The United States is the world’s largest producer of science and technology research, but it also ranks at the bottom in terms of science literacy. How can we move towards a more informed society?
This Video Should Help:
The Framework for K 12 Science Education
The Framework for K 12 Science Education is a comprehensive set of guidelines for states and districts to use as they develop or revise their science curricula. The framework is designed to support excellence in science education by providing a shared vision of what all students should know and be able to do in science, engineering, and technology by the time they graduate from high school.
The framework consists of three dimensions that work together to provide a more complete picture of science education than any of the dimensions alone. The three dimensions are:
– Scientific and engineering practices
– Crosscutting concepts
– Disciplinary core ideas
The framework provides a vision of science education that is built on the foundation of existing research and practice, and it is informed by the best current thinking about how students learn. It also takes into account the changing nature of science and engineering, as well as the needs of our increasingly diverse population.
The Three Dimensions of the Framework
The Framework identifies three key dimensions for science education programs designed to prepare all students for success in college, careers, and citizenship.
The first dimension is practices. The practices are the ways of working that scientists and engineers use to investigate the natural world and design solutions. The Framework describes eight key practices: asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering); planning and carrying out investigations; using mathematics, information, and computational thinking; constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering); engaging in argument from evidence; and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. These practices should be integrated into all aspects of science instruction so that all students have opportunities to learn them.
The second dimension is crosscutting concepts. Crosscutting concepts are ideas that are fundamental to understanding how the world works which cut across traditional discipline boundaries. The Framework lists six crosscutting concepts: patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; energy and matter; structure and function; and stability and change. These concepts should be integrated into instruction at every grade level so that students learn to see relationships among disciplines.
The third dimension is core ideas in each of the four major domains of scienceufffdphysical sciences, life sciences, Earth and space sciences, and engineering designufffdto provide a coherent view of what studentsshould know about the natural world at different grade levels. For each domain, the Framework describes a set of disciplinary core ideas followed by a set of scientific practices that support studentsufffd understanding of those ideas. These core ideas are not meant to be taught in isolation but rather should be connected to one another within each domain as well as across domains.
The Nature of Science
The National Research Council’s “A Framework for K-12 Science Education” (Framework) provides a vision of what it means to engage in science and engineering, as well as how to prepare all students for success in today’s increasingly technology-rich world. The Framework is the result of a ten-year project of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that was launched in response to the National Science Education Standards, which were released in 1996. The Framework builds on advances in research on learning and teaching science since the publication of those standards and reflects the insights of many members of the science education community. It articulates a set of disciplinary core ideasufffdthe big ideas that organize what scientists studyufffdas well as a set of scientific and engineering practices that would help all students learn to use scientific and engineering ways of thinking. Finally, it describes how both disciplinary core ideas and scientific and engineering practices should be integrated in everything we teach so that all students are able to use these ways of thinking in their daily lives, whether they become scientists or not.
The Scientific and Engineering Practices
The National Research Council (NRC) A Framework for K 12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform the development of new standards for K 12 science education. The Framework describes what it means to engage in scientific and engineering practices, how these practices can be blended together to build student knowledge of core ideas in the disciplines of science, and how such knowledge can be acquired over time. The Framework is also designed to complement other efforts to define what students should know and be able to do in science and engineering, including the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
The Crosscutting Concepts
Across all grade levels and disciplines, the Frameworkufffds six Crosscutting Concepts are meant to help students see connections among the various fields of science. These concepts should be integrated throughout each disciplinary core idea, not taught as a separate unit.
The Crosscutting Concepts are:
-Patterns
-Cause and effect
-Scales and proportion
-Systems and system models
-Energy and matter
-Structure and function
The Core Ideas in Physical Science
A Framework for K 12 Science Education is a document that articulates the vision of what it means to engage in science as a set of core ideas, knowledge practices, and attitudes. It is intended to serve as a resource for educators, curriculum developers, and states as they work to improve science education in the United States.
The physical science core ideas build on one another as students advance through grades. By the time they reach high school, students should have a deep understanding of the following concepts:
-The structure and behavior of matter
-The nature of energy
-The interactions between matter and energy
-The role of engineering in designing solutions to problems
The Core Ideas in Life Science
The National Research Council’s (NRC) A Framework for K 12 Science Education is the basis for the development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The Framework was developed by a committee of experts in science, education, and engineering, and builds on the best available research on how students learn. It describes what students should know and be able to do at different grade levels in order to be prepared for college and careers in science, engineering, and related fields.
The Framework is organized around three dimensions:
-Core Ideas: The big ideas in each scientific discipline that have broad importance within and across disciplines.
-Crosscutting Concepts: Concepts that are common to all sciences and integrate the core ideas within and across disciplines.
-Science and Engineering Practices: The ways that scientists and engineers use their knowledge to solve problems, design systems, and test ideas.
While the NRC Framework provides a sound basis for the NGSS, it is important to note that the NGSS are not simply a translation of the Framework into grade-level standards. The NGSS were developed through a process that included input from teachers, scientists, engineers, business leaders, educational researchers, and others with expertise in science education. This input was used to identify the most important ideas from the Framework that should be included in the standards at each grade level. In addition, the NGSS were designed to provide students with opportunities to engage in the practices of science and engineering throughout their K 12 education.
The Core Ideas in Earth and Space Science
The National Science Education Standards (NSES) are a set of standards published in 1996 by the National Research Council (NRC) in the United States. The NSES detail what students should know and be able to do in their study of science at different grade levels. In 2012, the NRC released A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (the Framework), which builds on the NSES, providing a more detailed look at standards for K-12 science education.
The Framework organizes scientific core ideas into three dimensions: disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific and engineering practices. The dimensions are intended to work together to help students build a cohesive understanding of Earth and space science that can be applied across disciplines.
The disciplinary core ideas in Earth and space science give students a broad understanding of the history of the universe, the solar system, Earthufffds place in the universe, and the processes that shape our planet. These ideas are organized into four focus areas:
-The origin and evolution of the universe
-The origin and evolution of Earth
-Earthufffds systems
-Earth and human activity
Crosscutting concepts are ideas that connect across all disciplines of science. These concepts help students see relationships between concepts in different domains and see how scientific discoveries can be used to solve real-world problems. The crosscutting concepts addressed in the Framework are:
-Patterns
-Cause and effect
-Scale, proportion, quantity
-Systems and system models
-Energy and matter
-Structure and function Information & Empirical Evidence Models & explanations Scientific Enterprise
The Core Ideas in Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
In 2011, the National Research Council (NRC) released A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. The product of a decade of work by educators, researchers, and others dedicated to improving science education, the framework represents the first step in shaping new standards for K-12 science education.
The framework isolates three key elements essential for providing all students with a foundation in science: (1) Scientific and engineering practicesufffdthe ways in which scientists and engineers work; (2) Crosscutting conceptsufffdunifying themes that span all of science and engineering; and (3) Disciplinary core ideasufffdthe big ideas within specific science disciplines.
The framework doesnufffdt define what students should learn in science or how they should learn it. Rather, it provides guidance for developing curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development that will enable all students to achieve scientific literacy.
Implementation of the Framework
The Framework for K-12 Science Education is the culmination of a years-long process that involved hundreds of teachers, scientists, and science educators from across the United States. The Framework is designed to be used by states and districts as they develop or revise their science standards. The goal of the Framework is to ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of core ideas in science and engineering, as well as the ability to use those ideas to solve problems and think critically about real-world issues.
The Framework consists of three dimensions that work together to support student learning:
– Core Ideas: The central, organizing concepts in each domain of science.
– Crosscutting Concepts: Concepts that span across all domains of science, such as cause and effect, scale, and systems thinking.
– Scientific and Engineering Practices: The ways in which scientists and engineers work, such as asking questions, planning and carrying out investigations, and analyzing data.
In addition to the three dimensions of the Framework, the document also includes an overview of K-12 science education in the United States, a description of how the Framework was developed, and a set of tools for using the Framework in practice.
The “what is the ultimate goal of science in the framework that each learner should achieve?” is a question that asks what the ultimate goal of science education is. The article talks about how to teach students to think critically and scientifically.
