New Standards andEnvironmental Education

• What is happening with Common Core and with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)?

• How do these new standards affect environmental education?

The World Before 1992

• No national education standards• States and districts educationally “all over the

map”• Textbooks provided structure• Very uneven and very unequal public school

education, especially impacting economically and/or educationally poor states, rural locations, ethnic minorities, ELL

1990s: National and State Standards

• Voluntary national education standards• States partly coordinated• More coordination within a state• Encyclopedic, fact-oriented, algorithmic

textbooks• Higher stakes multiple choice tests• Very uneven and unequal education

2001: NCLB• “Voluntary” national education standards• States partly coordinated; lots of extra work and

$ nationally for publishers, test makers • Tighter coordination within a state• Encyclopedic, fact-oriented, algorithmic

textbooks, perhaps even more so• Teaching to the state NCLB tests• Less teacher control• Very high stakes multiple choice tests• Education less uneven/unequal (but better?)

Now : Common Core• State-Driven National Coordination• English Language Arts (ELA) and Math• States to be much more coordinated in

ELA/Math• New education emphases• Need different curriculum resources• Need professional development• Need different testing• Quality? Effect on inequality?

Now : NGSS• “National” Voluntary; 26 Lead State Partners • Science and Engineering• 26 states potentially more coordinated + others• Very new education emphases• Need different curriculum resources• Need professional development• Need different testing• Quality of education? Effect on inequality?

NGSS Conceptual Framework (2011)• Coordinated by National Research Council• Three Dimensions (DCI, Practices, Cross-Cutting)• Disciplinary Core Ideas in Physical Science, Life

Science, Earth/Space Science, Engineering Design organized in four grade spans

• Science and Engineering Practices (e.g., analyzing data; arguing from evidence)

• Cross-Cutting Concepts (e.g., systems)• Framework to serve as basis for grade level NGSS

standards

NGSS Finalized (2013)• Coordinated by Achieve working with 26 Lead

State Partners• Performance expectations• Embody DCIs, Practices, and Cross-Cutting

Concepts• Grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 integrated science • 6-8 and High School by discipline or integrated• 26 states committed to trying to adopt NGSS

with no or minimal changes• Other states watching, considering

NGSS and Common Core

• NGSS is not part of Common Core.• NGSS has a lot in common with Common Core

especially with respect to Practices (what we want/expect students to be able to do).

• NSTA webinar “Connections Between Practices in NGSS, Common Core Math, and Common Core ELA”

http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/Ngss/webseminar17.aspx

What is Common to All?

ALL the standards – Math, ELA and Science –

require that teachers and students focus more attention

on disciplinary “practices.”

Science and Engineering Practices1. Ask questions and define problems2. Develop and use models3. Plan and carry out investigations4. Analyze and interpret data5. Use mathematics, information and computer

technology, and computational thinking6. Construct explanations and design solutions7. Engage in argument from evidence8. Obtain, evaluate and communicate information

Mathematical Practices1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving

them2. Reason abstractly and qualitatively3. Construct viable arguments and critique the

reasoning of others4. Model with mathematics5. Use appropriate tools strategically6. Attend to precision7. Look for and make use of structure8. Look for and express regularity in repeated

reasoning.

Capacities of ELA Literate Students1. They demonstrate independence2. They build strong content knowledge3. They respond to the varying demands of

audience, task, purpose, and discipline4. They comprehend as well as critique5. They value evidence6. They use technology and digital media

strategically and capably7. They come to understand other perspectives

and cultures

Common to All Three

• Reason with evidence• Build arguments and critique the arguments of

others• Participate in reasoning-oriented practices

with othersWell-guided talk – scaffolded reasoning talk and discussion – are a foundation for all the

practices in the Common Core and NGSS

Bad News from Research About Productive Talk in Schools

• The dominant forms of talk in classrooms – recitation and direct instruction – do not support reasoning, building of arguments with evidence, or explaining, critiquing, and building common ground.

• Teachers rely on recitation and a few reliable talkers.

• Teachers often rely on group work, hoping the hands-on activities, in small groups, will teach the students what they need to learn.

Good News from Research About Productive Talk in Schools

• The practices of discussion transfer from one content domain to another.

• We now know a lot about how to induct students, from all backgrounds, into these reasoning practices, through rigorous content-rich, teacher-guided discussions.

• We have identified learnable, useful tools that help teachers orchestrate “academically productive talk.”

How We Want Students To Talk

• Externalize their thinking (metacognition)• Listen carefully to one another and take one

another seriously• Dig deeper into the the evidence and the

reasoning for their positions• Work with the evidence and reasoning of

others

Goals of Hawai‘i Environmental Literacy Plan (HELP)

• Integrate EE in K-12 Schools• Develop and Support Learning Environments

that Promote Environmental Literacy• Improve PD for Environmental Literacy• Monitor and Assess Environmental Literacy• Make EE and Environmental Literacy a

Statewide Priority• Provide Sustainable Funding for Environmental

Literacy

Key National EE Themes Embedded in HELP

• Questioning, Analysis and Interpretation Skills• Knowledge of Environmental Processes and

Systems• Skills for Understanding and Addressing

Environmental Issues• Respecting and Learning from Indigenous

Knowledge and Practices• Place-based Ecosystem Stewardship and

Sustainable Living• Personal and Civic Responsibility

How Do We Get There From Here?

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of her dreams, and endeavors to live the life which she has imagined, she will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henrietta Thoreau

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

Resources To Get There From Here

• Better tools and resources are accessible on the web to support teacher development of thinking practices in science .

• These resources and high quality teacher professional development enable teachers to use existing curricular materials to support effective evidence-based discussions.

• The NSTA website and webinar have more information, including videos. Also check out Making Sense of Science.

It Is For Our Own Good

We cannot engage others in a profound and demanding education unless we are joyously willing to do so ourselves.

Being great educators requires us to be critical thinkers and life-long learners, not just learners of content but also learners of learning, and practitioners of changing ourselves and others.

Act LocallyThink GloballyFeel Cosmically

Be Lovingly