Understanding the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): A Focus on diverse learners

Whether you’ve been teaching for a few months or a few decades, you may still be unsure of what the Next Generation Science Standards are and how they apply to your classroom of diverse learners (including students learning English, students with special needs and developing readers and writers).

While teaching to the Next Generation Science standards may seem intimidating at first, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the NGSS are designed to be flexible, ensuring that students of all backgrounds and abilities can engage with science in meaningful ways.

Even if your state hasn’t adopted the NGSS, chances are your state standards are very similar.

Let’s explore an overview of the Next Generation Science Standards and unpack how they can be implemented to support diverse learners, making science accessible to everyone in your classroom.

Why a new set of standards?

Back in 2018, I attended a PD on the rollout of New York’s version of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As I sat there—excited but also overwhelmed—I was eager to hear why New York had adopted the NGSS and modified them slightly to develop its own set of standards, based heavily on the NGSS.

Let’s break this down a bit. I am particularly interested in the “improve science education for all students.” The mission of Lit Science is to help close the achievement gap that exists in science for students that have been historically marginalized. That includes, students of newly arrived immigrants, students with special needs and students not yet reading at grade level.

It is important to mention that standards are not a curriculum. The Next Generation Science Standards are not a curriculum. This is where the “give local educators the flexibility to design classroom learning experiences that stimulate students’ interests in science and prepares them for college careers, and citizenship.”

While I firmly believe that creating high-quality instructional materials should not be the responsibility of teachers—since it is a full-time job in itself—I also believe that teachers are professionals who can effectively use these materials to meet their students’ unique needs.

What do the next generation science standards say?

At the core of the Next Generation Science Standards are three interconnected dimensions: Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts. You may have heard this referred to as 3D Science.

These dimensions work together to help students engage in scientific inquiry, understand core concepts, and see connections across various science disciplines.

Students of all backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities can participate meaningfully in scientific exploration and discovery. This framework opens up new avenues for engagement by allowing multiple ways to demonstrate understanding.

This is also where it’s really important to mention curriculum. While The Next Generation Science Standards themselves allow for meaningful participation for all students, it is the job of the curricula developers to ensure that units, lessons, and assessments are scaffolded and created in ways that allow access to all and meet students where they currently are.

Science and Engineering practices

The purpose of this dimension is to ensure that students not only learn about science and engineering but also engage in the actual activities that real scientists and engineers do.

These practices help students think and work like professionals in the field, building critical skills that can be applied beyond the classroom. The Science and Engineering Practices are broken down into eight distinct areas:

1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems
2. Developing and Using Models
3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data
5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence
8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

For diverse learners, these practices provide multiple ways to engage with scientific content. Rather than being limited to listening to lectures, taking notes and memorizing them to perform on a traditional exam, students can model their understanding, carry out investigations, and participate in collaborative problem-solving.

This hands-on, multi-dimensional approach empowers students with different strengths—whether they excel in communication, data analysis, or experimentation—to find success in science.

With the right scaffolds, ample opportunities to practice, and multiple formative assessments that inform instruction, all students can engage in science and engineering practices.

Disciplinary core ideas

The Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) focus on the key content that students need to learn. These ideas are the building blocks of science education, ensuring students have a solid understanding of the fundamental concepts across scientific disciplines. The DCIs are organized into four main categories:

1. Physical Science
2. Life Science
3. Earth and Space Science
4. Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

Each of these categories is designed to provide depth and relevance, helping students connect what they learn in the classroom to the world around them.

For diverse learners, the broad range of topics allows for differentiated instruction, giving students the opportunity to explore areas of interest while building on their strengths and background knowledge.

When curricula are created with diverse learners in mind, The Next Generation Science Standards framework has the powerful potential to be inclusive of all backgrounds and/or learning styles students brings to the classroom.

Cross Cutting Concept

Crosscutting concepts are precisely what their name suggests: fundamental ideas that permeate all scientific disciplines.

These concepts empower students to draw connections across the various fields of science they study, making learning more cohesive and meaningful.

For diverse learners, these connections are particularly valuable, as they help bridge gaps in understanding and foster a more inclusive learning environment. The Next Generation Science Standards delineates seven distinct crosscutting concepts:

1. Patterns
2. Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Prediction
3. Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
4. Systems and System Models
5. Energy and Matter: Flows, Cycles, and Conservation
6. Structure and Function
7. Stability and Change

Next steps for your classroom

The Next Generation Science Standards have the potential to be powerful in providing diverse student populations with the high-quality science education they deserve.

However, it’s important to remember that standards are not curriculum. Within curricula it’s important that all students are considered and provided multiple entry point to engage with and master these standards.

I look forward to writing more blog posts that help you to teach to The Next Generation Science Standards (and state standards) in a way that accessible for all of your students, including your English learners, students with special needs and developing readers and writers.