Moving Next Generation Science Standards into Practice: A Middle School Ecology Unit and Teacher Professional Development Model

Schools and teachers face unprecedented challenges in meeting the ambitious goals of integrating core interdisciplinary science ideas with science and engineering practices as described in new standards. This project developed a middle school ecology unit and related teacher professional development to help high-need and urban middle school students, including English Language Learners, understand these ideas and related practices.

Full Description

Schools and teachers face unprecedented challenges in meeting the ambitious goals of integrating core interdisciplinary science ideas with science and engineering practices as described in new standards. The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), in collaboration with the University of Connecticut (UConn), and the Lawrence Hall of Science (the Hall), developed a middle school ecology unit and related teacher professional development to help high-need and urban middle school students, including English Language Learners, understand these ideas and related practices. Teachers were supported through professional development that is directly linked to the curriculum and is designed to develop their science content knowledge as well as their knowledge of how to teach the curriculum. The project was built on existing AMNH resources that include video and text passages supported with literacy strategies, online interactive data tools to plan and carry out investigations, and prior research on these resources used with teachers in professional development and with students in classrooms. In addition to serving the schools, teachers and students who directly participate, the project's deliverables included the ecology unit, teacher professional development, assessment tools, and a model for designing such comprehensives science programs that relate to NGSS.

The curriculum unit was modeled after the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E model that will use the 5 Phases (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) for students to work through with each of five themes: Ecological Communities, Food Webs, A River Ecosystem, Zebra Mussel Invasion, and Monitoring Human Impact. Teachers participated in 12 days of professional development that introduced the program's pedagogical approach (the 5E model) and how it reflects NGSS, with teachers having significant time to learn the science, try out the activities, learn how to facilitate the program, provide feedback on the program as part of the evaluation, and reflect on their practice. The initial approach to the curriculum and teacher professional development was designed in Year 1 and then iteratively revised and evaluated in Years 2-4 through formative evaluation that focuses on curriculum PD, and measures of student and teacher outcomes. The evaluation assessed the contribution of teacher science and pedagogical knowledge to increases in student knowledge. The evaluation findings and assessment tools developed for the project provide the foundation for a future efficacy study. The project was one of a relatively small number of projects funded through NSF's DRK-12 program that directly addresses the need for NGSS-related learning resources. The project's learning resources, assessment tools, and model for designing NGSS-related and comprehensive science programs were shared through professional publications, conference and workshop presentations, and liaison with organizations active in developing new resources bring NGSS into practice.

Disruptions Curriculum Website, with links to Discruptions in Ecosystems:

Inventory of items for assessing teachers' knowledge of content and PCK


Project Videos

2018 STEM for All Video Showcase

Title: Disruptions in Ecosystems

Presenter(s): Maia Binding, Dora Kastel, & Anna MacPherson


PROJECT KEYWORDS

Project Materials

Title Type Post date Sort ascending
Writing a Scientific Explanation Resource
Disruptions in Ecosystems Resource
Classroom Videos from Disruptions in Ecosystems Unit Resource