"Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with connections and intellectual tools that are related across the differing areas of disciplinary content and can enrich their application of practices and their understanding of core ideas." — The Framework for K-12 Science Education p. 233 

What are the Crosscutting Concepts?
Patterns
Cause and effect
Scale, proportion, and quantity
Systems and system models
energy and matter
Structure and function
Stability and change
How can the Crosscutting Concepts be used to help students make sense of phenomena?
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One way that the CCCs aide in students in sense-making is that it helps them identify the questions that need to be investigated and evidence collected in order to explain the phenomena. This resource from STEM Teaching Tools provides question stems for students to use in formulating questions. 
Dr. Amy Peacock and Dr. Jeremy Peacock have developed graphic organizers for each of the Crosscutting Concepts. These graphic organizers help make students use the CCCs to make sense of phenomena. You can more about these graphic organizers in this article.