Exit tickets are one of my favorite types of formative assessments to use in an NGSS aligned classroom. My exit tickets used to be made of low-level knowledge-based questions, but since making the shift to NGSS I have had to…
I got a question from a reader last week asking me if I knew of any good resources for writing NGSS aligned lab reports. At face value, this seems like a very simple question. But with the adoption of the…
I get so many questions asking about the relationship between NGSS storylines and phenomena, but I am rarely asked about student questions. In an ideal scenario, student questions would be at the heart of your storyline. How do student questions…
In my last post, I wrote about how I create cohesive storylines for a bundle. Unfortunately, that isn’t the end of the planning process. Building your initial storyline is an outline that helps you get an idea of where you…
Creating bundles is an important step in the lesson planning process. Here are 5 tips for creating NGSS bundles. 1. Review the NGSS bundles that already exist. You don’t have to follow someone else’s model, but it doesn’t hurt to…
I have gotten several messages from people over the last few weeks about how I create cohesive storylines. Honestly, it is a difficult question to answer, because I am not a linear planner. I wrote this blog post last year…
A major focus of my STEM certification program last year was structuring the classroom to increase student independence within a science or STEM course. Why is student independence so important in a science class? Here are a few reasons: When…
One major shift in an NGSS aligned classroom is that students no longer do confirmation style labs. During confirmation style labs, the teacher has already taught students what they need to know and then students perform a lab to confirm…
One of the biggest changes that have occured in the shift to meet the intent of the NGSS is the role that students play in their own learning. Students are no longer allowed to be passive participants in their own…
Now that we have had a preliminary discussion about models (click here to review the post!) in an NGSS aligned classroom it’s time to discuss helping your students create better models. Here are my top 5 ways to help your students…
