What do NGSS designed lessons and units look like?
Here you can find resources that can be used to evaluate existing lessons and units for alignment to the Illinois Learning Standards for Science as well as examples of lessons and units that support the vision outlined in the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the goals of the NGSS.
Evaluation

NGSS Evaluation and Adaptation Tool
This tool is currently being developed and piloted by ISBE Science Content Specialists. This tool is can be used to identify features of an existing lesson that are designed for NGSS learning, determine what needs to be adapted, and provides resources to support the adaptation of the lesson.
As this tool is still in draft form, your feedback is valuable to us. Please help us make this tool more useful by completing the feedback form found here.
This tool is currently being developed and piloted by ISBE Science Content Specialists. This tool is can be used to identify features of an existing lesson that are designed for NGSS learning, determine what needs to be adapted, and provides resources to support the adaptation of the lesson.
As this tool is still in draft form, your feedback is valuable to us. Please help us make this tool more useful by completing the feedback form found here.
NGSS Alignment Claims: How Publishers Talk About the Next Generation Science Standards
"Since the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013, educators have been looking for high-quality instructional materials that will support student instruction toward the goals of the NGSS. In response to this demand, the science instructional materials marketplace has started to fill with products and programs that make different sorts of claims about how they are connected to the NGSS.
For educators, this document will help you to recognize and begin to evaluate common claims. " |
EdReports is an independent nonprofit organization who works to increase the capacity of teachers, administrators, and leaders to seek, identify, and demand the highest quality instructional materials. As of February 2019, they have reviewed 7 middle school science curricula. These reports can be found here. Lacey Weiser, an EdReports Science Content Specialist, joined #ILSciCom to share their review process and these reviewed materials.
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Lessons and Units
The NGSS website has several lessons and units posted that have been evaluated using the EQuIP rubric. There are instructional materials for grades K-12 with more lessons and units being added as they are identified and evaluated.
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The Illinois Math and Science Academy as developed a series of K-3 NGSS lessons. Each lesson includes a Teacher's Page and student resources that are available to download and use in classrooms.
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A storyline is a a coherent series of lessons that build students’ knowledge of content through three-dimensional activities. Several, NGSS designed, storylines for grades K-12 can be found at nextgenstorylines.org. You can also find tools to use in developing your own storylines at the website.
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The Illinois Science Teachers Association has organized a storylining working group to develop NGSS designed units. Currently they have created a full year biology curriculum using the storylines they have developed. Those units and more information about the working group and ISTA can be found here,
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Data Nuggets are free classroom activities, co-designed by scientists and teachers, designed to bring contemporary research and authentic data into the classroom.
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