Curriculum Codesign as a Strategy for Supporting Equitable Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards

• In Event: 29.030 - Equity-Focused Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards: Exploring Models of Hope and Possibility

Abstract

Objectives
This poster investigates how routines and tools for engaging teachers in co-design of high school biology curriculum materials can support teachers’ developing understanding of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2013) needed for equitable implementation of the standards.

Perspectives
Few curricula address the performance expectations of the NGSS or the vision of the Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012). Many districts that have adopted the NGSS are adapting existing curriculum materials or creating their own. Co-design of curriculum materials presents one promising strategy for supporting equitable implementation of the NGSS. Co-design is a highly-facilitated process in which educators, researchers, and developers work together in defined roles to design an educational innovation, realize the design in one or more prototypes, and evaluate each prototype’s significance for addressing a concrete educational need (Penuel, Roschelle, & Shechtman, 2007). When successful, co-design results in usable innovations and productive conditions for teacher learning (Dolonen & Ludvigsen, 2013). Tools and routines that focus on engaging in science practices and on building on interests and experiences of all students, in particular, promote equitable implementation of the NGSS.

Methods
We used an embedded, multiple-case study approach (Stake, 2005) to address our key research question: What co-design tools and routines help teachers develop understanding of how to promote equitable implementation of the NGSS?
Nine high school teachers participated in a week-long workshop that blended opportunities to learn about the NGSS with design activities aimed at developing a biology unit organized to address performance expectations related to how and why organisms interact with their environment and the effects of these interactions (ecosystems).

The design employed three key tools and routines designed to highlight key shifts of the NGSS. A routine for developing evidence statements for science practices provided opportunities for teachers to develop understandings of those practices. A science phenomenon jigsaw activity highlighted the need to bring together disciplinary core ideas, student interests and experiences, and knowledge of student learning to select phenomena that can anchor instruction. A storyline tool provided a structure for supporting design of coherent sequences of instruction that engage students in science practices.

Data sources
The analysis of teacher change utilized three primary sources of data: (1) a pre-workshop survey of teachers’ backgrounds and their understanding of the NGSS; (2) videotaped interactions of participants in the workshop; and (3) post-workshop reflections of teachers.

Results
The baseline survey indicated few teachers had much familiarity with the NGSS; they knew the inclusion of engineering was one of the shifts, but only one mentioned the emphasis on practices as a central component. Their post-workshop reflections made more mentions of key shifts, especially engaging students in practices (n = 4). Evidence from both reflections and video show that the storyline tool was particularly useful for both facilitating coherence in design and keeping a focus on what could support students’ productive engagement in phenomena that would capitalize on potential interests.

Scientific / scholarly significance
This analysis shows the potential of routines that blend design and learning for helping teachers make sense of new standards.

Authors

• William R. Penuel, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Samuel Severance, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Brian J. Reiser, Northwestern University

• Patricia Kincaid, Denver Public Schools

• Jeffrey Miller, Denver Public Schools

• Jennifer Yacoubian, Denver Public Schools

• Cathy Martin, Denver Public Schools

• Heather Leary, Brigham Young University - Idaho