OH MIGHTY ICCISC – USING CROSS-CUTTING THEMES TO DEVELOP NGSS-ALIGNED CURRICULA FOR GRADES 6-12

Integrating Crosscutting Concepts in Iowa Science Classrooms (ICCISC) was a three-year, grant-funded, math-science partnership that gave Iowa middle school and high school science teachers an opportunity to implement the NGSS. Each year we conducted a two-week summer institute centered on one or two crosscutting themes from the NGSS followed by a yearlong implementation of curricula written to address at least one Performance Expectation (PE).

In Year 1, 23 science teachers explored the crosscutting theme of energy. We also introduced the Understanding by Design curriculum model and Science Education faculty from each content department led a series of 1-day workshops that modeled how to teach a PE related to energy. The Earth Science session explored energy transformations within the water cycle by using materials from the InTeGrate Program to address the MS-ESS2-4 PE

In Year 2, participants from Year 1 invited a colleague to attend the institute for three days to learn more about the NGSS and join a lesson-writing team. A total of 44 teachers explored the two crosscutting themes (Patterns; Systems & System Models). Half-day workshops addressed common issues related to implementing the NGSS such as data analysis, science writing, and engineering practices and the science content workshops combined material across disciplines with Earth Science addressing the MS-ESS2-3 PE.

In Year 3, we invited 44 teachers from the two previous summer institutes plus new recruits to work on the crosscutting themes of Cause & Effect and Stability & Change. During the institute, we also introduced the concept of phenomena as a curricular focus, and Science Education faculty led 2 half-day workshops on one phenomenon with Earth Science focusing in analyzing paleoclimate proxy data to address the HS-ESS3-5 PE.

During each summer institute, teams chose one or more PE and developed lessons that addressed one of the year’s crosscutting themes and taught during the subsequent school year Those lessons were also evaluated using the EQuIP rubric.

The strengths of ICCISC include focusing on the curriculum development process, providing meaningful science content alongside instruction on pedagogy, and nurturing participant confidence to lead the NGSS revolution in their districts. All lessons are available at goo.gl/vE7cP3.