{"id":19563,"date":"2023-06-01T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/?p=19563"},"modified":"2024-07-16T12:00:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T19:00:24","slug":"a-simple-idea-for-adding-crosscutting-concepts-to-science-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/2023\/a-simple-idea-for-adding-crosscutting-concepts-to-science-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"A simple idea for adding crosscutting concepts to science lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My stepdaughter is attending nursing school. During her initial hospital rotations, she wondered if she had made a mistake. She thought nursing would be more than distributing medications and giving injections. Then she was assigned to a pediatric ward. Yes, she was still distributing medications and giving injections, but her lens changed. Looking at nursing through the lens of pediatric care changed the story for her. Today, she aspires to work in a children\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lenses we use are important. We may not see the full story if we limit ourselves to one lens. In the science classroom, the crosscutting concepts are the lenses, or pathways, that students can take to make sense of something new, even when their understanding of disciplinary core ideas is not yet advanced enough to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are crosscutting concepts?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crosscutting concepts<\/a> are an \u201corganizational framework for connecting knowledge from the various disciplines into a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.\u201d They connect the practices of science and engineering with disciplinary core ideas when exploring and explaining novel phenomena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)<\/a> describe seven crosscutting concepts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Patterns<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Cause and effect<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Scale, proportion, and quantity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Systems and system models<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Energy and matter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Structure and function<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Stability and change<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Using patterns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Although a fundamental part of sensemaking, educators agree that students need explicit instruction and opportunities to practice using crosscutting concepts. One way to easily bring the concepts into science lessons is to have students begin to explore phenomena using the lens of patterns. Ask students the simple question \u201cWhat patterns do you observe?\u201d and the follow-up question \u201cWhat questions do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here are three abbreviated scenarios that show possible outcomes of this approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Scenario 1: An introduction to an elementary Earth and space science lesson <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cLook up at the stars in the night sky. What patterns do you observe?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student A: \u201cThe stars are bright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student B: \u201cBut some stars are not bright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student C: \u201cI don\u2019t see the sun anymore. Isn\u2019t the sun a star?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student B: \u201cI see the pattern that some stars are bright, and some stars are dim.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cWhat questions do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student B: \u201cWhy are some stars brighter than others?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student C: \u201cWhy can\u2019t we see the sun at night with the other stars?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student A: \u201cAre bright stars bigger than dim stars? The sun is a star. It is very big and very bright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student B: \u201cOr maybe bright stars, like the sun, are closer to us than dim stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Scenario 2: An introduction to a high school life science lesson <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cLook at the model of a DNA molecule. What patterns do you observe?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student A: \u201cSome atoms are always grouped together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student B: \u201cYes, the groups repeat. They repeat through the center of the molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student C: \u201cI think there are four groups of atoms in the center of the molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cHere is a model of a DNA molecule from a different organism. What patterns do you observe?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student C: \u201cI see the same four groups of atoms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student D: \u201cI do, too, but they are in a different order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cWhat questions do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student E: \u201cDo all DNA molecules have the same four groups of atoms?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student F: \u201cWhy are the sequences of the groups of atoms different in different organisms?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Scenario 3: An introduction to an elementary life science and engineering lesson <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Student A: \u201cDeer ate all the vegetable plants in the school garden!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cLet\u2019s go look at the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cWhat patterns do you observe?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student B: \u201cThe deer are not eating all the plants, just some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student C: \u201cI think they like some plants more than others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student D: \u201cMe, too. They don\u2019t eat the plants with the fuzzy leaves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student E: \u201cThey don\u2019t eat the onion plants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Teacher: \u201cWhat questions do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Student A: \u201cHow can we design our school garden so the deer don\u2019t eat the plants?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Patterns don\u2019t have to rely on visual experiences. Students may use other senses, accessible computer simulations, and other means to find patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the examples above, when uncovering patterns, students recognize relevant information and eliminate irrelevant information. They notice relationships and turn them into productive questions. Students\u2019 questions and resulting investigative approaches can almost always be reframed using the language of the crosscutting concepts to highlight the lenses they will use. Here are examples for the three scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n