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Front Matter | A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas |The National Academies Press Login Register Cart Help A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012) Chapter:Front Matter Get This Book Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this book, to buy it in print, or to download it as a free PDF. Page i Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel A FRAMEWORK FOR K-12 SCIENCE EDUCATION Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards Board on Science Education Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington, D.C.www.nap.edu Page ii Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by grant numbers D09121.R01 and D09121.R02 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-21742-2 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-21742-3 Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu. Copyright 2012 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2012). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Page iii Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES Advisers to the Nation on Science, Enginnering and Medicine The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org Page iv Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel This page intentionally left blank. Page v Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel COMMITTEE ON A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR NEW K-12 SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS HELEN R. QUINN (Chair), Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University WYATT W. ANDERSON, Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens TANYA ATWATER, Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara PHILIP BELL, Learning Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle THOMAS B. CORCORAN, Teachers College, Columbia University RODOLFO DIRZO, Department of Biology, Stanford University PHILLIP A. GRIFFITHS, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey DUDLEY R. HERSCHBACH, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University LINDA P.B. KATEHI, Office of the Chancellor, University of California, Davis JOHN C. MATHER, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland BRETT D. MOULDING, Utah Partnership for Effective Science Teaching and Learning, Ogden JONATHAN OSBORNE, School of Education, Stanford University JAMES W. PELLEGRINO, Department of Psychology and Learning Sciences Research Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago STEPHEN L. PRUITT, Office of the State Superintendent of Schools, Georgia Department of Education (until June 2010) BRIAN REISER, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University REBECCA R. RICHARDS-KORTUM, Department of Bioengineering, Rice University WALTER G. SECADA, School of Education, University of Miami DEBORAH C. SMITH, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Pennsylvania State University HEIDI A. SCHWEINGRUBER, Study Co-director THOMAS E. KELLER, Study Co-director MICHAEL A. FEDER, Senior Program Officer (until February 2011) MARTIN STORKSDIECK, Board Director KELLY A. DUNCAN, Senior Program Assistant (until October 2010) REBECCA KRONE, Program Associate STEVEN MARCUS, Editorial Consultant Page vi Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel BOARD ON SCIENCE EDUCATION HELEN R. QUINN (Chair), Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University PHILIP BELL, Learning Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle GEORGE BOGGS, American Association of Community Colleges (retired), Washington, DC WILLIAM B. BONVILLIAN, Washington, DC, Office, Massachusetts Institute of Technology JOSEPH FRANCISCO, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University ADAM GAMORAN, Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison JERRY P. GOLLUB, Natural Sciences and Physics Departments, Haverford College MARGARET A. HONEY, New York Hall of Science, New York JANET HUSTLER, Partnership for Student Success in Science (PS3), Synopsys, Inc., Mountain View, California SUSAN KIEFFER, Department of Geology, University of Illinois, Urbana BRETT D. MOULDING, Utah Partnership for Effective Science Teaching and Learning, Ogden CARLO PARRAVANO, Merck Institute for Science Education, Rahway, New Jersey SUSAN R. SINGER, Department of Biology, Carleton College WILLIAM B. WOOD, Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder MARTIN STORKSDIECK, Director HEIDI A. SCHWEINGRUBER, Deputy Director MICHAEL A. FEDER, Senior Program Officer (until February 2011) MARGARET L. HILTON, Senior Program Officer THOMAS E. KELLER, Senior Program Officer NATALIE NIELSEN, Senior Program Officer SHERRIE FORREST, Associate Program Officer REBECCA KRONE, Program Associate ANTHONY BROWN, Senior Program Assistant KELLY DUNCAN, Senior Program Assistant (until October 2010) Page vii Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgments Summary PART I: A Vision for K-12 Science Education 1 A New Conceptual Framework 2 Guiding Assumptions and Organization of the Framework PART II: Dimensions of the Framework 3 Dimension 1: Scientific and Engineering Practices 4 Dimension 2: Crosscutting Concepts 5 Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas—Physical Sciences 6 Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas—Life Sciences Page viii Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel 7 Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas—Earth and Space Sciences 8 Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas—Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science PART III: Realizing the Vision 9 Integrating the Three Dimensions 10 Implementation: Curriculum, Instruction, Teacher Development, and Assessment 11 Equity and Diversity in Science and Engineering Education 12 Guidance for Standards Developers 13 Looking Toward the Future: Research and Development to Inform K-12 Science Education Standards Appendixes A Summary of Public Feedback and Subsequent Revisions B Bibliography of References Consulted on Teaching and Learning C Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff D Design Team Members Index Page ix Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel FOREWORD A Framework for K-12 Science Education represents the first step in a process to create new standards in K-12 science education. This project capitalizes on a major opportunity that exists at this moment—a large number of states are adopting common standards in mathematics and English/language arts and thus are poised to consider adoption of common standards in K-12 science education. The impetus for this project grew from the recognition that, although the existing national documents on science content for grades K-12 (developed in the early to mid-1990s) were an important step in strengthening science education, there is much room for improvement. Not only has science progressed, but the education community has learned important lessons from 10 years of implementing standards-based education, and there is a new and growing body of research on learning and teaching in science that can inform a revision of the standards and revitalize science education. In this context, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, together with the Institute for Advanced Study, established a commission that issued a report entitled The Opportunity Equation, calling for a common set of standards in science to be developed. The Carnegie Corporation has taken a leadership role to ensure that the development of common science standards proceeds and is of the highest quality by funding a two-step process: first, the development of this framework by the National Research Council (NRC) and, second, the development of a next generation of science standards based on the framework led by Achieve, Inc. We are grateful for the financial support of the Carnegie Corporation for this project Page x Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel and for their vision in establishing the partnership and two-step process for developing the new standards. This framework builds on the strong foundation of previous studies that sought to identify and describe the major ideas for K-12 science education. These include Science for All Americans and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993), developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Science Education Standards (1996), developed by the NRC. The framework is also informed by more recent work of two of our partner organizations: the AAAS (in Project 2061 especially) and the National Science Teachers Association (particularly the 2009 Anchors project). Achieve, Inc., our third partner is this endeavor, will lead the development of next-generation standards for science education based on the framework presented in this report with the aspiration that many states will choose to adopt them. We look forward to working with these organizations in the dissemination and implementation of the vision of science and engineering education that the framework embodies. The framework highlights the power of integrating understanding the ideas of science with engagement in the practices of science and is designed to build students’ proficiency and appreciation for science over multiple years of school. Of particular note is the prominent place given to the ideas and practices of engineering. As presidents of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, we are pleased to convey this report to interested readers. We believe that the education of the children of this nation is a vital national concern. The understanding of, and interest in, science and engineering that its citizens bring to bear in their personal and civic decision making is critical to good decisions about the nation’s future. The percentage of students who are motivated by their school and out-of-school experiences to pursue careers in these fields is currently too low for the nation’s needs. Moreover, an ever-larger number of jobs require skills in these areas, along with those in language arts and mathematics. We thank the committee and the many consultants and NRC staff members who contributed to this effort, as well as the thousands who took the time to comment on the draft that was made public in July 2010. That input contributed substantially to the quality of this final report. Ralph J. Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences Charles M. Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering Page xi Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Together with the rest of the committee, I thank the many individuals and organizations who assisted us in our work, without whom this study could not have been completed. We begin by acknowledging the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and particularly Andrés Henriquez, for his attention to and patience with this project. Next we recognize the importance of the partnership we developed with Achieve, Inc., the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Science Teachers Association, and we are pleased to be continuing this partnership. Each organization brought its unique perspective to our many partner meetings, which led to a stronger report and better communication with the myriad communities with an interest in K-12 science education. Each of these partners has an important role to play as the implementation of ideas in the framework develops. This report would not have been possible without the work of many individuals, teams, and organizations, and we hope we acknowledge them all here. The four design teams (listed in Appendix D) were critical in the development of the framework and providing the committee with insightful and creative models for organizing the core ideas. We are deeply indebted to them and especially to the four team leaders: Rodger Bybee, Joseph Krajcik, Cary Sneider, and Michael Wysession. These team leaders worked closely with the committee until the final stages of the project, tirelessly revising drafts of their work, discussing the research, debating possible approaches, and consistently going above and beyond their initial commitments. The work would have been impossible without them. Page xii Share Cite Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165. × Save Cancel The committee also called on many individual experts in a variety of capacities. Some served as presenters, others provided detailed reviews of the draft framework released in July 2010, still others worked closely with groups of committee members to refine portions of the report, and a select few filled all three roles. We acknowledge Valerie Akerson, Indiana University; Charles “Andy” Anderson, Michigan State University; Angela Calabrese Barton, Michigan State University; Anita Bernhardt, Department of Education, Maine; Nancy Brickhouse, University of Delaware; Ravit Golan Duncan, Rutgers University; Daniel Edelson, National Geographic Society; Jacob Foster, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Adam Gamoran, University of Wisconsin–Madison; David Hammer, University of Maryland, College Park; David Heil, David Heil & Associates; Leslie Herrenkohl, University of Washington; Frank Keil, Yale University; Rich Lehrer, Vanderbilt University; Kathy Metz, University of California, Berkeley; Jacqueline Miller, Education Development Center; Alberto Rodriguez, San Diego State University; Aaron Rogat, Columbia University; Jo Ellen Roseman, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Leona Schauble, Vanderbilt University; Eugen… truncated (16,887 more characters in archive)