NGSS Science & Engineering Practices Geoff Gould Oceana High School Bree Barnett Dreyfuss Amador Valley High School

What are the Science & Engineering Practices?

What are the Science & Engineering Practices? 1. Asking questions and defining problems 2. Developing and using models 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data 5. Using mathematics and computational thinking 6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions 7. Engaging in argument from evidence 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Group Practice With your group please: –Read the page about your particular practice and discuss what you’ve read with your partners. –Discuss how you already use this practice in your classroom and ideas for how you could use this practice in the future. We will share out in 20 minutes

Group Practice How can this practice be implemented in our classrooms? What questions do you still have about this practice?

So how do we do it? • You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! • You don’t have to reinvent the wheel rewrite all your lessons. • You just have to tweak them with the practices in mind!

So how do we do it? • Demonstrations can be expanded to student run experiments • Students can try to optimize a phenomenon with the benefit of inquiry and developing a (mental) model

Picture of your demo turned experiment or video

So how do we do it? If your lab is typically a series of steps students follow to see specific phenomenon, then: • Write questions based on the phenomenon you want students to see that they would then have to explain and answer. • Assign each lab group one of the questions and have students write the procedure to answer that question.

So how do we do it? • Lab groups can write a Claim, Evidence and Reasoning to answer the question. • By sharing each question and CER the next day all students learn about the same properties with the benefit of inquiry and developing a (mental) model

Water Hot water Cold Water Alcohol Dry

So how do we do it? For almost any lab students can continue their thinking by asking further “what if” questions: • Ask students what they would like to investigate next based on their original lab • Ask students to apply their thinking to higher level questions or other scenarios

So how do we do it? For labs that require a lot of data manipulation: • Gather all student data (possible average if appropriate) in order to compare the relationships. • Allow students to use programs like Excel to handle large data sets.

This can lead to Projects If there is a lab for which students must make something: • Extend the lab or create a project by asking students to improve the design or the results or alter it to fit a new need or material restrictions (or cost). • Students can test and evaluate different materials or methods including their function, cost, etc.

Big Ideas • Everyone is learning these still! You are not expected to be NGSS masters right now. • You probably use them more than you think. • Adding more to your lessons can include small tweaks to what you already have.

In groups by discipline: • Discuss the ideas you have for adding more Science & Engineering Practices • Work together to adapt/ tweak/ change/ write an activity or lab or project that includes one of these practices.

Questions? • Email us anytime: [email protected] [email protected]

• Try some resources: Bozeman Science videos, NGSS @NSTA website, local teacher groups, etc. • Just keep trying! 