Abstract
The purpose of this Science Standards Content Crosswalk study is to compare the degree of alignment between Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Jordan’s science standards in K-8. A team of 5 science educators worked together to review each NGSS standard and decide whether there is a conceptual match for it in current Jordan science standards. Rigorous content analysis and interpretation approach was used to make decisions about matches between both sets of standards. Results revealed significant misalignments between the science learning outcomes identified by NGSS and those of Jordan. Results also showed that, Physical Sciences concepts had the highest percentage (58%) of not addressed concepts in 3-5 grade band followed by Earth and Space Sciences (42%) and Life Sciences concepts (36%). However, the highest percentage of not addressed concepts in grade band 6-8 were Earth and Space Sciences (58%) followed by Physical Sciences (46%) and Life Sciences (36%) concepts. This finding can support projections of the needs for new instructional materials and for subject-specific teachers’ professional development. The results also provide a clear direction for the newly established national center for curriculum to revise the national science standards and curricula.
Highlights
Textbooks quality has been correlated directly and indirectly to the success of education reforms and to the enhancement of students’ understanding (Abd-El-Khalick, Boujaoude, Duschl, Lederman, Mamlok-Naaman, & Hofstein, 2004; Chambliss & Calfee, 1989; Chiappetta & Fillman, 2007; Koppal & Caldwell, 2004)
Physical Sciences concepts had the highest percentage (58%) of not addressed concepts in 3-5 grade band followed by Earth and Space Sciences (42%) and Life Sciences concepts (36%)
What is the grade band shift in the Jordan’s science standards Framework versus the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)? It is important to note that this study focused only on science content standards because these were viewed to be most informative for Ministry of Education (MoE) leaders concerned about potential changes to curriculum and instructional materials resulting from NGSS comparison
Summary
Textbooks quality has been correlated directly and indirectly to the success of education reforms and to the enhancement of students’ understanding (Abd-El-Khalick, Boujaoude, Duschl, Lederman, Mamlok-Naaman, & Hofstein, 2004; Chambliss & Calfee, 1989; Chiappetta & Fillman, 2007; Koppal & Caldwell, 2004). Rich textbooks are shown to help students better understand the difficult concepts and overcome scientific misconceptions They are serve as a powerful instrument to raise students’ interests in learning science topics and improve their achievements in science. According to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies, teachers tend to spend fifty percent of their time in the class learning from textbooks (Schmidt et al, 1996). This precious time that student spend working with science textbooks necessitate paying serious attention from educators and textbooks designers to offer the best learning experiences to students
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