Crosscutting Concepts

NSTA Kids

Wild Wonderings: Scientists and Their Questions

Click here to view video of Wild Wonderings Let your curiosity run wild! This lively book will inspire you to ask questions like scientists do. Why? Because questions can lead you to amazing discoveries. Like what? Like when theoretical physicist ...

Journal Article

Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Initial Knowledge for Teaching Related to Crosscutting Concepts within 3D Learning and Teaching

This study aims to contribute to the growing body of research on the role of crosscutting concepts (CCCs) in three-dimensional (3D) teaching and learning by examining the complexity of elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs) knowledge for teaching r...

NSTA Kids

Next Time You See a Snowflake

Click here to view video of Next Time You See a Snowflake This book will have you seeing snowflakes in a whole new way. You’ll learn about the science of snowflakes – how they form, why they are six-sided, what conditions are necessary for the...

Journal Article

Learning to be an Ambitious Science Teacher

Since the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), students are expected to learn science according to the three-dimensions (DCI, SEP, CCC). In order for teachers to support the three-dimensional learning of their students, they need ...

Journal Article

Mapping in Two and Three Dimensions

Second graders used their own school-ground explorations, using journals and iPads for pictures and narrated videos, to create traditional, two-dimensional models of their school-grounds and all its natural and human-made features. These data collect...

Journal Article

Patterns are Everywhere: Exploring the schoolyard to facilitate thinking about science phenomena

After realizing the difficulty educators face with integrating the crosscutting concepts (CCCs) from the Next Generation Science Standards into their lessons and noticing missed opportunities for caregivers to engage children in scientific thinking, ...

Journal Article

Helping Students Use Crosscutting Concepts to Guide Sensemaking of Anchoring Phenomena

Crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are designed to help students make sense of phenomena across multiple scientific disciplines (National Research Council 2012). Since they are applicable to explaining so many different phenomena, they have the potential t...

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