NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEOSCIENCE TEACHERS (NAGT) SUPPORT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) represents the best opportunity for geosciences education since 1996, describing a vision of teaching excellence and placing Earth and space science on a par with other disciplines. However, significant, sustained support and relationship-building between disciplinary communities must be forthcoming in order to realize the potential. To realize the vision, teacher education, curricula, assessments, administrative support and workforce/college readiness expectations must be developed. The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), a geoscience education professional society founded in 1938, is comprised of members across all educational contexts, including undergraduate faculty, pre-college teachers, informal educators, geoscience education researchers and teacher educators. NAGT support for NGSS includes deep collections of relevant digital learning resources, professional development workshops, models of cross-discipline sustainability education at the undergraduate and teacher preparation levels, member voices in support of geoscience education, and reach into introductory courses and teacher preparation programs. This presentation will describe implications of NGSS for the geoscience education community and highlight some opportunities for the path forward.