Appendix C – Implementing District Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) includes eight science and engineering practice standards that grow in complexity as students’ progress in their in education. The practices reflect what skills students should develop within the scope the course’s content. This unit will focus on three of the eight practice standards. All standards are available through the NGSS website.
1. Practice 1: Asking Questions and Defining Problems
The standards state that by grades 9-12 students are able to ask questions and define problems in 9–12 that builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
In this unit, students are asked to observe a global problem, air pollution and health, and are expected to seek additional informational from their observations. Furthermore, they are encouraged to interpret data, challenge available information in order to deepen their own understanding.
2. Practice 7: Engaging in argument from evidence
Practice 7 in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to using appropriate and sufficient evidence and scientific reasoning to defend and critique claims and explanations about the natural and designed world(s).
Arguments may also come from current scientific or historical episodes in science.
In reading and comparing the available literature on e-cigarette use and its relation to respiratory health students will compare and evaluate arguments for or against the use of electronic cigarette for tobacco cessation. In addition, students will evaluate claims, evidence, reasoning from multiple sources while practicing critical reading strategies. During the class discussions and debate they must be able to construct a defense statement for their arguments and provide support for their claims from non-fiction sources.
3. Practice 8: Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Practice 8 in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to evaluating the validity and reliability of the claims, methods, and designs.
Similar to Practice 7, this unit allows students the opportunity to critically read scientific literature to determine central ideas and to summarize complex ideas from technical text. Through scaffolding, students will be able to compare multiple sources regarding respiratory health and air pollution and credit the validity of the source by examining the accuracy of the claims in the articles and or videos. The final project allows students to communicate their understanding and level of knowledge regarding the scientific information they have gathered.
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