Examining teachers’ classroom strategies to understand their goals for student learning around the science practices in the Next Generation Science Standards

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe report on seven secondary science teachers’ initial efforts to understand and enact NGSS-aligned teaching. After interviewing and observing them over the course of the school year, we found that teachers revised their lessons to include instructional strategies that aimed to meet the demands of the NGSS. Yet at times, the purpose for which teachers used these strategies were misaligned with the demands of the NGSS. This suggests that appropriately supporting teachers during this time of science education reform must include opportunities for them to consider their own instructional goals in relation to the goals and demands of the NGSS. We present the strategies and goals identified from interviews with the seven teachers and the observations of their classroom teaching in order to illustrate the professional learning needs of the in-service science teachers in this study.