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How Teachers Are Retooling Lessons Using the EQuIP Rubric
Sometimes finding the right book or article can be the key to opening our minds to new ideas. A few years back, NSTA published a special journal series on the NGSS, and I recently re-read a few of them. Three in particular highlighted teachers’ exp...
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Q and A With Jim Short on Instructional Materials
Why do instructional materials for science need to change?...
By Cindy Workosky
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A Learning Trajectory for Sensemaking in Science
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) offer teachers the opportunity to consider teaching science in a new way. We help students engage with, wonder about, and make sense of natural phenomena, which closely resembles how scientists perceive th...
By Cindy Workosky
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The Engineering Design Process: A Middle School Approach
To support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Middle School Engineering Design, we have three goals for our students: to define problems accurately, design the best solution using a rigorous process, and evaluate and improve their designs b...
By Cindy Workosky
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Seeking a New Way to Assess Science at All Levels
The word assessment can prompt feelings of dread, mistrust, or outright hate in many teachers. That’s distressing, as quality instruction includes quality assessment. Unfortunately, we have allowed assessment to become the “tail that wags the dog...
By Cindy Workosky
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Kentucky’s Systems Approach to Assessing Three-Dimensional Standards
One thing is clear about our multi-dimensional standards: They require a complex and thoughtful approach to assessment. No single, conventional, summative test can be expected to provide reliable data sufficient enough to satisfy the demands of all p...
By Cindy Workosky
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Gravitational Interactions and 3-D Learning in Middle School
I recently embarked on a journey with K–8 teachers in Vermont to learn how to be intentional about planning for three-dimensional (3-D) learning in the classroom....
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
It is truly an exciting time in science education. Science educators across the country are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science guided by the Framework for K–12 Science Education (Framework). As a result, science instruction is c...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
How NGSS and CCSS for ELA/Literacy Address Argument
In the summer of 2015, I observed an elementary science teacher from an NGSS-adopted state who made a presentation to her cohort of close to 100 K–12 science teacher leaders and administrators from schools, districts, and the state. After presentin...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Using Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) Strategy to Improve Student Learning
This past school year, I used claim, evidence, reasoning (CER) statements to show three-dimensional learning in my classroom. Several tools are available for doing this, but the one my students like is the CER Graphic Organizer and Transition Words L...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
You Teach What? I’m So Sorry! Building a Better Body and Building Better Argumentation
I am always amazed at the looks on people’s faces when I tell them I teach middle school. They seem to pity me for having a position I chose and love! They inform me that middle school “tween-agers” are argumentative, stubborn, and at times, ad...
By Cindy Workosky
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Why Anchoring Phenomena Are Important in the NGSS Classroom
Who is Ivor Robson, and why is he associated with anchoring phenomena? If you are a longtime golf aficionado, you know that Ivor Robson had a special role at the British Open. Robson spent 41 years introducing each player on the first tee, and he nev...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
When I began aligning my instruction to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), I got lost in the details. But when I realized that phenomena could be used to anchor linked disciplinary core ideas, I started to visualize the course as a whole a...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
My ‘Phenomenal’ Journey in Elementary
I am the type of educator who gets very excited about new strategies, new and innovative technology, and new activities for students. However, I was more nervous about than excited about to choosing phenomena for my science units. I felt tremendous p...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
At the core of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) classroom is the sequence of exposing students to an interesting natural phenomenon, having students generate questions about the phenomenon, investigating student questions, then creating a s...
By Cindy Workosky