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Table 5 Alignment to Broader Reform Ideas: Number of Articles Coded

From: A content analysis of alignment messages to the Next Generation Science Standards

Alignment Code

Number of Articles

Code Description

Example

Engaging in Science Practices or “Doing Science”

42

Engaging in science practices or doing science as an emphasis of the NGSS

A major modification to the lesson that is different from the common version is that students are encouraged to think and act like a scientist/engineer to build and test their own models rather than following existing step-by-step procedures. (Lawrence et al., 2016)

Integration

39

Integration (or synonym) as an emphasis of the NGSS

Furthermore, our approach successfully integrates the three domains of the NGSS: the practice of science, the cross-cutting concepts, and the disciplinary core ideas. One of the goals of the NGSS is to help students see beyond disciplinary boundaries and understand the integrated nature of science. (Lubkowitzl, et al., 2017)

Engineering or Design

28

Engineering or Design as an emphasis of the NGSS

Although working at a molecular level, students are using the same process of design thinking that an engineer would apply to the development of a new product. Incorporating engineering design throughout the sciences is a central message of the Next Generation Science Standards. (Hunter, 2015)

Phenomena Focus

25

Use of a phenomenon as an emphasis of the NGSS.

My high school students rushed (yes, rushed) into class eager to “figure out” a phenomenon in the news—the death of a vibrant young high school football player in Georgia who died from drinking too much water.  That snapshot moment represents what my students and I have become: a Next Generation Science Standards classroom.

(Shelton, 2015)

Learning Progression

14

Progression of concepts as an emphasis of the NGSS

This unit, which aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013), is based on research into learning progressions, defined as “descriptions of the successively more sophisticated ways of thinking… as children…investigate a topic over a broad span of time” (NRC, 2007, p. 19). (Johnson & Dodson, 2016)

Inquiry

11

Inquiry as an emphasis of the NGSS

In this inquiry-based module, students are exposed to numerous learning outcomes expressed in the NGSS Understandings about the Nature of Science, including both crosscutting concepts and practices associated with Understanding the Nature of Science (NGSS Lead States, 2013). (Deffit et al., 2017)

Student-Centered

9

Student-centered learning, or student as authority, as an emphasis of the NGSS

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) put an emphasis on science and engineering practices while also focusing on student-centered activities and the involvement of inquiry in our lessons (NGSS Lead States, 2013). (Goode, 2019)