NGSS Unlocked
Unlock the big ideas of the new standards, providing a strong foundation to build on as you learn with peers.
Where did the NGSS come from, anyway? And how the heck do you read those colorful tables? Unlock the big ideas of the NGSS and give your educators a strong foundation to build on as they explore these new standards.
About these activities
- These materials are designed to help you facilitate successful NGSS training for a team of educators.
- On each activity page, you will find a short video overview of the activity and a fully detailed lesson plan.
- These two activities will give your participants an overview of the big picture of the NGSS, and a solid introduction that they can build on with future learning.
- Each activity can stand alone, and you can mix and match with your own materials.
- We recommend the Introduction to the NGSS as a starting place to orient your educators to the big picture of the new standards. The Performance Expectations and Reading the NGSS Tables activity works best as a final experience building on participants' understanding of the three dimensions.
Activity: Introduction to the NGSS
When educators step into a training about the NGSS, they often arrive with a number of burning questions they hope to have addressed. To put their minds at ease, start your very first training by addressing some of the more straightforward questions about the NGSS. Once this basic introduction is out of the way, your participants will be able to focus on diving more deeply into exploring the three dimensions.
Professional learning for: K-12 educators
Estimated time: 30-35 minutes
Learning modes: presentation, group discussion, group questions
Activity: Performance Expectations and Reading the NGSS Tables
Performance Expectations (PEs) are the culmination of everything that participants have presumably seen so far in their introduction to the NGSS. Using a fictitious PE, participants will be able to see the main structures and parts of the NGSS tables that are consistent across grades, and how they display information that has by now become familiar. The final part of this activity is taking a long-awaited look at some real NGSS tables at various levels.
Professional learning for: K-12 educators
Estimated time: 25-30 minutes
Learning modes: presentation, group discussion, grade-level groups (optional)
