Evaluation of NGSS Practices Curricular Integration: How Many, How Much, and How Often?

March 18, 2024

Authors

Amanda Peel

New Mexico State University

Steven McGee

The Learning Partnership

A large urban midwestern district in the United States found that the schools in their wide- spanning district utilized curricular materials of varying rigor. The district began a Curriculum Equity Initiative (CEI) to ensure all schools in the district had equitable access to rigorous standards-based curricula. The CEI resulted in the development of a new high school curriculum, called Name (blinded for review), for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics available to all district teachers via an online platform. This curriculum was designed to align with the Next Generation Science Standards, which includes the Science and Engineering Practices that are mean to engage students in “doing science” to learn science (NGSS Lead States, 2013; NRC, 2012). This paper presents an evaluation of the new curriculum in terms of NGSS practices. The research question is: How are NGSS practices integrated into the district’s new curriculum? The most prevalent practice was Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information, followed by Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions, Engaging in Argument from Evidence, and Modeling. Asking Questions, Investigations, Data Analysis, and Math/CT were integrated the least. Comparisons between subjects and correlations are presented. This work begs the questions of NGSS practices: How many, How much, and How often?

Suggested Citation

Peel, A. & McGee, S. (2024, March 17-20). Evaluation of NGSS Practices Curricular Integration: How Many, How Much, and How Often? National Association of Research in Science Teaching Annual Meeting. Denver, CO. https://doi.org/10.51420/conf.2024.1

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