Developing Crosscutting Concept Progressions in Earth Systems

• In Event: Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Curriculum and Instruction in the Science Classroom

Abstract

Science educators have begun integrating crosscutting concepts into instruction on science practices and the core ideas across science disciplines. These crosscutting concepts provide useful targets for learning, toward which students develop progressively sophisticated understandings. Crosscutting concept progressions are designed to specify how learning progresses over a single year during a science course, to provide teachers with a useful “roadmap” that can inform instruction and help both students and teachers to identify gaps in learning and determine ways to address them. This paper describes progressions for three crosscutting concepts, in the context of instruction in middle school Earth sciences, and results that support their use for developing prompts that elicit evidence of learning and for monitoring student progress.

Authors

• Jonathan Boxerman, WestEd

• Matt Silberglitt, WestEd

• Edys S. Quellmalz, WestEd