The Next Generation Science Standards: Implications for Preservice and Inservice Science Teacher Education

Abstract

The long awaited Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States, 2013) were released during the Spring of 2013 and for K-12 school systems, teacher education programs, and colleges/universities reality is settling in. The NGSS provide an ambitious and complicated vision for K-12 science education in the US and there are plenty of implications for the teaching of science, preparation of science teachers, inservice professional development of science teachers, and for the knowledge and practices of university faculty who work with science teachers. These implications are especially pertinent to the members of ASTE, and for this reason we are dedicating a Special Issue of the journal to the NGSS. It is obvious that the NGSS provide a comprehensive conception of K-12 science in the US. However, it is approximately 17 years since the release of the National Science Education Standards (NSES). Many have already been asking, or will be asking, Is there anything really different? Do we really need another set of standards? Most of us have been through one or more sets of standards or Benchmarks and we have either heard or asked these questions before. As teacher educators, we must wonder if our lives will ever be the same again. Are our teacher education programs still valid? Can we prepare science teachers as we have been trying to do over our careers? If change is needed, what is this change? Most of us develop and deliver various forms of professional development in a variety of contexts. Hopefully, we have not been delivering ‘‘one size fits all’’ experiences, but how will our professional development programs change with