Digital Visual and Informational
Amanda Fox-Markley, EED/420 November 17, 2014 Greg Twogood
Eight NGSS science and engineering practices
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Ask questions (for science) and define the problems (for engineering)
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Develop and use models
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Plan and carry out investigations
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Analyze and interpreting data
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Use mathematics and computational thinking
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Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
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Engaging in argument from evidence
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Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
1. Asking Questions
Students of all ages should ask questions to understand and define any problems he or she may have in science. "For engineering, they should ask questions to define the problem to be solved and to elicit ideas that lead to the constraints and specifications for its solution." ( Framework 2012, p. 56)
2.Developing and Using Models
Modeling should begin in early grades, as early as kindergarten. Students should be creating pictures and models.
3. Plan and Carry Out Investigations
Students must engage in investigations that are structured by the teacher because students are not likely to explore a question without guidance.
4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Raw data has little meaning on its own. Like scientists, students should be engaged in organizing and interpreting data through tables, graphs, or statistical analysis so that they may be used as evidence. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 61-62)
5. Use Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Mathematics are tools that should be used to represent variables and their relationships. “Scientists use mathematics to help them carry out investigations, analyze data, and build complex models (e.g., computer simulations)”. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 65)
6. Constructing Explanations
The goal of science is the development of theories that explain the world around us. Scientific explanations only become accepted theories when they are based on multiple independent lines of evidence, account for a breadth of phenomena, and have gone through rigorous peer review. Students need opportunities to construct and revise their own explanations of phenomena. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 68-69)
7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Some explanations are better than others. Students should be provided opportunities to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a line of evidence, argue for the explanations they construct, and defend their interpretations of the data. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 73)
8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Science cannot advance if scientists do not communicate their findings clearly and persuasively. Like scientists, students need opportunities to evaluate and discuss the findings with peers. They also need opportunities to read, make sense of, and produce the genres of texts that are intrinsic to science. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 76The Seven NGSS crosscutting concepts
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1. Patterns. Observed patterns of forms and events guide organization and classification, and they prompt questions about relationships and the factors that influence them.
2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation. Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated. Such mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts.
3. Scale, proportion, and quantity. In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different measures of size, time, and energy and to recognize how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure or performance.
4. Systems and system models. Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science and engineering.
5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation. Tracking fluxes of energy and matter into, out of, and within systems helps one understand the systems’ possibilities and limitations.
6. Structure and function. The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure determine many of its properties and functions.
7. Stability and change. For natural and built systems alike, conditions of stability and determinants of rates of change or evolution of a system are critical elements of study.
The four disciplinary core ideas and performance expectations
Students in Elementary school from K-5 grade develop an understanding of the four disciplinary core ideas: physical sciences; life sciences; earth and space sciences; and engineering, technology, and applications of science.