Hello everyone, so I'm a newerish teacher who completed a Master's that was heavily focused on NGSS. I know I got very fortunate in that regard, and I think I have a decent understanding of how NGSS style teaching should "ideally" be done. I'm also very well aware that the vast majority of teachers don't have ideal conditions, and a huge part of the job is doing the best we can with the tools we have at our disposal.

That being said, some of the discussion I've seen on here about NGSS and also heard at staff events just baffles me. I've seen comments that say "it devalues the importance of knowledge", or that we don't have to teach content or deliver notes anymore and I just don't understand it. This is definitely not the way NGSS was presented to me in school or in student teaching. I personally feel that this style of teaching is vastly superior to the traditional sit and memorize facts, and I love the focus on not just teaching science, but also teaching students how to be learners and the skills that go along with that.

I'm wondering why there seems to be such a fundamental misunderstanding of NGSS, and what can be done about it as a science teaching community, to improve learning for all our students.

During a holiday lab with my 8th graders:

“What do I do next?” “Read the procedure.” “How do I clean this?” “Did you read the procedure?” “Where do I put this?” “Read. The. Procedure!”

You just have to laugh. I swear I’m going to get a t-shirt with “READ THE PROCEDURE” printed in big, bold letters by the end of the year. Almost break!

I teach high school chemistry. Attendance for my classes is around 50%. I do have students who are looking to go into a related field, about 5%. They do very well on tests. I can’t even get the other students to make a cheat sheet, which they are given class time to do it. They complain about testing, they leave the majority of it blank, and that is after a week a review before the test. I also can’t get them to turn in worksheets. I can’t get them to do bell work even if it is extra credit. If you are not testing in your classes what are you doing? I tried a project and most of them failed that too, I got 15% back. Only 10% brought back their safety contract so labs are more demos while asking for the safety contract each time. I just think I give up. Any suggestions?

I teach all levels of high school chemistry. My admin wants us to focus on building relationships in the first week of school. I’ve been trying to find activities that are at least loosely related to chemistry but require very little foundational knowledge. Any ideas?

Just wrapped up the first two units and can’t help but feel like most of this class so far is just transfer of knowledge. I’ve been able to be somewhat engaging with labs and case studies to show the relevance of topics, but it still feels almost like I’m just giving a million ideas to memorize. The concepts so far aren’t overly difficult (in my opinion), there’s just a lot of them. Im used to freshmen bio where I have less content and can focus more on concepts. Now it’s more focusing on getting through as much content as possible. As someone who’s teaching AP Bio for the first time, I want to know if it gets better with this? Will every unit feel like just a massive amount of content and vocabulary that they need to know? Or how can I make it not feel that way without losing out on time and content

If I have to explain to another student that m/s² doesn’t mean to square the acceleration then I’m going to “crash out” as the kids say

We just gave a quiz in our middle school Heredity unit. I need help because I don't understand why there seems to be a very common misconception in the students' answers. (I'll preface saying that I know that things are more complicated than this, but we're in middle school getting the basics)

The question is:

Caitlin and Fiona are identical twin girls.  You learned that this means they have the same DNA that carries the same set of instructions for traits.  Examine the chart of the girls’ characteristics.

(The data table shows 4 different traits that are inherited traits and 2 that are acquired)

If they are identical twins, explain why they are not exactly alike. (2 pts.)

After grading, about 40% of the kids tell me something like:

They are different because {acquired trait 1} and {acquired trait 2} are different.

After 30 years teaching, have I gotten to the point that kids don't know the difference between how and why... Or is there a better way to phrase that last question to make it more obvious?

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ETA: I like the idea of breaking things down into 2 questions (what are the differences and why are they different). Of course, a sizable group said in their answers that they *weren't* identical twins or that they didn't have the same DNA. *sigh*

Help.. my students like nothing! We mostly do notes because we are learning science basics and ecology things. However, they hate everything I do. We’ve made posters, we have done big group projects involving a design aspect. they hate it and they hate the routine of notes/practice. Even when I give them a project, they complain that they would rather do the notes. If we do notes, they say i’m a horrible boring teacher. My point is, how can I incorporate more labs? Does anyone have resources they could share? It isn’t like chemistry where we are constantly experimenting… but i’m feeling so defeated.

This school year I’ve decide to bring back physical textbooks into the classroom. Last school year was my first year teaching high school biology and chemistry, my first year teaching in general. What I noticed was that the majority of teachers at my school didn’t utilize textbooks at all, so I followed suit with a given curriculum that didn’t involve a textbook at all. Apparently using a textbook is outdated.

One memory that stands out to me during my first year teaching was assigning my students a few problems to do in their textbooks, in an attempt to scaffold info that the curriculum didn’t include, they looked completely lost. Almost as if they’ve never had to crack open a textbook. Safe to say I was shocked.

Then it occurred to me, our school averages at 4th grade level for both reading and math. I’m not saying that not using textbooks is the main reason, however, I do think it’s part of it. Honestly, I’m starting to think that this push to having curriculum that’s primarily online is hurting students.

When I discuss this with other teachers, I’ve gotten mixed reviews. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a teacher at top 5 high school in my state and they mentioned that textbooks are a must.

I guess I’m just looking to hear other opinions. What side of the fence is everyone on?

Some of the other teacher subs are quite negative, so I'd like to hear what classes everyone teaches and what the best part of each one is!

Another question: which concepts can be more effectively explained through visualizing rather than through providing textual information?

For doing things like kinematic equations I have it set up in a very structured way where there is a table where students first write down the formula, then identify the “knowns” and “unknown” from the problem. Pretty much all of my students are capable of getting that far.

However when it comes to the step of plugging in these values into the equation I have a handful of students that end up writing a mish mash of different values, letters and operation symbols with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Multiple equals signs, plus signs when there isn’t one in the formula, you name it. This even happens on a super simple equation like d=vt.

I’ve tried different things such as modeling how to do it, color coding the variables and values, doing an example with flash cards that I flip over to show that the equation is exactly the same we are just replacing the letter variable with a known value.

I understand that you are never going to get every student to be able to do something but I was wondering if any of you have strategies that can help students that struggle with this skill

I am currently teaching 7th grade science (Earth Space Cert), but I am looking to move into high school. Our HS currently has only 3 science teachers and there’s very little to choose from. I have a meeting with our superintendent coming up. We are discussing the possibility of adding more options for students if I make the move. I want to teach Earth Space, but I also want to teach Forensic Science as well. What certification would I need to teach it? I’m willing to add a certification to make this happen, so I need to know what I’m getting into. Edit to add location (not sure if that will make a difference): Indiana

On unit 1 of AP Bio and can’t help but feel like I’m doing way too much direct instruction paired with practice questions for macro molecules. Definitely not the most exciting way to learn a less than exciting topic. Any strategies that may help in engagement that help them learn their functional groups and structures of macromolecules?

I am teaching chemistry in 24-25 for the first time. I've taught bio for 2 years and physical science for 1.5.

Chemistry takes a lot of practice, my end goal is a classroom culture where students feel comfortable working with each other, then coming up to the board and working through problems for and with the class.

Part of facilitating that is making sure they know being wrong is part of the process.

What are some ways I can build and support this? From day one and on

I have been drawing pictures with my 8th graders and I believe it to be a good way to get them talking while we draw it.

Has anyone run a science fair as a class project? I'm looking to do this with my grade 9 science class this term, and would be incredibly grateful for any shared advice or resources.

I teach chemistry and am stuck between having students take tests on Google forms or zip grade.

With Google forms, I can put them on locked mode so as to not allow opening tabs but there’s no way to show work for problems involving math.

With ZipGrade, I can use the app to grade MC questions and grade math problems myself.

1. Which testing format would you use for chemistry? Is or there another testing format out there?

2. Anyone know if students still able to look up answers in locked Google forms?

Hi friends - I'm working on creating assessments aligned to NGSS as part of a professional development effort in our school district. I'm the only high school science teacher present. I've worked with NGSS for 10 years but as per usual I'm finding them extremely broad, yet also lacking. I'm currently working on HS-LS1-6. WHY does the assessment boundary in this statement say it excludes the identification of macromolecules????

Where is the rationale on the NGSS website for their clarification statements and assessment boundaries? Why is there an entire standard on sugar and amino acids but nothing on lipids or proteins (or nucleic acids)?

Also, looking at, say, The Wonder of Science for student performance samples... They are kind of weak (or just not very complete).

Also, how are students supposed to "construct an explanation" when those explanations already exist? (Attending an NSTA webinar on modeling, there are clear ways to create models for phenomena, but biology is quite complex and doesn't lend itself to an intuitive model without loads of background information in physics, chemistry, or cell biology already.

My class is certainly constructivist, but there are limits. I can't ask my students to perform on this particular target with the language of the target without weeks of instruction to create background information for them.

Your thoughts?

Hey all,

I'm teaching APES for the first time this year, and have noticed that all of the math based FRQs require kids to show their work when they respond in order to get full credit. What is the best way to do this on Bluebook? Or do they get scratch paper that they can turn in?

Thanks!

Do you know your country's selection process? Do you tell your best students about it? What study resort or advice do you offer them?

Long story short: I am currently teaching high school chemistry courses and also having to create long term sub plans for an anatomy and physiology course without a teacher. I have taught anatomy for 18 years and have provided what I think are the best independent packets for them to complete using textbook and online resources. However the students are complaining that they are not learning and they don't like packets.

I do not have time to videotape lessons and post them for the students. I am paid for any and all ideas that might help the students learn anatomy while having a substitute in the room

Hi all-

Hello, physics nerds. I am writing with a thought about vectors. Every year, I teach my students to convert from polar form to component form using Rcos(theta) for the adjacent side of a triangle and Rsin(theta) for the opposite side. It's a perfectly fine way to do this, and it lines up nicely with graphical addition of vectors, and, as a huge bonus, is how all the people online do it. It also dovetails with their math classes.

However, unless the vector is a displacement, there really isn't an actual triangle. What we're looking for is the projection of the vector onto the x or y axis. So, really, we should do Rcos(theta_x) and Rcos(theta_y) for the x and y components, respectfully. This method has several advantages: (1) it's easier, (2) it won't cause one of the components to be drawn apart from it's line of action, (3) it's what we're physically looking for, and (4) this works in 3D too!

An I crazy for thinking of teaching it this way? It won't match anything they see online, hear in their math classes, or learn from their tutors. Any ideas?

Hi! I teach high school science in a private day school. In almost all of my blocks (50 minutes), there’s a mix of science classes like biology, ecology, and earth science. I need station ideas for students to work on while I’m meeting with a small group. I have a tech station for Discovery Ed, but I need something that’s hands on.

I feel like I’m having a huge brain fart because I can’t think of anything. My students’ ability ranges from very low to very high. Please help out by creating a gigantic list that we can all use.