PRACTICE-CROSS-CUTTING CONCEPT PAIRS, INQUIRY PATHS, AND THE NATURE OF THE EARTH & SPACE SCIENCES

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) define standards as an integration of three dimensions: the disciplinary core ideas (DCI), the crosscutting concepts (CCC), and the science and engineering practices (Practices). The Earth & Space Sciences (ESS) DCIs are included in all grade bands, and there will be teachers without any specialty in the ESS covering these in their classrooms. In what ways can the common language of the 3-D NGSS be used to communicate “the nature of the Earth & Space Sciences”? Following a detailed structural review of the NGSS and a reconceptualization of the geoscience education literature, Practice-CCC Pairs, Practice Pairs, and Practice Inquiry Paths have emerged as tools for the planning and communication of ESS-specific components of inquiry, especially for authentic scientific inquiry that most closely reflects the type of epistemic activities in which geoscientists engage.

Using only the performance expectations, the NGSS show an over-representation of some Practices and CCCs associated with ESS DCIs and an underrepresentation of others. Considered together, the choice of Practice + CCC pairs shows “the nature of the Earth & Space Sciences” as compared to the other scientific domains. Most notable are “Developing & Using Models + Systems”, “Constructing Explanations.. + Stability & Change”, and “Analyzing & Interpreting Data + Patterns”. The “Data + Patterns” pairing is important as it communicates that an investigation in the Earth & Space Sciences can involve an investigation of existing data that students will not directly collect (e.g. satellite data). Using pairs of Practices or even the more detailed inquiry paths of Nyman and St Clair (2016), ESS-specific aspects of the education literature can be communicated. Visualization can be expressed as connecting “Using Mathematics & Computational Thinking” with “Obtaining, Evaluating, & Communicating Data” and an observational investigation that utilizes multiple working hypotheses could be expressed as the inquiry path “Analyzing & Interpreting Data” to “Asking Questions..” to “Planning, & Carrying Out Investigations”. In using the language of the NGSS, we can communicate the unique aspects of the ESS that will make it more clear for non-ESS trained teachers to understand “the nature of the Earth & Space Sciences”.