NEXT
STEPS FOR
THE NGSS
A SKEPTIC’S VIEW
PAUL BRUNO, 8 TH GRADE SCIENCE
WATTS LEARNING CENTER CHARTER MIDDLE SCHOOL
MY VIEW OF THE NGSS
1. Difficult to navigate
MY VIEW OF THE NGSS
2. Extremely vague
MY VIEW OF THE NGSS
3.
Too much “skills”, not enough knowledge.
“Research to date provides little guidance about how to help learners
aggregate transferable competencies across disciplines. This may be a
shortcoming in the research or a reflection of the domain-specific nature of
transfer…Foundations and federal agencies should support programs of
research designed to illuminate whether, and to what extent, teaching for
transfer within an academic discipline can facilitate transfer across
disciplines.” – National Research Council, 2012
“We are unable to find a domain-general, cognitive strategy that has been
described and tested for effectiveness using randomized, controlled trials
varying one factor at a time with far transfer test tasks to eliminate the effects
of domain-specific knowledge…[W]hen performing a cognitive task requiring
domain-specific knowledge…the presence or absence of this knowledge is
the best predictor of performance.” – Tricot & Sweller, Educational
Psychology Review, 2013
CHALLENGE #1:
MIDDLE SCHOOL
CONTENT SEQUENCING
• Integrated middle school standards
CHALLENGE #2:
CONFLICTING DEMANDS
• Standards vs. Tests
CHALLENGE #3:
CLARIFYING THE STANDARDS
• At the national level
• At the state level
• Science framework revision
•
Jan/Feb focus groups; apply by Dec 2
• At the school & classroom level
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
Paul Bruno, 8th Grade Science
Watts Learning Center Charter Middle School
[email protected]
@MrPABruno
www.paul-bruno.com