–
Melding Mechanisms, Models, & Minds
Richard A. Duschl
The Pennsylvania State University
Building Capacity for State Science
Education – September 30, 2011
Crosscutting Concepts
Core Ideas
+ Scientific Practices
Inquiry & Nature of Science
Curriculum
Instruction
+ Assessment
Aligned
Instruction-Assisted
Development & Learning
Performances
When did NOS become a focus of Science
Education?
James Bryant Conant (1947) On Understanding Science: An Historical
Approach (Yale University Press)
Science Education for Non-scientists – lawyers, writers, teachers, public
servants, businessman
Clarification of Popular Thinking about Methods of Science
Close study of a FEW SIMPLE Case Histories
Cultural Assimilation of Science . . .in the New Age of machines and
experts.
Some understanding of science – Pure & Applied (Is research & method
different?) vs. Social Sciences (Is it really science?)
Tactics & Strategies of Science as the goal of
science education for non-scientists (p 12)
“The stumbling way in which even the ablest of the early
scientists had to fight through thickets of enormous
observation, misleading generalizations, inadequate
formulations and unconscious prejudice is the story which it
seem to me needs telling” (p 15)
Philosophical analysis has led to misunderstandings of
science (Logical positivism, language & logic)
“The case histories would almost all be chosen from early
days in the evolution of the modern discipline.” (p 17)
Physics – 17th & 18th Centuries
Chemistry – 18th & 19th Centuries
Geology – early 19th Centuries
Biology – 18th & 19th Centuries (certain phases)
From Duschl & Hamilton (2011). Science. In P.
Alexander & R. Mayer, eds. Handbook on Learning
and Teaching, London: Routledge.
[P]hilosophy of science had been conducted in a relatively a priori
fashion…with philosophers of science just thinking about what
scientists ought to do, rather than about what they actually do do.
This all began to change in the 1960s and 1970s, when philosophy of
science took its’ so-called “historical turn.” [emphasis in original]
(Carruthers et al., 2002, p. 3)
It became important, then, to see science, too, as a natural
phenomenon, somehow recruiting a variety of natural processes and
mechanisms–both cognitive and social–to achieve its results.
Philosophers of science began to look, not just to history, but also to
cognitive psychology in their search for an understanding of scientific
activity. (Carruthers et al., 2002, p. 4)
Pickering’s Mangle of Practice
“three elements: a “material procedure” which involves
setting up, running and monitoring an apparatus; an
“instrumental model,” which conceives how the apparatus
should function; and a “phenomenal model,” which
“endows experimental findings within meaning and
significance . . . a conceptual understanding of whatever
aspect of the phenomenal world is under investigation.
The “hard work” of science comes in trying to make all
these work together” (Zammito, 2004; pp. 226-227).
Ford, M. (2008). “Grasp of practice” as a reasoning resource for
inquiry and nature of science understanding. Science &
Education, 17, 147–177.
Deepening & Broadening
Scientific Explanations (Thagard, 2007)
Epistemic Achievements
Epistemic Attempts/Failures
Relativity Theory
Crystalline Spheres Astronomy
Quantum Theory
Catastrophist (Flood) Geology
Atomic Theory of Matter
Phlogiston Theory of Chemistry
Evolution by Natural Selection
Caloric Theory of Heat
Genetics/Cell Theory
Vital Force Theory of Physiology
Germ Theory of Disease
Ether Theories of Electromagnetism
and Optics
Plate Tectonic Theory
Theories of Spontaneous Generation
Thomas
Eakin
“The Gross
Clinic”
1875
Taking
Science to
School (TSTS)
Ready, Set
Science! (RSS)
National Research
Council 2007
What Is Science?
Science is built up of facts as a house is of stones, but a collection of facts
is no more a science than a pile of stones is a house. -Henri Poincare
Science involves:
Building/Refining theories and models
Collecting and analyzing data from observations
or experiments
Constructing & Critiquing arguments
Using specialized ways of talking, writing and
representing phenomena
Science is a social phenomena with unique norms for
participation in a community of peers.
NRC, 2007 Taking Science to School
Teaching Science Practices
1. Science
in Social Interactions
A. Participation in argumentation that leads to refining
knowledge claims
B. Coordination of evidence to build and refine theories and
models
2. The
Specialized Language of Science
A. Identify and ask questions
B. Describe epistemic status of an idea
C. Critique an idea apart from the author or proponent
3. Work
with Scientific Representations and Tools
A. Use diagrams, figures, visualizations and mathematical
representations to convey complex ideas, patterns, trends and
proposed.
NRC, 2007 Taking Science to School
National Research Council 1996
AAAS 1993
National Science Education
Standards Content Domains
Big Cs
Little Cs
Life Science
Unifying Principles &
Themes
Physical Science
Earth/Space Science
Inquiry
Science & Technology
Science in Personal &
Social Contexts
Nature of Science
NAEP 2009
The set of crosscutting
3
concepts defined here is
similar to those that appear
in other standards
documents, in which they
have been called “unifying
concepts” (NSES) or
“common themes” (SFAA) .
Regardless of the labels or
organizational schemes used
Tissue Engineering Laboratory
in these documents, all of
Georgia Tech (Nersessian, 2008)
them stress that it is
important for students to
come to recognize the
concepts common to so
many areas of science and
engineering.
C
Science for All Americans
Common Themes
Systems
Models – Physical, Conceptual, Mathematical
Constancy & Change –
Constancy - Stability and Equilibrium,
Conservation, Symmetry,
Patterns of Change – Trends, Cycles, Chaos
Evolution – Possibilities, Rates, Interactions
Scale
NSES
Unifying Concepts and Processes
Systems, order and organization
Evidence, models and explanation
Change, constancy and measurement
Evolution and equilibrium
Form and Function
NSES
Cubes (C3) for Cubers(CS3)
Patterns (5)
Cause & Effect (5)
Scale, Proportion &
Quantity (2)
Systems and Systems
Models (1, 3, 7)
Energy and Matter in
Systems (4)
Form & Function (6)
Stability (1)
Science: College Board Standards for College Success
Science & (Engineering) Practices
1. Asking questions (for science) and defining
problems (for engineering) (1)
2. Developing and using models (4)
3. Planning and carrying out investigations (2)
4. Analyzing and interpreting data (3)
5. Using mathematics and computational
thinking (5)
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and
designing solutions (for engineering) (4)
7. Engaging in argument from evidence (4)
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating
information (1-5)
Science: College Board Standards for College Success
Science & (Engineering) Practices
Patterns (3, 4)
Cause & Effect (2)
Scale, Proportion &
Quantity (4)
Systems and Systems
Models (5)
Energy and Matter in
Systems (1)
Form & Function (1)
Stability (4, 5)
Science: College Board Standards for College Success
C3
“(The) crosscutting
concepts begins with two
concepts that are
fundamental to the
nature of science: that
observed patterns can be
explained and that
science investigates cause
and-effect relationships
by seeking the
mechanisms that
underlie them.”
The next concept—scale,
proportion, and quantity—
concerns the sizes of things and
the mathematical relationships
among disparate elements.
The next four concepts—systems
and system models, energy and
matter flows, structure and
function, and stability and
change—are interrelated in that
the first is illuminated by the
other three. Each concept also
stands alone as one that occurs in
virtually all areas of science and is
an important consideration for
engineered systems as well.
C3
Source-Transmission-Receptor
Theory of Observation
Shapere, D. (1982). The concept of observation in science and
philosophy. Philosophy of Science, 59, 485-525.
Theory of Source - Theory of Transmission - Theory of
Reception
Neutrino Capture Experiments – Vats in Deep Earth Mines
Ocean Salinity Measurements – Satellite detected Salinity Variations
in Oceans to Model Climate Change
Groundwater Depletion Measurements – Coupled satellites processing
gravity fluctuations
Problematizing Evidence/Discovery Science
Measurement/Observation
Data
Evidence
Problem/Question
Explanation/Theory
Pattern/Model
Evidence-Explanation Continuum
• It has in its heart the question: “What counts”?
• It seeks to work out the details of the process of
constructing scientific explanations
• It refers to both the content and nature of explanations
and the dialectic process of explanation construction
and communication within social contexts
• It considers not only cognitive, but also
epistemological and social aspects of dealing with
data that lead to a change in scientific
understandings
4 Strands of Scientific Proficiency




Know, use and interpret
scientific explanations of the
natural world.
Generate and evaluate
scientific evidence and
explanations.
Understand the nature and
development of scientific
knowledge.
Participate productively in
scientific practices and
discourse.
INTERCONNECTIONS BETWEEN CROSSCUTTING
CONCEPTS AND DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEAS
Crosscutting concepts should be reinforced by repeated use of
them in the context of instruction in the disciplinary core ideas
presented in Chapters 5-8.
Crosscutting concepts can provide a connective structure that
supports students’ understanding of sciences as disciplines and
that facilitates their comprehension of the systems under study
in particular disciplines.
Crosscutting concepts should not be taught in isolation from the
examples provided in the disciplinary context. Moreover, use of
a common language for these concepts across disciplines will
help students recognize that the same concept is relevant across
different contexts.
Assessments to Capture Performance,
Gauge Progress
Embedded - part of daily teaching/activities
Formal/informal observations Ss performance
relative to content and epistemic practices.
Benchmark - occur periodically within module
Tied to specific epistemic/reasoning practice; e.g.,
causal explanations; modeling; argumentation
Performance - larger events, Ss presented with problem
that requires both content and epistemic practices
Use knowledge in generative way, use evidence to
support explanations,
Create Learning Performances
What are Learning Performances?
Learning performances define, in cognitive terms, what it
means for learners to “understand” a particular idea
Learning performances define how the knowledge is used in
reasoning about questions and phenomena
Why Learning Performances
Know or understand is too vague
Performances require learners to use the ideas.
Use terms that describe the performance you want students to learn
and be able to do.
Identify, Define, Refine, Analyze and Interpret data, Explain,
Build, Model, Design …
New View of NOS
3
C & SPs
Emphasizes the role of models and data construction
in the scientific practices of theory development.
Sees the scientific community, and not individual
scientists, as an essential part of the scientific process.
Sees the cognitive scientific processes and scientific
practices as a distributed system that includes
instruments, forms of representation, and agreed upon
systems for communication and argument.
New Technologies and
Tools give rise to New
Theories - Thank You!
New
Technologies
Electro-spray Ionization
Mass Spectrometer
Nobel Prize for John Fenn - Yale
University
Evolution of
Seismographs
New Tools
Crust of the Earth as
Related to Zoology
San Francisco Topo Map & Google Earth
Geographic Information Systems
New Theories
Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny