Identifying Teachers' Goals Around the Next Generation Science Standards by Coordinating Between Their Described and Observed Classroom Instruction

• In Event: Conceptualizing and Integrating STEM Teaching Practices

Abstract

Developing teachers’ understanding of the goals of the Next Generation Science Standards is a key component of professional development efforts. This understanding, though, may not be sufficient enough for teachers to re-frame their teaching around the demands of the NGSS. To enact these goals, teachers need opportunities to confront their goals in relation to the goals of the reform (Bryan, 2012). We interviewed and observed seven secondary science teachers about their classroom instruction around the science and engineering practices in the NGSS to understand the different goals teachers pursued and their relation to the goals of the NGSS. We present three contrasting case studies to depict the coherence and tensions between teachers’ goals and the goals of the NGSS.

Authors

• Jarod N. Kawasaki, University of California - Los Angeles

• William A. Sandoval, University of California - Los Angeles